Furman's Season Ends With NIT Loss at North Texas

Eddrin Bronson's 15 points on a perfect 6-for-6 night leads Furman in scoring in the final game of 2024-25 season

DENTON, TX—The last time a Furman team went to the State of Texas for a playoff game, its football team was trying to stop a prolific Incarnate Word offense that averaged over 50 PPG back in the FCS Second Round back in December of 2022. 

However, while the Paladins dropped a 41-38 heartbreaker in South Texas in San Antonio back in 2022, Furman’s basketball team headed to North Texas with its sights set on on an upset of the No. 2 seed in the Dallas Region, and the Mean Green came in sporting one of the top defenses in college basketball, allowing just 59 PPG, and cracking the code against the 2023 NIT Champions was always going to be a tall order for Bob Richey’s team.

Unfortunately for Furman and the Southern Conference, the Paladins basketball team joined their Paladin student-athlete brethren in football from a little over two of years earlier in suffering a season-ending defeat in the Lone Star State, as the Mean Green  would outscore Furman 43-30 in the second half, and were able to get a combined 37 points from veterans Jasper Floyd and Atin Wright and overcame a 34-32 halftime deficit to get a 75-64 NIT opening round win over the Paladins Wednesday night at the Super Pit.

With the win, North Texas improves to 25-9, which includes a 16-1 mark inside the friendly confines of the Super Pit, and will move on to host No. 3 Arkansas State this weekend. The 25^th win for UNT is tied for second-most in school history.

The game against the Mean Green marked Furman's second-straight foe in the NIT from the American Athletic Conference (AAC), as the Paladins, who dropped a home game thriller to Wichita State in the 2019 NIT back, as the No. 3 seed. 

On that former occasion, the Shockers were able to pull out what was a 76-70 win in a game that would prove to be the final one in the memorable careers of both Matt Rafferty (2015-19) and Andrew Brown (2015-19), which were major reasons the Paladins achieved the school's first-ever AP Top 25 ranking as well as helping see the Paladins garner their second invite to the prestigious NIT in program history six years ago. 

UNT finished the 2024-25 season second overall in the AAC behind only NCAA Tournament-bound and Top 25-ranked Memphis. The Mean Green posted an impressive 14-4 mark in the AAC this season, which was good enough for second-place and just behind the perennial league juggernaut Tiger

Floyd finished the game with a game-high 19 points for UNT, as he connected on 7-of-13 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range, while knocking down both of his shots from the charity stripe. Additionally, Jasper added seven assists, six rebounds and one steal. 

The senior guard's fellow backcourt mate and classmate, Atin Wright, finished the contest with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, which included a 4-for-10 effort from three-point land. Wright added three steals, two rebounds and an assist. 

Big man and native of Bamako, Mali, Moulaye Sissoko, rounded out the Mean Green in double figures, as he posted 11 points and six rebounds. Forward Grant Newell finished just one point shy of double figures, completing the contest nine points and two rebounds, which included a perfect 6-for-6 effort from the charity stripe.

Furman concludes its 2024-25 season with a 25-10 record, falling to 0-3 all-time in the National Invitational Tournament. The Paladins will take the floor in the new Timmons Arena in 2025-26, as it was given a 40-million-dollar upgrade during the season, as the Paladins played their home games in three different home venues, with a majority of those having been played downtown at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena. 

"The Well", as it is affectionately known, will host the opening two rounds of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, marking the fourth time the facility has hosted the men's tournament opening two rounds previously in 2002, '17 and '22. 

The Paladins the 2024-25 season with a 10-3 record at "The Well" and are now 19-12 all-time in the facility. The Paladins also posted a 10-6 on the road this season, including posting a 9-6 mark in true road games. 

The good news for Furman was that its two leading scorers in what turned out to be the 2024-25 season finale are both slated to return next season, with redshirt freshman guard Eddrin Bronson leading the way for the Paladins, as he added 15 points off the bench on a perfect 6-for-6 effort from the field, which included going 3-for-3 from long-range. 

Bronson added one rebound and had just one turnover in 20 minutes of action off the Furman bench. The Tampa, FL, native, who scored 14 points in Furman’s loss at Kansas earlier this season and provided a career-high 16 points in a late January, 79-74, road win at Mercer, found his way into double figures for the eighth and final time to conclude his first season on the floor in a Furman uniform.

Bronson redshirted the 2023-24 season, and finished his first season for Furman developing his game on both ends of the floor in preparation for a 2025-26 season that should see him become one of the key cogs on both ends of the floor, as his offensive game took steps in a positive direction after having hit the "freshman wall" before find his shooting touch and scoring confidence in recent outings down the stretch for Furman, which began with the Paladins 80-72 road win at Samford last month. Bronson has already acquitted himself as one of the team’s best on-ball defenders this season.

The redshirt freshman was joined in double figures by junior guard Tom House, as the Florida State transfer continued his strong play down the stretch of the season adding 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field, including 3-of-7 shooting from long range.  The junior guard added two boards and an assist in 25 minutes, as he made his fourth start in his first season after transferring in from Florida State prior to the season

Like Bronson, House is slated to be a key piece to the puzzle for the Paladins in 2025-26 and will be one of Furman’s top offensive threats and its best returning perimeter shooter heading into the upcoming campaign. 

Furman played without 6-7 starting wing forward Ben VanderWal, who missed the game with an illness. VanderWal is widely regarded as Furman’s “glue guy” and his presence on the defensive end, as well as on the offensive glass, were particularly missed in the game for the Paladins.

Rounding out the double figure scorers for the Paladins was Nick Anderson, who finished out an outstanding season with Furman, as the Barry University graduate transfer added 12 points, one rebound and one assist in 33 minutes of action. He was hounded all night by the Mean Green’s tough man-to-man, physical defense, as he finished 4-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-9 from three-point land. In his one season with the Paladins, Anderson was outstanding, as he finished the campaign with 512 points and shot an impressive 39.5% (96-of-243) from three-point land.

Furman’s leading scorer—senior point guard PJay Smith Jr. (17.6 PPG)—also found his final game for the Paladins a tough one and was credit to the Mean Green’s stingy defense, which turned out to be as good or better than advertised. 

Smith, a native of LaVergne, Tenn would begin his final season in a Furman uniform in memorable fashion, with a thrilling buzzer-beating three to help Furman to a 76-74 road win at Belmont, finished out his second and final campaign with seven points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-for-4 from three-point land. His final shot of his Furman career was the final Paladin points of the season was fittingly a three-pointer, as he knocked down his lone triple of the night five seconds remaining. 

For much of the night, Smith Jr. was clutching both his elbow and shoulder, which could have meant he was less than 100% in addition to the excellent defense played by North Texas. Whatever the case, Smith's two seasons will be remembered around Greenville for years to come, as his two years of contributions were vital to helping the program sustain success. 

Along with Anderson, the 2024-25 season will be remembered as one that both transfers helped bridge an important gap for the Furman program, which just a couple of months before the season, lost its top portal addition Jalen Sullinger, who returned to Kent State. Despite that, behind the blistering perimeter shooting and scoring ability of Smith and Anderson, the Paladins posted 25 wins, despite the loss of Sullinger. 

It was a testament to not only how good both players were, but how hard each worked and led Furman during the 2024-25 season. It was a season that, according to the media after the loss of a scoring talent of Sullinger's ilk, shouldn't have yielded such an impressive win total, but yet like so many times during the season, Furman defied the odds and found a way to overcome them no matter what any analytic said they wouldn't or couldn't do. 

Like Anderson, Smith transferred into Furman from an NCAA Division II program, in Lee University, just prior to the 2023-24 season. After finishing last season averaging 10.0 PPG, Smith returned as the Paladins’ leading go-to scoring threat following the graduation of 72% of Furman’s scoring production from a year ago. Smith didn’t disappoint, finishing out his final season in a Furman uniform in style, posting a team-best 582 points and posted 111 three-point field goals, which was just two shy of matching Alex Hunter’s (2018-2022) single-season program record of 113 made threes.

Smith completed his campaign with a 41.3% success rate (111-of-269) in his long-range attempts and accumulated 911 points over two seasons for the Paladins. Like Anderson, Smith is one of the reasons why this 2024-25 season will be unforgettable for Paladin hoops fans, with two game-winners that provided Paladin road wins against both Belmont and at Wofford to end the regular-season.

Forwards Garrett Hien and Tyrese Hughey, who were part of the best Furman team in school history, with both ending their respective careers among the program’s winningest players, also suited up for the final time for the Paladins in the loss to the Mean Green. 

Both Hien and Hughey added emphatic dunks to account for their final points as Paladins, with both players adding one bucket in the game. Hien, who scored his 1,000^th-point in his final home game in dramatic fashion in a win over The Citadel, finished out his Furman career with 108 career wins, finishing fourth in program history in total wins, while Hughey was a part of 92 victories in his Paladin career, which was good enough to finish sixth in program history.

North Texas finished the contest shooting an impressive 53.8% (28-of-52) from the field, which included an impressive 44.4% (8-of-18) from three-point range, and were 84.6% (11-of-13) from the charity stripe, out-scoring Furman by nine points (11-4) from the free throw line on nine more attempts (13-4).

Furman finished the game connecting on 48.1% (26-of-54) from the field and 33.3% (10-of-33) from beyond the arc, while connecting on 50% (2-of-4) from the charity stripe. The Paladins were able to take a 34-32 lead into the halftime break courtesy of an impressive 56% (14-of-25) effort from the field and 40% (6-of-15) effort from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.

The Paladins ended the game by posting advantages in points in the paint (26-24), total assists (13-10) and bench scoring (25-16). North Texas finished the game holding advantages in points from turnovers (17-10), fast-break scoring (6-5), and second-chance points (12-9). The two teams ended even on the backboards, 28-28.

How It Happened:

The Paladins and Mean Green would be meeting for the first time in series history, and the Mean Green came in sporting one of the top defenses in the nation and bore a lot of similarities to the SoCon’s own UNC Greensboro Spartans. 

 However, in contrast to what was supposed to be a defensive stalwart on paper due in large part to UNT’s style of play, the game wouldn't start out that way, as both teams shoot north of 50% in the opening half of play, Furman connecting on 56% (14-of-25) of its shots from the field, while the Mean Green connected on 52.1% (12-of-23) as Furman took a narrow 34-32 lead on the strength of strong shooting from long-range, as the Paladins connected on six first-half threes and shot 44.4% (6-of-15) from long range in the opening 20 minutes.

However, the Mean Green came out a bit “meaner” on the defensive end in the second half, while finding the spark it needed on the offensive end in the opening minutes of the second half, gaining the cushion it needed to take control of the basketball game for good. UNT opened the second half with a 13-2 run, which was powered by three made threes from Jasper Floyd (2) and Attin Wright (1), as the Mean Green would eventually assume a 45-36 advantage following a pair of Grant Newell free throws less than four minutes into the second half. The Mean Green came out fire hot, as they would connect on four of their first five shots from the field, including all three efforts from beyond the arc

Despite UNT taking advantage early in the second half, the Mean Green struggled to pull away by double digits, taking a brief 10-point lead (58-48) on a Wright short jumper in the lane to give the Mean Green a brief 10-point lead before the Paladins quickly trimmed the lead back inside double digits, however, Furman couldn’t get closer than three at any point in the second half.

 With just over three minutes left, the Mean Green would push the lead to double digits for good on a pair of Jonathan Massie free throws (70-59), and would lead by as much as 14 just inside a minute remaining on a free throw by Moulaye Sissoko, which gave the Mean Green a 73-59 lead with just 56 seconds left.

2024-25 Season-Ending Notes

--Furman’s 25 wins are tied for the second-most in program history. The Paladins posted their 14^th 20-win season, including their seventh since 2016-17 and sixth under the direction of eighth-year head coach Bob Richey. Though having never won SoCon Coach of the Year, Richey has more wins than any SoCon Coach in the past eight seasons (181-81) and is averaging 22.6 wins-per-season over that span, which ranks sixth (two-season minimum) in average wins per season in the tradition-rich history of the SoCon. The 22.6 wins-per-season by Richey in eight seasons at Furman ranks just behind some legends of ancient and recent past in the league, including Everett Case (26.7/7 seasons at NC State), Steve Forbes (26.0/5 seasons at ETSU), and John Kresse (23.8/4 seasons at CofC as a coach in the SoCon), while ranking just ahead of legendary Mocs head coach Murray Arnold (22.5/6 seasons at UTC).

--Since the 2015-16, the Paladins now have a league-best 223 wins and have posted a record of 223-108 over that span.

--PJay Smith Jr. and Nick Anderson combined to score 1,094 points and connect on a combined 207-of-512 three-point field goals for the season, which converts to a blistering 40.4% shooting clip from long-range.

--Furman reached the SoCon Championship game of the tournament for the third time in four seasons and the Paladins closed the season strong, winning six of their final eight games.

--Furman, which finished fifth in the SoCon standings, was predicted to finish in that exact position in the preseason. However, the Paladins are currently tied for the most wins in the league, with 25 victories, with the final one over regular-season SoCon Chattanooga in Asheville, which has currently also won 25 games and will go for its league-best 26^th win in the NIT Saturday afternoon, when the Mocs host Dayton at the Roundhouse. The Mocs were picked to finish second in the SoCon, returning its top two scorers from a year ago, while Furman had to replace72% of its scoring.

--While Furman loses four players to graduation, including its two top scorers, a key nucleus of players returns, including Tom House and Eddrin Bronson in the backcourt, as well as Cooper Bowser in the front court, as the Paladins should once again be among the favorites to win both the regular-season and tournament titles in the 2025-26 season.

--Through eight seasons under Bob Richey, the Paladins have connected on 2,690-of-7,285 from three-point range, which converts to 36.9%...The Paladins connected on 380 three-point field goals during the 2024-25 season, connecting at a 36.6% clip from long-range, which was good enough for second overall in the SoCon this season.

Head Coach Bob Richey Following Season-Ending Loss to UNT