Furman (2-3) returns to the floor Sunday evening to take on Queens in its only game of the 2025-26 portion of the SoCon-ASun Challenge, welcoming in the Queens Royals into Timmons Arena. The Royals' most-recent win on Thursday night against UNC Greensboro gave the Atlantic Sun a narrow 6-5 lead in the series, with Saturday's three games in the challenge still pending results.
The Paladins come in off their second win of their second win of the season over an NAIA foe, knocking off Ohio Christian, 79-44, on Wednesday night at the refurbished Timmons Arena.
Furman and Queens will be meeting for the first time in series history. The Paladins defeated both of their Atlantic Sun foes they faced last season, knocking off both Jacksonville (W, 78-69) and Florida Gulf-Coast (W, 76-73) on the road last season.
Furman, which will be hosting its second NCAA Division I opponent in the newly renovated Timmons Arena, sports a 60-9 record on home hardwood since the start of the 2019-20 season, including having won 39 of its last 43 games against non-conference opposition in the friendly confines. Furman dropped a 64-61 heartbreaker to Troy in the home opener but have since claimed a pair of wins over NAIA foes on home hardwood. Furman holds a 259-109 all-time record at Timmons Arena.
QUEENS ROYALS:
Head Coach: Grant Leonard (55-52/4th season)
Record: 3-3 (0-0 Atlantic Sun)
Series with Furman: First Meeting
Queens Royals Preview: Queens is a relative newcomer to the NCAA Division I scene, however, if the 2024-25 season taught us anything about one NCAA Division I basketball's newest members, it told us that it certainly did not take long for head coach Grant Leonard's team to acclimate itself to its newest surroundings, and being an NCAA Division I basketball member.
Entering the 2025-26 season, Grant Leonard's club is one that has been picked to win the Atlantic Sun title this season. With a ranking of 134 in the latest KenPom rankings, Queens enters Sunday's contest with its highest KenPom ranking ever, entering the contest at 180.
This season, the Royals have gotten off to a 3-3 start in the early going, and that includes a 101-94 win in the most recent outing against Southern Conference, as the Royals knocked off UNC Greensboro in their first SoCon-Atlantic Sun challenge game in a game that saw five Royals end up in double figures scoring-wise.
So far in 2025-26, all three of Queens' wins have come in the friendly confines of Curry Arena, and in addition to knocking off the Spartans this past Thursday night, the Royals also have wins over the University of Lynchburg (W, 87-76), Sacred Heart University (W, 81-64) and UNC Greensboro (W, 101-94). Losses for the Royals have come on the road at Villanova (L, 74-94), at Duquesne (L, 81-87 OT) and in a neutral court opener in Rock Hill against Winthrop (L, 74-81) as a part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon.
The 2025-26 season will mark the Royals' fourth campaign as a Division I College Basketball member, and the Royals have already made their first postseason appearance in their short NCAA Division I membership, as the Royals took part in the College Basketball Invitational last March, competing in the College Basketball Invitational.
The Royals reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in program history, as the Royals knocked off Big Sky member Northern Arizona, 85-78, in Daytona Beach to move on to the quarterfinals in the 16-team tournament. Ultimately, that's where Queens' season would come to an end, however, dropping what was an 88-73 contest to Cleveland State to bow out of the tournament.
As of last season, Queens is done with the transitioning to official NCAA Division I status, so winning the league's tournament this season would see the program chart its first-ever path to an NCAA Tournament berth as a NCAA Division I member.
The 2024-25 season would see the Royals go 3-1 against Southern Conference competition, winning at VMI (W, 81-78), vs. Western Carolina (W, 67-54) and vs. Mercer (W, 73-66), while losing on the road at East Tennessee State (L, 67-82). If you add the win over UNC Greensboro to the mix, the Royals have now knocked off four of their last five SoCon opponents.
Queens is a team that plays fast and likes to get up and down, averaging 83.0 PPG through the first six games this season.
The Royals have two starters back and have done pretty well in the transfer portal plugging in replacements for the others lost to transfer or to eligibility. It all starts with one of the best players in program history, with Chris Ashby (14.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG) leading the charge for the Royals. The 6-2 guard is the Royals' lone returning all-conference player and is on the verge of setting Queens' career three-point record.
Ashby is the preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, and he comes off a 2024-25 campaign which saw him set a new single-season record for three-pointers made in a single-season, as he knocked down 115 triples alone just last season.
He is on pace to set a new program standard this season, needing just 38 triples to break former standout Chris Benson's school record. His 14.8 PPG this season ranks second on the team, and he's also picked up right where he left off in terms of shooting the three, connecting on 43.1% (25-of-58) from three-point range this season.
In fact, 25 of Ashby's 28 made field goals through the first six games this season. It's nothing new for Ashby in terms of shot disparity, as he shot only 65 shots inside the arc last season, while he connected, he shot a whopping 327 shots outside the arc last season.
Ashby has scored in double figures in all six games for the Royals so far this season, and he is coming off a 18-point performance in the win over UNC Greensboro on 5-of-14 shooting from the field, which included a 5-for-12 shooting effort from three-point range.
Ashby's best performance of the season came against the University of Lynchburg, as he connected on 7-of-10 shots from the field, which included knocking down 6-of-9 from three-point range to finish the contest with a season-high 22 points. Ashby is averaging over four made three-point field goals per game this season, which ranks him in the Top 10 nationally. Coach Leonard hopes that Ashby will develop more as a well-rounded scorer this season.
The Royals most efficient ball-handler has been point guard and leader is 6-5 Jordan Watford (8.0 PPG, 3.3 APG), and unlike Furman in the early portion of the season, Watford has led a team that has taken decent care of the basketball this season.
Watford garnered his first start for the Royals last time out, and as a result, he posted his second double-figure scoring performance of the season, contributing a 13-point effort on 6-of-9 shooting from the field in a season-high 28 minutes of floor action Thursday night in the 101-94 win over the Spartans.
Watford, like Furman's Alex Wilkins, is a true freshman point guard and he is now being asked to lead a very talented offensively well-oiled machine that the Royals showcase each time they take the floor, which is why they are so highly thought of, both among the coaches that picked them to win the Atlantic Sun, as well as many of the media that cover the Atlantic Sun on a nightly basis.
The native of Lancaster, S.C., posted his only other double-digit scoring performance of the season against the University of Lynchburg, posting 16 points on a 5-for-8 shooting effort from the field, as well as knocking down the only three-point shot he took. He was also 5-of-6 from the charity stripe as a part of that 16-point performance earlier this season. Watford came out of Lancaster High School as a four-star recruit and a top 100 guard in the 2025 class, according to rivals.com.
The other returning starter for the Royals in the backcourt is 6-6 wing Yoav Berman, who is a highly skilled, do-everything type of player for the Royals. Berman joins Ashby as the two returning starters for the Royals this season, and during the off-season, Berman had some big programs sniffing around for his services, including the likes of 2024-25 national champion Florida and Big Ten member Iowa during the off-season.
Through six games this season, Leonard's efforts to if it all possible to make sure Berman stayed in Charlotte rather than matriculate to a bigger program has paid off, as he is leading the team in both scoring average (15.2 PPG) and assists (3.2 APG), while also helping shoulder even some of the load left behind with Jaxson Pollard transferring out to Samford.
Berman will remind Furman fans some of a Matt Rafferty type transformation, with he being the centerpiece of what Queens likes to do offensively. The native of Tel Aviv, Israel scored a season-high 22 points in Queens' loss at Duquesne earlier this season, but unlike Rafferty, Berman isn't exactly great when it comes to efficiency, as he has connected on just 37.7% (26-of-69) from the field and only 25.6% (10-of-39) from three-point range. Berman was a 40.4% shooter from long-range last season.
He is the team's best free throw shooter, having connected on 83% (29-of-35) from the charity stripe this season. He leads a team that shoots a solid 73.5% from the free throw line this season. He's seen his scoring improve by 7.0 PPG this season.
Another good talent set to start in the backcourt in what will be a four-guard lineup for the Royals is 6-senior wing Nasir Mann (14.0 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.5 APG) and like Berman, has seen his scoring production take off through the first six games of the 2025-26 season, as he went from averaging 6.6 PPG last season to averaging 14.0 PPG this season.
Prior to coming to Queens, Mann was a member of that McNeese State team that won the Southland Conference championship, and he is an explosive athlete. He is the brother of Charlotte Hornets player Tre Mann.
Mann enters Sunday's contest leading the team in rebounding. He was one of the best JUCOs in the country coming out before making his way to Lake Charles, LA., and has enjoyed several strong outings already in the 2025-26 season, which includes posting double figures in five out of six of the Royals' games this season, including a season-high 21 points in the 94-74 loss at Villanova. Mann has scored in double figures in each of his past four outings and shoots 49.2% (31-of-63) from the field and is an excellent free throw shooter (95.7%/22-of-23).
Rounding out the projected starters for the Royals entering Sunday's showdown at Timmons Arena will be Avantae Parker (10.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 5 BLKs), who is coming off a game against UNCG in which he helped re-arrange the shot clock at Curry Arena after a ferocious dunk putback against the Spartans.
The 6-9 junior forward played his prep basketball in the Palmetto State at Gray Academy in Columbia and originally signed to play at Georgia Southern before transferring to Queens. During his time with the Eagles, Parker made 25 starts and 50 appearances over the course of two seasons in Statesboro.
Parker has started all six games this season, and like Furman's own Cooper Bowser, is extremely efficient under the basket, connecting on 66.7% (24-of-36) of his shots this season, with a vast majority of those being slam dunks. With five blocks on the young season, he can also act as a rim-protector on the defensive end of the floor.
As far as the rotation utilized off the bench for the Royals, look for wing Kam Clark (2.5 PPG, 1.3 RPG), 6-9 Carson Schweiger (7.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG), 6-10 Gus Larson (4.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG), and 6-9 Maban Jabriel (5.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG) to all see quality action off the bench Sunday evening for the Royals. The Royals are one of the biggest teams the Paladins will see as a part of their non-conference schedule, with both Clark and Jabriel sporting starting experience this season. Larson transferred into Queens program from the University of California, while Schweiger came from Valpo.
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