SoCon Basketball 2023-24: Furman and The Citadel face off in "must-win" league game for both teams

 

Furman and The Citadel meet in crucial league tilt at Timmons Arena

1/10/2024

The Citadel (8-7, 0-2) at Furman (6-9, 0-2 SoCon), 7 p.m.

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

Series: Furman leads 131-88

Overview: The first of tonight's previews sees Furman and The Citadel renew the SoCon's most-played Southern Conference hardwood rivalry, and it feels like a game that is a "must have" for both the Bulldogs and Paladins, who have both gotten off to a rocky start in league play, with a pair of double-digit setbacks to get things started. It's especially alarming for the defending Southern Conference champions, who are coming off the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 43 years and first NCAA Tournament win in almost half-a-century.

The Paladins have won nine of the last 10 games in the series, however, the Bulldogs won the last one, claiming what was a 69-65 contest in Charleston last February. The Bulldogs haven't defeated Furman consecutively in the same or contiguous seasons since the 2012-13 campaign, which was Jeff Jackson's final season and current head coach and Bob Richey's first campaign as an assistant coach, with the Bulldogs claiming an 84-79 contest in Greenville, while handing the Paladins a 68-57 loss in Charleston. The Paladins went on to finish 7-24 in Jackson's swan song season.

The Citadel, which has never made the NCAA Tournament, notched its second ACC win in a three-year span, as the Bulldogs captured a 65-45 win at Notre Dame last month, marking one of two SoCon teams to knock off the Fighting Irish this season. 

Both teams are trying to get healthy, with the Bulldogs playing without four of its regulars last time out, while Furman has struggled with injuries the entire season, having posted 12 different starting lineups this season. That's more than any team in college basketball, and in the six wins this season, the Paladins have had six different starting lineups. 

Defense has been a concern from the start of the season for the Paladins, however, all of the sudden, it's lack of scoring production on the offensive end of the floor is an even bigger concern for the defending champion, who has now failed to reach 80 points in four-straight games, marking the first time since the 2021-22 season that the Paladins have failed to reach the 80-point scoring plateau in four-straight games when the Paladins failed to do so in games against App State (W, 73-65), North Carolina (L, 61-74), Mississippi State (L , 66-69) and Presbyterian (W, 75-61). 

Furman is off to an 0-2 start in league play for the first time since the 2014-15 season when the Paladins ended up starting that campaign with setbacks at Chattanooga (L, 60-72) and at Western Carolina (L, 53-72). The Paladins would eventually avoid an 0-3 start in what was head coach Niko Medved's second season as the head coach, and the season would end in a flurry, with Furman charging all the way to the championship game as the No. 10 seed before losing a heartbreaker to top seed Wofford (L, 64-67). 

The last time Furman lost three-straight games in conference play also came during that 2021-22 season, as the Paladins dropped consecutive league tilts to UNC Greensboro (L, 56-58), at East Tennessee State (L, 71-75) and vs. Chattanooga (L, 58-64). A loss against the Bulldogs Wednesday night would mark the Paladins' first four-game losing streak in a season since that same 2014-15 campaign, which saw the Paladins drop seven-straight games in league play against Samford (L, 58-68), vs. Chattanooga (L, 71-74), vs. Mercer (L, 68-74), at VMI (L, 59-93), at East Tennessee State (L, 59-66), vs. The Citadel (L, 56-62) and at UNC Greensboro (L, 49-84).

The Paladins haven't been a good shooting team from three at all of late, connecting on just 18 of its last 111 three-point attempts--a span that encompasses Furman's last four games. With that being said, most of us are withholding judgement on the Paladins because they haven't been healthy all season, and they have shown enough in the non-conference against teams like Princeton, Tulane and Arkansas without a full compliment of players to give us reason to believe the Paladins might still a tough out when they get healthy. The other reason is we know that when 100% healthy, the Paladins are a pretty good basketball team that has big-game experience, dating back to last season.

This isn't 2022-23 anymore and Furman is not as talented a basketball team, but no one really ever expected them to be without Jalen Slawson and Mike Bothwell. With that said, we also didn't expect Furman to have struggled as much and the injuries they have had to overcome have had almost everything to do with that. Still, this team has to find some low-post scoring and find it in a hurry. 

One thing that I have observed over the past couple of games is slowly but surely Furman is improving defensively and that might be the area the Paladins have to hang their hat on to win games if the shooting doesn't improve and the Paladins fail to find a consistent low-post scorer.

Furman's 15-point loss at Chattanooga (L, 58-73) was its worst since Dec. 29, 2018, when the Paladins dropped a 79-56 decision at ETSU. The 28-point deficit the Paladins faced early in the second half of that game was the largest deficit the Paladins have faced in any one game since the Paladins trailed by 30 (65-35) in a loss at North Carolina State last December. 

The Paladins are 85-34 in regular-season and SoCon Tournament games in seven seasons under Bob Richey, and the Paladins have only lost seven of those by double digits, including two of those this season. Never before had the Paladins lost back-to-back games by double figures in SoCon play until the start of league play this season.

Only the regular-season loss to UNCG (L, 80-88) and the 2021 SoCon Tournament quarterfinal loss to VMI (L, 90-91) mark games that the Paladins have scored 80 or more points in a game against a league foe, however, both of those games also came in overtime. 

Preview: Off to its worst start to a Southern Conference season since the 2014-15 season, Furman will look to put an end to a three-game losing streak Wednesday night when the Paladins host The Citadel at Timmons Arena. Both the Paladins and Bulldogs have battled injuries as of late, with both having had to play without their leading scorers for extended periods, although for the Bulldogs the injury to top guard and leading scorer AJ Smith (16.1 PPG, 4.2 RPG) came more recently. 

The good news for the Paladins is that they should have at least two of those scorers back in the starting fold on Wednesday night, and perhaps all three. Both guard JP Pegues (18.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 5.5 APG) and Alex Williams (14.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG) returned to the lineup last time out, while Marcus Foster (19.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG) is working his way to try and get healthy as soon as he can, having been sidelined with a torn MCL since early December. There is a possibility he could be back as soon as Wednesday night. 

Furman has used 12 different starting lineups in its 15 games this season, with six different starting lineups in all six of its wins this season just to give you an idea of how crazy it has been for the Paladins this season. The 12 different starting lineups are more than any program in the country. The Paladins have yet to have all three scorers in the lineup for more than one half (at Princeton) this season. 

In the loss to Chattanooga the last time out, both Williams and Pegues had a little bit of rust and it showed in the way of the two going a combined 1-for-19 shooting from three-point range, which highlighted that 4-for-33 shooting performance from long range. 

Pegues has been outstanding when healthy, however, for the Paladins this season, and that was highlighted by his play in particular in the month of December, as he was able to string together four-straight 20-point scoring performances, which was highlighted by a career-high 29 points in a 117-110 double-overtime loss at Tulane earlier this season. 

In fact, in the 12 games he has seen action in this season for the Paladins, Pegues has managed to post seven performances of 20 or points this season, including having scored in double-figures in 11 out of 12 games he has seen action in for the Paladins this season, and has a pair of double-doubles. His 16 points and career-high 11 rebounds were both team highs in Furman's recent, 73-58, setback at Chattanooga. Pegues' best performance this season arguably came in Furman's biggest win of the season, which was a 99-76 win vs. Belmont, as he just missed a triple-double, with 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. 

While Pegues has been good, his production also highlights another concern, as he has been having to do too much in every area for the Paladins, and that means rebounding, as well as his responsibilities of facilitating the offense from his point guard spot. He teams in the Paladin backcourt with Carter Whitt (9.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG) and PJay Smith Jr. (10.9 PPG, 3.6 RPG), who have been inconsistent as of late. Whitt had a career-high 23 points in Furman's loss at UNC Greensboro, and in the absence of Pegues, he and Smith Jr. combined to score 42 of the team's 68 points and combined to take 40 of the team's 65 shots. The other major concern for the Paladins is their low-post scoring has all but disappeared in recent games. 

Garrett Hien (8.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG) has struggled over the past couple of games, having scored a combined eight points on 4-for-15 shooting from the field in league games against UNCG and Chattanooga to open conference play. Furman must get more out of Hien because if not, it's hard to know where the low-post scoring will come from outside of maybe Alex Williams. Tyrese Hughey (5.8 PPG, 5.2 RPF), Cooper Bowser (4.2 PPG, 2.2 RPG), Ben VanderWal (5.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG), and Davis Molnar (3.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG) aren't guys that you are going to be able to rely on consistently to get points in the low post.

For The Citadel, the one area it has been to hang its hat on defense this season when things haven't been going well on the offensive end of the floor. Like Furman, the Bulldogs have had to open the league against two of the league's potential title contenders, in Western Carolina and Samford. The Bulldogs surrendered 80 points in back-to-back games for the first time all season in losses to the Catamounts and Samford Bulldogs. 

In fact, in three games the Bulldogs have allowed 80 points this season, they are 0-3. The other team to post an 80-spot against the Bulldogs this season is College of Charleston, who handed the Bulldogs an 86-71 setback at TD Arena earlier this season. The Bulldogs will hope to have both AJ Smith back, and he will combine in a lineup that features in interesting mix of reliable scorers in the backcourt, with Notre Dame graduate transfer Elijah Morgan (14.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG) and Madison Durr (10.6 PPG, 4.3 RPG) helping supplemented Smith as scorers in the Bulldogs backcourt this season. 

In the Bulldogs front court, it has relied on Vanderbilt graduate transfer Quentin Millora-Brown, who is averaging nearly a double-double per outing. It's also unclear how significant the injury is to Presbyterian transfer wing Winston Hill (9.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG), who was one of the four players that didn't suit up for the Bulldogs last time out in the 16-point home setback to Samford. With that said, if the Bulldogs are full throttle, they have a great chance to pull the upset at Timmons Arena--a place where the Paladins have defeated 56 of the last 64 Southern Conference foes to pay a visit to the facility since the start of the 2015-16 season.