Charleston Southern (8-5) at Furman (8-4)
Preview: Fresh off a 75-68 win at Manhattan last time out, Furman returns to Timmons Arena for its final game of the non-conference slate, taking on Charleston Southern in what will be a 2 p.m. EST tip-off time at Timmons Arena. The Paladins' win at Manhattan last time out marked the program's 76th road win over the past 10 years, which is fifth most in college basketball, trailing only Vermont (89 wins), Belmont (89 wins), UC Irvine (80 wins) and UNC Greensboro (77 wins).
The Bucs were also in action this past a 113-90 win over North Florida this past Thursday night in their final non-conference home game of the season, picking up what is win No. 8 to move into Sunday's non-conference finale against Furman.
The Paladins and Bucs will be meeting for the 19th time on Sunday, with the Bucs holding an 11-7 series lead. The Paladins and Bucs met just last season at the CSU Bucs Dome in North Charleston, with the Paladins able to emerge with what was a 67-46 win by the Paladins in a game that saw the Paladins put together one of the more complete performances on the defensive end of the floor of the 2024-25 season.
The Paladins would end up holding the Bucs to just 46 points on just 31.5% shooting from the field in the win, with the 46 points ranking as the second-fewest points the Paladins held a Division I opponent to last season, with only the 44 points posted by The Citadel accounting for a lower total given up by Furman last season.
Charleston Southern is under the direction of head coach Saah Nimley--a player that Furman head coach Bob Richey helped recruit to the Buccaneers' program as a young assistant at CSU (2006-11), as Nimley would go on to finish in the top five in school history in total points scored--is now in his second season at the helm leading the Bucs' basketball program.
After posting what was a 10-22 record last season in Nimley's first season as the head coach, the Bucs have nearly equaled that mark so far this season already, and the Bucs are off to their best start as a program since the 2010-11 season, finishing non-conference play a perfect 6-0 inside the Buc Dome in non-conference play.
Charleston Southern came into the 2025-26 season picked to finish seventh in the nine-team league, and it will mark the second team the Paladins have faced the from the Big South this season, and with the matchup with CSU on Sunday afternoon, will have now bookended non-conference play with a pair of Big South programs. The Paladins opened the 2025-26 season with a 97-71 loss to High Point as a part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon.
The meeting with CSU also marks the first time the Paladins have faced off against Charleston Southern in the friendly confines of Timmons Arena since the No. 23-ranked Paladins picked up what was a hard-fought, 77-69, win over the Bucs on Dec. 11, 2018. That win was part of a historic 12-0 start by the Paladins during that particular season. The Paladins come in having won three-straight in the series against CSU, with the last time the Bucs posted a win over Furman coming in the 2008-09 season, as the Bucs came to Timmons Arena and handed the Paladins a 75-64 setback on Nov. 7, 2008.
About the Bucs:
Charleston Southern comes into Sunday's matinee' contest against the Paladins with eight wins and five losses on the season. The eight wins to this point this season have come against: Toccoa Falls (W, 106-71), at The Citadel (W, 96-86), vs. IU Indianapolis (W, 103-91), at East Carolina (W, 77-65), vs. Piedmont (W, 93-81), vs. Warren Wilson (W, 124-63), vs. South Carolina State (W, 84-44) and vs. North Florida (W, 113-90). The five losses to this point in the season have come against the following foes: at Virginia Tech (L, 67-98), at Alabama A&M (L, 64-68), vs. Lindenwood (L, 77-83), at South Carolina (L, 62-74), and at UT-Martin (L, 56-73).
In the first 13 games this season, the Bucs are averaging just over 86.3 PPG and have connected on 183 three-pointers over that same span. The 183 threes so far this season not only leads the country in total threes made, but also the 14.1 made threes per game also accounts for the most in all of college basketball.
The Bucs are coming off a 113-90 domination of North Florida last time out, and that would ultimately end up being a game that would see Charleston Southern finish off the afternoon with one of its best shooting performances of the season, especially from long-range, as Charleston Southern would end the day knocking down an impressive 51.9% (14-of-27) from three-point range in the opening half, and ended the contest by making a school-record 22 triples, finishing the game shooting a ridiculous 51.2% (22-of-43) from three-point range.
Not only was the shooting performance from three-point range impressive, it was also impressive what the Bucs were able to do from the field in general, knocking down 56.9% (37-of-65) for the game.
Leading the way scoring-wise is Brycen Blaine, who is averaging 19.2 PPG and 7.7 RPG so far this season, and has one of the best scoring performances of the season when he posted 42 points in 35 minutes in a 96-86 win at The Citadel earlier this season. He was 14-of-24 from the field and 8-of-13 from three-point range in that contest.
Blaine is one of four Bucs players averaging in double figures, with A'lahn Sumler (12.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG), Jesse Hafemeister (11.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG) and Luke Williams (11.0, 3.1 RPG) rounding out the CSU players averaging in double figures.
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