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| Furman graduate senior point guard PJay Smith Jr. |
Misfit ‘Dins Win Again
Misfit—"A person whose behavior or
attitude sets them apart from others in an uncomfortably conspicuous way.
With Rudolph’s Christmas Special airing on NBC
for the first time in five decades on the eve of Furman’s blockbuster mid-major
clash with Princeton, the island of misfit toys resonated with me for some reason and also it got me thinking that the most fitting word to describe Furman basketball this season is –“misfits”…”misfit ‘Dins”
The misfit ‘Dins were back in their temporary home (Bon Secours Wellness Arena) in a season in which the Paladins get to relive what it was like not all that long ago when the Paladins were a feature attraction in downtown Greenville from the for the better part of four decades before moving on campus following the 1995-96 season.
Before a crowd that was
comparable both in voice and size to what it used to draw regularly during that
span, especially at Memorial Auditorium (affectionately known as the “Big Brown
Box”) the Paladins delighted the better than 3,200 fans on-hand for most of the
afternoon en route to a 69-63 win over tradition-rich Princeton.
It was another proving stage for the misfits
of the SoCon, and they played the part perfectly. The win by the Paladins
snapped a streak of seven-straight wins on the road for the Tigers and saw the Downtown
‘Dins improved to 9-1, while the Tigers dropped to 7-4 after coming to town
riding a three-game winning streak.
The truth is, the portal might affect some
programs only as far as those program’s allow it to affect it. Sure, Furman
lost 70% of its scoring, but that wasn’t approached as a negative by the
Paladin coaching staff or team remaining, as the portal provided the Paladins
the sustenance it needed to not only compensate for what it lost, but to thrive
despite the losses.
The Paladins have a collection of guys that
would make the 1972 Miami Dolphins and the No-Name Defense smile, as it’s exactly
no glitz and all grit. Furman’s home isn’t even a permanent one, as Bon Secours
Wellness Arena is just a placeholder for Timmons Arena while it gets its 40-million
dollar upgrade this year. None of that has mattered.
Furman kept playing and for the most part, kept
winning. Points average and rebounds average are all easily quantifiable tangibles
when going portal mining, but winning mentality and sacrificing individual stat
lines for team success and ultimately wins are not tangible stats that anyone
can put on any stats sheet. That’s up to the character assessments made by head
coach Bob Richey and his staff, and those are without question the most
important stats of all.
While Furman winning nine of their first 10
games to start the 2024-25 season might perplex media members, it is something
that makes coaches and players smile because they had insider info long before anyone
else was let in on the secret of the talent this team possessed.
Most media that cover the league, with me
being at the front of the line, only wrote about the tangible numbers lost.
What was taken away, however, it’s the media that should be eating a big dose
of humble pie with the eight players retained from what was a 17-16 season wasn’t
given much respect coming into the season really now showing the true grit and
determination of the team retained was even more important than what it lost,
no matter their lack of offensive prowess last season or any season
before.
While there is still a lot of the season left
and Furman could definitely live down to those expectations at the moment, it
appears that Furman and head coach Bob Richey have time and time again been fueled
by question marks in the preseason, which is something that ironically, wasn’t
the case last season for the first time, despite the loss of two of the best
players in school history.
Furman retained some good players for sure
and it could have been argued the Paladins had the most talented starting five
last season, and while people in the media, myself included, tried to make
arguments that the Paladins were going to figure it all out, we failed to
realize and we continued to discount the team which was really the best ‘team’
in the league and that was without question the Samford Bulldogs.
It wasn’t that folks thought they couldn’t beat
Princeton, however, it was the fact that the three scouts on hand from the NBA
were all there to see Tigers starting point guard Xavian Lee, who was coming
off the program’s first-ever triple-double in Princeton’s impressive win over
St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia last time out, however, in keeping with that ‘misfits’
role, it was a player in PJay Smith Jr. that was undervalued and under-recruited
coming out as a prep that ended up literally stealing the show for the
Paladins.
As much as his 23-point effort was
impressive was on the offensive end of the floor, it was his four-steal effort
on the defensive end of the floor that showed why, at least until this point,
Smith has been the best player in the Southern Conference. His four steals and
on the defensive end of the floor tied his own personal career-high, which he
has now tied seven times in his second season with the Paladins.
Smith also added eight rebounds and three
assists in the win before fouling out. He currently ranks third in the SoCon in
total steals and steals-per-game (2.1) and has now firmly established himself as
not only one of the top offensive players in the league, but also one of its top
defensive players. It was clear that took the assignment of guarding the
potential NBA prospect on a personal level and this season, Smith and teammates
made sure there would be no Princeton comeback, shutting the door late and
keeping the door locked until closing out the win.
Last season, Furman surrendered an 11-point
lead inside the final four minutes in a game, which was one of at least two in
the non-conference, that should have ended up in the left column but ended up
in the right column.
Smith’s night would see him finish the game
connecting on 8-of-20 from the field, as well as connecting on 5-of-15 shots
from three-point range.
The only other Paladin in double figures in
the contest was Garrett Hien, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds and
he posted all of those in the opening half, playing with an edge to his game
and making some high energy plays.
In one sequence, Hien had a poster dunk in
the paint at the 8:47 mark on one end of the floor, bringing the better than
3,000 fans in attendance to its collective feet, and then he gave those same fans
no time for rest, as his emphatic block against the backboard on the other end
at 7:59 mark didn’t allow fans a long respite after the dunk 48 seconds earlier.
The native of Charlotte, N.C., ended up
posting what was his fifth double-figure scoring game in 10 so far this season.
Hien had a total of 10 double-figure scoring games last season and appears well
on his way to easily eclipsing that total this season. Hien finished the afternoon
by connecting on 5-of-10 shots from the field and dished out a pair of assists.
Furman had three players deliver key
performances in different moments of the afternoon, with Tom House, Ben VanderWal
and Charles Johnston all adding seven points apiece. House and Johnston delivered
theirs off the bench, and it was House that maybe the biggest shot of the
afternoon when the Paladins were teetering on the brink of letting the game get
away in the middle portions of the second half.
With Princeton leading the game by seven (52-45),
with 11 minutes left, it was House’s three with just under 11 minutes left that
pumped life back into an anxious partisan Paladin crowd. Then a little over
three minutes later, it was two key foul shots with 7:43 remaining that allowed
the Paladins to take a 56-54 lead, and though the Tigers would draw even once
more in the contest, at 56-56 the next trip down the floor on two foul shots of
their own, they would never be able to overtake the Paladins the rest of the
way.
For VanderWal, it was his second big-time
performance for the ‘Dins after providing several energy plays on both ends of
the floor, including a chase-down block, which changed the momentum of the game
with about eight minutes last time out against FGCU. He came up big down the
stretch against the Tigers, whether it was getting a key rebound, block or
tracking down a loose ball.
Princeton finished the afternoon led by
talented NBA prospect Xavian Lee, and while he didn’t reach the 24 points, he
scored against the Paladins last season, he was still plenty effective by adding
16 points, seven rebounds and dished out five assists, while Dalen Davis chipped
in with 13 and Caden Pierce added 11 points to round out those in double
figures for the Tigers.
Lee who has been sensational for the Tigers
this season, finished the contest by connecting on 5-of-13 shots from the field
and finished 1-for-3 from three-point land. Lee found himself hounded by Smith
the entire afternoon, and it wasn’t until Smith fouled out with 1:50 remaining
that the star guard could rest a little easier. Pierce, who is already among the school’s
all-time greats as a rebounding presence on the glass and is in the Top 20 on
the NCAA’s career active rebounds list, was held to just five rebounds in the
game, including just one offensive rebound.
The Paladins finished the afternoon
connecting on 43.1% (21-of-54) from the field, which included just a 29.4%
(10-of-34) from three-point land. One of the concerns in non-conference play
for Furman at times has been its performance from the charity stripe, as the
Paladins finished the afternoon connecting on just 56.3% (9-for-16) from the
line.
The Tigers ended their afternoon by connecting
on 38.9% (21-of-54) from the field and the Tigers were 31.6% (6-of-19) from
three-point range. The Tigers were a solid 75.0% from the charity stripe (15-of-20).
Furman held advantages in total rebounds
(38-35), second-chance points (13-8), bench scoring (18-14), fast-break points
(7-6) and total assists (12-10). The two teams were even on points in the paint
(28-28), while the Tigers held a 19-11 advantage in points from turnovers.
How It Happened
Furman came out and enforced its will defensively in the opening eight minutes of the contest, forcing a pair Princeton timeouts inside that frame and just a 14.3% shooting clip in that span, however, the scoring would pick up as would the shooting for both teams as both offenses would come to life over the final 11 minutes of the frame, with the Paladins leading by as many as 13 following a made three by Smith, which gave the Paladins a 22-9 lead with just under nine minutes left in the frame.
Furman maintained its energy for much of the opening 12 minutes until the
Tigers started to make some shots and chipped away. Highlighting that strong opening
12 minutes for the Paladins were a pair of plays by Garrett Hien, which were among
the most exciting in one sequence that he has had in his career, providing a
poster dunk on one end over Phillip Byriel to give Furman a 24-15 lead, and
then on the other swatting a Peyton Seals shot off the glass to keep the Tigers
momentarily off the scoreboard.
The Tigers would cut Furman’s lead to just
three when Dalen Davis knocked down a jumper in the paint to make it a 32-29
game with 3:11 left. However, the Paladins would play good defense to close the
frame, as PJay Smith Jr. canned a three and then a second-chance layup as time
expired from Garrett Hien helped the Paladins take the momentum the half with a
37-29 lead.
In a role reversal to Furman’s strong start
to the game, it was Princeton that would get to a strong start in the latter 20
minutes, as following a Smith triple, which increased Furman’s lead back to double
digits (40-29) early in the frame, the Tigers would then score 18 of the game’s
next 20 points to take a 47-42 lead with following a Seals steal and layup in
the paint with 13:33 remaining.
Suddenly the Paladins were treading on dangerous
ice, and that’s not referring to the real ice under Bon Secours Wellness Arena,
which was set to be raised for a hockey game to take place in The Well shortly
after the Paladins and Tigers finished their hoops tussle. Two minutes later,
the Tigers would build their lead to their largest margin of the night when Seals
made a pair of free throws after being fouled on a breakaway and his two
freebies gave the Tigers a 52-45 advantage with 11:27 remaining.
That set the stage for one of those Furman “misfit”
heroes, and this time it would be Tom House to settle the collective nerves
around the arena, as well as his own after having experienced some shooting
struggles of late, with his right wing triple hitting nothing but net with 10:51
left. From there the Paladins would seemingly settle down and the crowd would find
their rhythm once again.
After House’s three got the Paladins to
within four, it would be one of those big defensive plays from Smith that would
allow Furman to get a single bucket, as he took the ball from CJ Happy bringing
the decibel level up just a bit more, and then Smith raced to the other end for a layup
and missed, but was fouled by Lee. Smith went to the line and knocked down both
free throws the help the Paladins to cut Princeton’s lead to just two, at
52-50, with 10:33 left.
A quick inbounds pass to Lee and he would
drive coast-to-coast with a pair of nice behind-the-back dribbles alluding Nick
Anderson at the top of the key before laying the ball off the glass to restore
the Tigers’ four-point advantage, at 54-50. Just before Lee’s layup, Furman had
a chance to tie the game on a beautiful feed from Tyrese Hughey-to-Smith,
however, Smith missed the layup on what was an outstanding back cut.
Following Lee’s layup, which gave the
Tigers the four-point lead, the Paladins would score the next six points of the
contest to re-take the lead and though the Tigers would tie it once more
moments later, would never lead the contest over the final 7:43. Trailing 54-50,
the got an offensive rebound and layup from Hughey to cut the Tigers lead to
two.
Princeton’s next possession would see Smith
make another defensive gem, ripping the ball right off the NBA Draft combine
entry Lee and converted an acrobatic layup on the other end to tie the contest,
54-54, as the crowd and the energy began to feel like Timmons and a real
homecourt advantage for really the first time all season.
On Princeton’s next possession, Caden Pierce
was fouled by Smith, who nearly picked up another steal, but inadvertently got
Pierce on the arm and was whistled for the infraction with 8:22 left. The Tigers could take advantage, however, as
Malik Abdullahi missed the layup and the rebound was corralled by Ben VanderWal.
The ball would eventually find its way to
House with the shot-clock winding down was fouled by Abdullahi in the act of
shooting. House calmly knocked down both and the Paladins had the lead again
for the first time since the early moments of the second half, taking a 56-54
lead after the Florida State transfer’s second made charity shot. Blake Peters
knocked down two free throws after being fouled by House to tie the game,
56-56.
Smith made a pair of jump shots and
VanderWal a layup over the next two minutes to give the Paladins a bit of a cushion
with a 62-56 lead with 5:18 remaining. However, just as quickly was the response
by the Tigers was just as swift, scoring the next four points in the contest on
Pierce jumper and a pair of Lee foul shots following Smith’s fourth foul, which
was certainly cause for concern for the Paladin coaching staff. Lee knocked down
both free throws to cut the Paladin lead to a deuce, at 62-60, with 2:12 left.
Smith then went for a loose ball shortly
thereafter, however, in an unavoidable scenario, ended up picking up his fifth
foul in going for basketball and possession for the ‘Dins, and Furman would
have to play the final 1:50 without its best player, but more importantly and
concerning, its best ball-handler.
A minute later, however, VanderWal restored
the two-possession advantage for the ‘Dins with a beautiful reverse layup to
make it 64-60 with 1:12 left. From there, Furman would do its best work of the
day from the line down the stretch as the trio of Charles Johnston, VanderWal
and House would connect on 5-of-6 free throws over the final 52 seconds and
blocks by VanderWal and redshirt freshman Eddrin Bronson in the final 10
seconds helped Furman close out one of its most meaningful home non-conference
wins since maybe its 89-62 win over Loyola Chicago back on Nov. 11, 2019, as
the Paladins avenged last season’s 70-69 heartbreaker to Princeton at Jadwin Gym
a year ago by scoring the same point total, while holding the Tigers to their
lowest point total of the season.
Furman returns to the hardwood a week from
Saturday facing in-state rival South Carolina State at Bon Secours Wellness
Arena, with tip-off set for noon. The Tigers will be back in action on Dec. 10,
hosting Garden State rival Monmouth in a contest slated for a 7 p.m. EST
tip-off time Tuesday evening at Jadwin Gym.
Notes:
--Furman improved to 13-9 all-time (4-0 this
season) at Bon Secours Wellness Arena
--The Paladins held the Tigers to season
lows in total points (63) and shooting percentage (38.9%)
--Furman ended Princeton’s streak of
seven-straight true road wins dating back to last season
--The Paladins evened the all-time series
to 1-1
--PJay Smith Jr. recorded his fourth 20-point
scoring outburst of the season
Postgame Press Conference (Head Coach Bob Richey)
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