The Game: FURMAN (16-9, 7-5 SoCon) at MERCER (15-10, 7-5 SoCon)
THE VENUE AND PLACE: HAWKINS ARENA /MACON, GA.
HOW TO WATCH: ESPN+/7 p.m. EST
SERIES: Furman and Mercer will be meeting for the 43rd time in series history on Wednesday night, with the Paladins holding a 30-12 series edge, including a 74-72 win in a thriller back on Dec. 31, 2025, at Timmons Arena
The game between Furman and Mercer has major implications upon it for both the Paladins and Bears, as both enter the contest riding two-game losing streaks. The Paladins lost on the road at East Tennessee State (L, 75-71 OT) and at home to UNCG (L, 67-64), while the Bears went on the road for two games against Chattanooga (L, 79-75) and Samford (L, 69-49), experiencing abysmal shooting woes in both games, losing both games.
In the loss to the Bulldogs, the Bears experienced their worst loss of the season for several reasons, scoring just 49 points and connecting at just a 27.1% from the field, which are both season lows. In fact, during a two-game stretch, with those totals both representing season lows. In fact, over a two- game stretch, it's the worst head coach Ryan Ridder's (29-29/2nd year at Mercer) team has shot the basketball all season.
The good news for the Bears is the fact that they haven't lost a game at Hawkins Arena all season, posting a perfect 11-0 mark inside the friendly confines, which includes a 5-0 record against SoCon foes this season. During Mercer's most-recent two-game road stretch, the Bears posted a combined 29% (34-of-117) shooting mark, including just a just a 27.3% (12-of-43) from three-point range in the game.
That gave the Paladins a 30-12 series lead and marks three-straight wins in the series for Furman. The Bears swept the Paladins two years ago, but the Paladins responded with a sweep of the Bears last season, posting a 79-74 win in Macon, as well as a 96-72 win over the Bears in Greenville. Furman has won 21 of the past 24 meetings between the two programs dating back to the 2015-16 season.
The Paladins come in with 79 road wins, which is fourth most in college basketball over the past four seasons. The Paladins will be looking to avoid a rare three-game losing streak in league play, which has happened only twice over the past 11 seasons and hasn't happened in league play since the 2021-22 campaign, as the Paladins dropped consecutive SoCon games vs. UNCG (L, 58-56/Feb. 5, 2022), at East Tennessee State (L, 75-71/Feb. 7, 2022) and vs. Chattanooga (L, 58-64/Feb. Feb. 12, 2022). The Paladins have posted a 5-3 record in true road games this season.
Furman's only other three-game losing streak over the past 11 seasons in SoCon play took place during the 2015-16 season, which saw the Paladins lose consecutive games at Wofford (L, 77-73/Feb. 20, 2016), at ETSU (L, 80-75/Feb. 25, 2016), and at Western Carolina (L, 73-62/Feb. 27, 2016).
The Paladins' five Southern Conference losses have come by a combined 16 points this season, which is an average losing margin of 3.2 PPG in league games this season. Four-point losses to Wofford (L, 74-70/Jan. 17, 2026) and East Tennessee State (L, 75-71/Feb. 4, 2026) represent the two largest margins of defeat for the Paladins in league play this season. The Paladins are 0-3 so far in overtime games this season.
Furman was mostly healthy during its first clash with Mercer back in late December, missing only Cooper Bowser (13.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 78.6 FG%) from that previous clash between the two on New Year's Eve. On Wednesday night, Bowser will be in the lineup for the fourth-straight game since returning from a lower body injury, which had kept him out of the Furman lineup for the 44 days in total. It caused him to miss the first nine SoCon games of the season, which saw the Paladins do decently enough, going 6-3 without him in the fold.
The player that will benefit most from Bowser in the paint will be Charles Johnston (10.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG), who can move back to playing the four instead of the five underneath. Ben Vander Wal (8.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG) has continued to be among the most consistent "glue guys" in the SoCon this season.
Furman also has the luxury of really having an extra player to call upon in the paint since the last time they had Cooper Bowser earlier in the season, with the redshirt having been removed from Cole Bowser (5.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG) earlier in conference play prior to a win at Chattanooga.
Furman would lose Asa Thomas (13.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG) for a little less than a month following another lower body injury two games later against VMI, causing him to miss almost the entirety of seven SoCon games before returning against UNC Greensboro last time out.
Suffice to say that Mercer will mark the second game in which Furman will have all three leading scorers back in the lineup, and for the first time since December, will have 11 players available to play, with the return of freshman guard Collin O'Neal (3.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG) from a stomach virus, which kept him out of the previous game against UNCG.
Alex Wilkins continues to be in the running for Player of the Year, with the one real concerning thing being his inability to take care of the basketball on a more consistent basis. In the earlier meeting with Mercer this season, Wilkins finished with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, which included a 3-for-4 effort from three-point range, while also finishing the contest with seven assists and a rebound.
Wilkins has been held below 20 points in each of the past couple of outings against ETSU and UNCG, however, he has totaled 11 twenty-point outings this season, including six so far in SoCon play, and has scored in double figures in 22 out of 25 games as a Paladin.
With his 15 points on Sunday, however, Wilkins moved into second place in Furman history when it comes to points in a season scored by a freshman, as he surpassed former Furman great and 2,000-point scorer Karim Souchu (1999-2003), who posted 459 points in his freshman season of 1999-2000.
Wilkins now has 463 points in his freshman season, which is 99 points away from setting a new school record, surpassing 561 points scored by Jonathan Moore (1976-80). He also added five assists, two steals and blocked a shot.
His 18.5 PPG currently ranks him fourth overall in the SoCon in scoring, while his 5.0 APG ranks him second in the league in assists-per-game.
Though Furman is just shooting just 26.6% (12-of-45) from three-point range in its last two games against East Tennessee State and UNCG, the Paladins have two of their top shooters back and playing together for the first time in full rhythm since early on in the VMI game, in the aforementioned Thomas and Tom House (7.9 PPG, 3.0 RPG) back in the lineup. Eddrin Bronson (5.7 PPG, 1.7 RPG) has been able to provide some depth at point guard this season, and he came up being down the stretch in Furman's two most recent league wins at home vs. both Chattanooga and Samford.
The two have combined to be two the Paladins' most prolific perimeter shooters, connecting on 90 of the team's 223 three-pointers this season. Combined with Wilkins' 47 threes this season, the trio has connected on a solid 137 of the team's total 223 triples this season.
The Paladins have better shooters than they rank at overall in the league this season, as Furman ranks dead last in the SoCon three-point field goal percentage this season, connecting on just 32.1% (223-of-695) from long-range this season.
Overall, Furman ranks seventh in the league in scoring offense (76.7 PPG) and second in the league in scoring defense (70.3 PPG). Furman ranks second in the league in overall field goal percentage (47.8%), as well as continuing to lead the league in assists (16.5 APG) and rebounding margin (+6.12).
The Paladins also rank second in the league in field goal percentage defense (42.0%) and three-point percentage defense (32.2%). In it's last two outings against UNCG and ETSU, however, opponents are connecting at a 47.2% (17-of-36) clip from long range, which includes a 55.2% (10-of-19) effort from UNCG last time out.
Among the biggest issues Furman has had overcoming this season is its volume of turnovers, as the Paladins remain last in the league in turnover margin (-2.48), yet rank second in the league behind only ETSU in defensive efficiency (108.4) according the KenPom's metric.
Furman faces a Mercer team that, despite its recent offensive struggles on the road at both Samford and Chattanooga, continues to rank highly in offensive efficiency, however, the Bears are no longer the top team in offensive efficiency in league only games as they have been for much of the season, according to KenPom. The Bears still sport a strong offensive efficiency this season, according to KenPom, as the Bears still rank as the league's top offensive efficiency in all games, sporting an efficiency total of 111.0.
The Bears want to maximize their possessions and continue to lead the league and rank 55th in the country in total possessions (69.8) per game. The Bears also rank first in the SoCon in scoring offense (84.0 PPG) and sixth in scoring defense (75.4 PPG). Mercer ranks third in the SoCon in field goal percentage (47.8%) and sixth overall in three-point field goal percentage (33.6%).
The Bears also rank fourth in three-point field goal percentage defense (34.2%) and fourth in total in field goal percentage defense (44.1%), while ranking second in the league in offensive rebounds per game (13.2 ORPG) and fourth in rebounding margin (+2.52). The Bears have connected on three more three-pointers (226) than the Paladins this season, and rank sixth in the SoCon in three-pointers made per game (9.04). One area Mercer has continued to excel is at the free throw line this season, where the Bears have shot 70% or better in all 12 of their SoCon games this season.
Mercer's high-octane offensive output continues to be led by one of the handful of players in the running for SoCon Player of the Year honors, in Memphis transfer Baraka Okojie, who currently ranks second in the league in points-per-game (19.0 PPG) and leads the league in assists (5.6 APG) this season.
Okojie was a big-time go-to-scorer down the stretch in the earlier meeting between the Paladins and Bears earlier this season in that barn-burner in Greenville on the final day of 2025, as he posted a game-high 22 points in the game, including scoring 15 points in the second half, as the Bears made a furious rally in that contest and even took the lead, as the Bears scored on eight of their final nine offensive trips down the floor in that contest, with the only miss coming from Okojie at the buzzer.
Lately, he's been teaming with Syracuse transfer Kyle Cuffe Jr. (8.7 PPG, 2.1 RPG), who's has moved into the starting lineup for the Bears since Furman and Mercer last met earlier in the season. The Bears really employ a four-guard offense, with Zaire Williams (12.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG) and Brady Shoulders (9.6 PPG, 6.9 RPG) rounding out the starting backcourt for the Bears.
Williams is the Bears' third-leading scorer (12.1 PPG) and leads the team in three-pointers made this season, having knocked down 52 long-range efforts, while connecting at a 34.0% (52-of-153) from three-point range.
Like Furman's Vander Wal, Mercer's Shoulders acts as more of a "glue guy" and he does all the little things essential to win basketball games, or in other words, he has "winning DNA." Shoulders has found his way into double figures 11 times this season, and in the first meeting against the Paladins, Shoulders added nine points, nine rebounds, five steals and two assists in 33 minutes of action. He's one of the few holdovers for the Bears from Ridder's first season as head coach, and he's started all 24 games he's seen action in this season for Mercer.
Maybe the most defensive assignment opposing teams have to deal with when facing Mercer is figuring out how to slow down one of the league's premier big men, in former Boston College big man Armani Mighty (), who the Paladins found a way to hold to eight points in the first meeting between the two. Mighty did affect the game quite substantially on the defensive end of the floor, posting a season-high five blocks against the 'Dins in the first meeting between the two this season.
As far as the season as a whole is concerned, Mighty ranks second in the league in double-doubles this season with 12 overall, including six in SoCon play. He's been the league's most efficient scorer around the rim in the absence of Cooper Bowser for Furman, who at one point in non-conference play, led the nation while Mighty ranked second.
Currently, Mighty ranks first in the SoCon and fifth nationally in field goal percentage (67.7%) and ranks second in the SoCon and 12th nationally in rebounds-per-game (13.6 PPG, 10.4 RPG). One of the things that makes this matchup most intriguing is the fact that it will feature two of the league's best big men, in Furman's Cooper Bowser and Mercer's Mighty.
Off the bench, the Bears will rely on the services of guard Quinton Perkins II (8.2 PPG, 1.5 RPG) and forward Connor Serven (6.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG). San Diego transfer and 6-8 forward Bendji Pierre (3.5 PPG, 1.2 RPG) has been able to add some spot duty behind Mighty in recent games. Serven, a transfer from Virginia Tech, has a unique skill-set of athleticism and an ability to step out and shoot the three that makes him an x-factor type player off the bench for the Bears.
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