Furman hosts East Tennessee State in key league tilt Saturday

Furman hosts East Tennessee State in a battle of SoCon Hoops titans

Furman swept the season series against ETSU for the first time since 1986-87 last season

East Tennessee State (9-7, 1-2 SoCon) at Furman (7-9, 1-2 SoCon), 2 p.m. EST

Greenville, S.C./Timmons Arena (3,500)

Series: 68th meeting/ETSU leads 34-33

Overview: Quite simply, the Furman-East Tennessee State hoops rivalry has become one of the best on the Southern Conference hoops hardwood in recent years, and has seen a particular raise in prestige since the Bucs returned to the league nine years ago, and particularly over the past eight meetings between the two programs.

Since Steve Forbes came to ETSU prior to the 2015-16 season, the Bucs program saw a rise back to the top of the Southern Conference, so it came with little surprise that the Bucs struggled a bit upon his departure to become the head coach of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in April of 2020. 

Furman and East Tennessee State rank one and three, respectively, in total wins in the past eight years on the SoCon hardwood. Since the start of the 2015-16 season, the Paladins are tied with UNC Greensboro in total wins during that time period, with 188 total wins. ETSU ranks just behind those two in total wins, having claimed 179 wins in that same span. Those three programs have won five of the past eight Southern Conference Tournaments, with UNCG and ETSU having won two apiece. 

In terms of league records over the past eight seasons, UNCG leads the league with 105 league wins, while Furman is right behind with 104. ETSU's 95 league wins over the past eight years ranks them third over the past eight years.  

After three seasons of subpar basketball by ETSU standards, and in particularly the past two under Desmond Oliver, it was time to hire a second head coach in the span of three years, and after looking outside the box to Knoxville to hire Oliver, ETSU Director of Athletics Dick Sander went back to what worked, taking away Forbes' top assistant Brooks Savage, who returned to Johnson City after being a part of Forbes' staffs the previous 13 years, including each of the five seasons in Johnson City, which saw the Bucs win 130 games and two SoCon regular-season and tournament titles. 

Savage has fans in the Tri-Cities excited about round ball action at East Tennessee State once again, and for a program that is steeped in tradition, which includes 10 trips to the NCAA Tournament, nine SoCon regular-season crowns and eight Southern Conference tournament titles, as well as a Top 10 ranking in the early 1990s as part of its rich history, it's not hard to see why losing is not easy to deal with for the program's loyal fans. 

With that said, the Bucs are off to a 9-7 start this season, but at 1-2 in league play, it's still behind last year's club, which started the 2022-23 league slate with a 2-0 record and were 2-2 after four games. The Bucs opened SoCon play in a positive fashion, with an 80-69 home win over Mercer last week at Freedom Hall before dropping back-to-back games on the road at UNC Greensboro (L, 54-70) and vs. league-leading and Blue Ridge rival Western Carolina (L, 66-80) in their most recent outing Wednesday night. 

The Bucs, who have an early-season win over former Southern Conference rival Davidson (W, 70-68), have not three-straight games all season. ETSU had to deal with an injury to Karon Boyd the last time out, which is the Bucs' top one-on-one defender, and likely would have drawn the assignment of trying to slow league player of the year candidate 

Furman is looking to put consecutive wins together for just the second time this season, as the Paladins snapped a three-game losing skid by downing The Citadel, 82-68, at Timmons Arena Wednesday night.

Furman comes in looking to put two wins together for the first time since opening the season with an 84-68 home win over North Greenville and then followed that up with their best win of the season over Belmont (W, 99-76) in a game that saw JP Pegues flirted with a triple-double, posting 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

The Paladins won both meetings last season over ETSU, marking the first time the Paladins have swept the season series against the Bucs since the 1986-87 season. Furman claimed a hard-fought, 83-79, game in Greenville last season. The Paladins used a barrage of threes from Marcus Foster at the end of the first half to create some cushion in an early-season triumph at ETSU, as the Paladins claimed a 70-56 win at Freedom Hall. 

Both Furman head coach Bob Richey and ETSU head coach Brooks Savage have had to deal with injuries this season, with the Paladins still waiting on the return of Marcus Foster, who was Furman's leading scorer and ranked second in the league in scoring at the time of his injury back in early December, as he averaged 19.8 PPG. 

A specific timeline for Foster's return has not been provided, but the initial prognosis was mid-late January. With him progressing through rehab nicely, his return figures to be in the immediate future, and even perhaps as soon as Saturday. However, it's more realistic to think that return will happen in one of the two upcoming games on the road at VMI or next Saturday's home game vs. Western Carolina.

The Bucs were without leading defender and rebounder Karon Boyd in Wednesday night's loss to Western Carolina, however, they did welcome back guard Justice Smith, who had missed a few weeks with an injury. 

Preview: Saturday's game between Furman and East Tennessee State will mark the 68th all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Bucs holding the narrow 34-33 all-time series edge.  Furman hasn't won more than two-straight games over the Bucs since the late 1990s/early 2000s, winning five-consecutive contests against the Bucs from 1995-2000.

Saturday's home game for the Paladins will see them celebrate "Legends Day", which honors former Paladin basketball alumni. Saturday's latest edition of Legends Day, which originally started under Niko Medved and has continued under Bob Richey, will specifically focus on the 1973-74 team, which recorded Furman's first-ever NCAA Tournament win, knocking off South Carolina, 75-67, at the Palestra in Philadelphia. This season marks the 50th anniversary of that tremendous feat. 

Furman, which is the defending Southern Conference champion, has seen its share of ups and downs through the first 16 games this season, which includes 13 different starting configurations, including a different starting five in all seven of its wins this season.

Furman's three leading scorers--Marcus Foster (19.8 PPG), Alex Williams (15.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG) and JP Pegues (17.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 5.5 APG) have missed a combined 16 games this season, and half only featured in one half of basketball (Dec. 2) at Princeton when all three were healthy at the same time this season. It didn't even last 20 minutes, as Foster's injury against the Tigers occurred just before the end of the half.

In Furman's 2022-23 run to a share of the league's regular-season title, as well as winning the league tournament for the first time in 43 years, with wins over Mercer (W, 73-58), Western Carolina (W, 83-80 OT), and Chattanooga (W, 88-79), the entire team missed just only a combined five games last season en route to the Paladins' record-breaking 28-win campaign. This season, Furman has had players miss a combine to miss 22 games.

By comparison  though, Furman, which has won seven league titles in its history, has been more of a "new money" history in recent years in terms of the SoCon Hoops hierarchy,  while ETSU's tradition would be seen as having more of an "old money" tradition, as its history has no real prolonged droughts in terms of success and has seen the Bucs near the top of the league's pecking order more often than not. 

From Furman's perspective, the injury situation has caused more than its share of uncertainty from game-to-game and has led to unpredictable results--mostly of the negative variety--for the defending champions and 2023-24 preseason league favorites. The Paladins started 0-2 in league play for the first time since 2014-15, and lost to a non-Division I opponent (Anderson/L, 74-79) for the first time since 2013.

That said, there were polar opposites in how Furman's past two outings, shooting its worst percentage (27.5%) of the season in a 15-point loss at Chattanooga and following that up by notching it first league win of the season with its best shooting effort (55%) of the season against The Citadel (W, 82-68). 

Furman hit 13 of its 31 triples (41.9%) against the Bulldogs, which nearly matched the 18 threes the Paladins struggled to connect on in the previous four games, connecting at just a 16.2% (18-of-111) clip. The Paladins were just 4-of-33 (12.1%) from long distance in the loss at Chattanooga. 

Pegues and Williams second game back in the lineup, naturally, was a lot better than their first. After going a combined 1-of-19 from three-point range in the loss at UTC, they rebounded to connect on a combined 9-of-16 from three-point land against The Citadel, as Williams led all scorers in the game with 26 points. Pegues, who led Furman. with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in the loss at Chattanooga, posted 10 points, six assists, four rebounds and a steal in the recent win over The Citadel. 

While Pegues, Foster and Williams are certainly big factors in how this team ends up in Asheville in March, it's also a Furman team that has to have its other parts perform at their optimum levels within their given roles to be successful.

Guys like PJay Smith Jr. (10.8 PPG. 3.6 RPG), Carter Whitt (9.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 4.1 APG),  Ben VanderWal (6.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG), Tyrese Hughey (6.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG)  and Garrett Hien (8.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG) will all ultimately play a role in how the season ends up for Furman. Smith Jr. and Hien saw a bit of a minutes reduction last time out, but both arguably played more within their respective roles and to who they are as individual players in Furman's win over The Citadel last time out, as opposed to the previous outing last Saturday at Chattanooga.

Hien posted a nice effort off the bench last time out, with 10 points, while Carter Whitt's 10 assists--part of a 28-assist night against The Citadel--matched a career-high. The Paladins are 3-0 when Whitt facilitates the ball in such fashion, as he also recorded 10-assist performances earlier this season against Bob Jones, as well as last season against VMI. 

The Paladins rank second in the league in scoring offense (81.8 PPG), as they trail only Samford, who leads the league in scoring average, posting 88.8 PPG. 

Brooks Savage brings an ETSU team to Greenville, which is likes to run and play fast, despite ranking eighth overall in The SoCon in scoring offense (71.8 PPG). Savage, who was known for recruiting during his time as Forbes' assistant in Johnson City last time he was coaching in the league, and helped Wake Forest have a top three scoring offense all three seasons in which he was the offensive coordinator for the Demon Deacons, has plenty of offensive scoring firepower in this his first head coaching job.

It starts with the quickness and athleticism at the guard spot, which seemingly has never been an issue at any point, both in their former membership inside the SoCon, or since the Bucs rejoined the league in 2014-15. Delaware transfer Ebby Asamoah (15.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 45 3PT FGs) and Quimari Peterson (14.4 PPG, 3.7 APG, 4.2 RPG) comprise a backcourt as versatile as any in the league, and what is a guard-heavy talented league this season. 

Peterson, who was a JUCO national champion a year ago at John Logan, might be the best individual newcomer in the SoCon this season. Keep an eye on Gabe Sisk (3.9 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.7 RPG), who garnered a start in the absence of Karon Boyd (8.0 PPG, 7.4 RPG) last time out, as he was one of the best freshman recruits in the SoCon coming in during the off-season. In fact, some recruiting services had Sisk rated as four-star recruit, while others had him a three-star. 

Boyd is the team's best on-ball defender and overall rebounder, and he missed the last game against Western Carolina, and while he might not have won the game against the Catamounts last time out, having his presence out there on Vonterius Woolbright would have made a big difference in the score. 

Boyd's presence on the glass has made a huge difference this season for the Bucs, especially on the offensive end of the floor, as ETSU leads the SoCon in team offensive rebound average this season, posting 13.1 offensive rebounds per game. It comes with a bit of irony, then, that the Bucs rank eighth in the league in defensive rebounding average, posting 26.1 defensive boards per outing, while ranking last in the league in overall rebounding margin (-0.3). The Bucs are also allowing foes to get 39.4 rebounds per game, which is last in the league. Needless to say, but Boyd's presence or absence makes a huge difference on the glass. 

Jaden Seymour (14.4 PPG, 6.6 RPG) has really emerged as one of the top player in The SoCon this season, and he's the best all-around player on the Bucs roster. His athleticism is a little bit like a Jalen Slawson, and he's also a pretty on-ball defender. On the offensive end of the floor, he shoots 47% from the field and 34% from long range, which is second to only Asamoah, who shoots 36% from long-range this season. His 21 made threes are also second on the team, which is also led by Asamoah, who has connected on 45 long-range efforts this season.

Other serviceable players that could play a role for the Bucs Saturday off the bench are forward Braden Illic (2.4 PPG, 1.6 RPG) and William & Mary transfer Tyler Rice (3.3 PPG, 1.3 RPG), who provides depth at point guard. The Bucs also welcomed back Justice Smith (4.6 PPG, 2.8 RPG) into the fold recently from injury. He will add depth behind Asamoah. 

The Bucs have a rim protector, too, as Jadyn Parker (6.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG), who transferred into the program from North Florida, serves as the main defensive presence in the paint for ETSU. 

A staple of Forbes' teams were always how they defended you. That seems to be a trend that has seen an uptick with Savage back in town, as ETSU rank third in the league in scoring defense (68.7 PPG), as well as ranking fourth in field goal percentage defense (41.0%), while leading the league in three-point field goal percentage defense (30.6%).

Expect another excellent hoops battle in Greenville Saturday afternoon between a pair of programs that have a lot of pride in their respective traditions.