CONFERENCE NOTES:
The Paladins Are Streak Breakers: In each of its past two games Furman has ended an opponents win streak. The Paladins knocked off Davidson last Saturday, stopping the Wildcats’ 27-game win streak in league play. Furman then defeated Georgia Southern on Tuesday, halting the Eagles’ eight-game win streak, as well as GSU’s 18-game home winning streak. Furman has won three in a row for the second time this season and have won six of its past seven contests.
Top Two Teams in North Division Meet Saturday: Elon and Western Carolina meet Saturday in Elon in a battle of the top two teams in the North Division. The Phoenix are off to a 4-0 start in league play and have won its last five contests. The Catamounts, meanwhile, are 3-1 in SoCon play following an 87-76 win at UNC Greensboro Monday.
One Streak Remains: Even though Davidson’s consecutive league wins stopped at 27 last weekend, the Wildcats still have one win streak intact. Davidson has won 16 straight games at Belk Arena, the longest active home winning streak in the conference. The Wildcats host Georgia Southern on Saturday in a contest of two of the top three teams currently in the South Division.
Greathouse on Fire For Catamounts: Western Carolina’s Kyle Greathouse has been on a tear of late for the Catamounts, helping WCU to its first two-game win streak in a month. Greathouse, this week’s SoCon Player of the Week, averaged 23.5 points and 6.5 assists per game in the Catamounts’ last two contests. Prior to his career-high 29 points in Monday’s win at UNC Greensboro and an 18-point outing versus Chattanooga, Greathouse scored only 17 points in his previous four games.
Road Teams Dominate This Week: All five conference games this week have been won by the road team. This comes after home teams won eight of ten league tilts last week. Entering play on Saturday, home teams are 15-10 in conference games.
McKillop Three Treys Shy of 200: Davidson’s Matt McKillop enters Saturday’s game with Georgia Southern three 3-pointers shy of becoming the third active SoCon player to record 200 treys for his career. McKillop would become only the second Wildcat to reach 200 career 3-pointers, joining teammate Brendan Winters who has 240.
Winters Nears Top Five at Davidson: Brendan Winters is presently sixth at Davidson with 1,652 career points. He needs 10 points to move into fifth place in school history and 42 away from fourth. Winters is also 48 points shy of becoming only the fourth player in school annals to score 1,700 points in a career.
Elon Off To 4-0 Start: Elon is off to a 4-0 start in league play, its best start since joining the Southern Conference. The Phoenix have won five straight, with three of the wins coming on the road. The three road victories are the most for Elon since the 2002-03 campaign. Dating back to last year, Elon has won five straight regular season conference games and six of its last seven.
SoCon Television Schedule: The SoCon’s eight-game television package on FSN South continues Saturday with Davidson hosting Georgia Southern at 2 p.m. Also this Saturday is a CSS broadcast between Wofford and College of Charleston. The next scheduled game on FSN South is Saturday, January 28 as College of Charleston hosts Chattanooga, while the next CSS telecast is Monday, January 23 as Western Carolina entertains College of Charleston.
Two SoCon Teams Among Bracket Buster Pool: College of Charleston and UNC Greensboro are the two Southern Conference representatives for the fourth edition of ESPN’s Bracket Buster Saturday series. This year’s pool has been increased to 100 teams, up from 64 a year ago. The Cougars will participate in the event for the third straight year and will be one of the home teams, while the Spartans will be on the road for the event and are partaking in it for the first time. Last year, CofC defeated Virginia Commonwealth 85-75 in one of the pool games.
SoCon Tournament Returns to Charleston: After a one year hiatus where the conference tournament was being held in Chattanooga, TN in 2005, the SoCon Tournament returns to the North Charleston Coliseum for the fourth time in five seasons ? and for each of the next two years. The start of the championship is being moved back a day to Thursday-Sunday, March 2-5 to accommodate a Sunday afternoon finals broadcast on ESPN2. The 2006 edition of the conference championship will be the SoCon’s 86th tournament, the longest Division I men’s basketball championship.
TEAM NOTES:
APPALACHIAN STATE (7-10, 1-3 SoCon): Appalachian State fell to 1-3 in league play with a 73-57 loss at home Monday to Chattanooga...The guard combination of D.J. Thompson and Nathan Cranford combined for 37 points, 13 rebounds, seven steals and six assists...Thompson moved past the 800 point mark for his career following his 20-point effort versus the Mocs...Houston Fancher’s next conference victory will be his 75th at ASU...Jeremy Clayton’s eight blocks on the week moves him into eighth all-time in ASU history after just two seasons with 67 ... Appalachian had all 10 players that saw action against Montreat record an assist as the team finished one shy of a school record with 31 assists...The Mountaineers play at UNC Greensboro on Saturday and will play three of their next four games on the road.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (9-7, 2-3 SoCon): Four starters reached double digits in scoring in Tuesday’s home loss to Davidson...Dontaye Draper led the Cougars with 18 points, while David Lawrence added 13 points and seven rebounds...Josh Jackson and Drew Hall each added 10 points...CofC edged Davidson in rebounding 40-37, marking the team’s fifth straight game that it has outrebounded its opponent...Hall, who has eight double figure scoring games in his two seasons at CofC, has scored at least 10 points in five of his last seven games...Lawrence is averaging 11.8 points and 10.8 rebounds over the past six games...Jermaine Johnson and Draper had a team-high 14 points versus The Citadel...Johnson joins Draper and Jackson as the only players to lead CofC in scoring in a game this season.
CHATTANOOGA (10-9, 2-3 SoCon): Chattanooga knocked off Appalachian State 73-57 Monday for its first true road win of the season...Jerice Crouch came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points in only 23 minutes...Alphonso Pugh added 19 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season...Pugh averaged nearly a double-double this past week, averaging 15.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game...Pugh has moved into seventh all-time at UTC in scoring with 1,138 points and is fourth with 530 rebounds...The win for the Mocs over ASU was only the team’s second win in their last six trips to Boone...UTC has had a different scorer in each of its past five games...The Mocs host Austin Peay in a non-conference tilt on Saturday, then hosts Davidson on Monday.
THE CITADEL (6-10, 0-4 SoCon): The Citadel has lost eight in a row heading into Saturday’s game at Furman...The Bulldogs and Paladins will meet for the 182nd time...The Citadel hasn’t won in Greenville since the 2000-01 season...Donny McLendon led the Bulldogs with 16 points in their loss to Wofford...Dante Terry was the only other player to record double digits in points with 13...Terry moved past the 700 point mark for his career in his game Monday against the Terriers...After its game at Furman, the Citadel heads to UNC Greensboro on monday then hosts Appalachian State next Saturday.
DAVIDSON (10-6, 4-1 SoCon): Davidson, which had its 27-game conference win streak snapped last Saturday at Furman, started a new one on Tuesday with an 80-70 win at College of Charleston...Brendan Winters scored a game-high 25 points, 17 of them coming in the second half...Winters enters Saturday’s game with GSU with 1,652 career points, sixth on Davidson’s career chart...He needs 10 points to move into fifth place in school history...Ian Johnson added 20 points and four rebounds, while Jason Morton came off the bench to add 11 points and four caroms...Fourteen of Johnson’s 20 points came in the first half...It was also Johnson’s best scoring performance since a 24-point outing at Illinois-Chicago on Dec. 29, a span of six games... Bob McKillop posted SoCon win No. 148 on Tuesday at CofC and is two wins shy of becoming the first league coach to win 150 conference games...Kenny Grant has 367 career assists and needs four dimes to move into sole possession of fifth place on the career assist list at Davidson...The Wildcats host Georgia Southern on Saturday in a game that will be televised on FSN South.
ELON (7-9, 4-0 SoCon): Elon enters Wednesday’s non-conference tilt with Montreat on a five-game winning streak...The win streak is the longest for the Phoenix since the 1990-91 season..A win for Elon on Wednesday would match last season’s win total of eight...Elon knocked off UNC Greensboro 62-56 last Saturday behind 18 points from Chris Chalko...Montell Watson and Scottie Rice added 12 and 11 points, respectively...Rice is 32 points shy of 800 for his career...The Phoenix shot 35 percent from the field in its win over UNCG, its lowest shooting performance in the past seven games...The Phoenix host Western Carolina Saturday in a battle of the top two teams in the North Division...Elon then hosts Furman on Monday and travels to Davidson a week from Friday.
FURMAN (10-6, 4-1 SoCon): Furman posted its third straight win on Tuesday, ending Georgia Southern’s 18-game win streak at home, 66-63...Moussa Diagne led the Paladins with 15 points and tied for team honors with seven rebounds...George Brozos scored 12 points in only 13 minutes, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 37 seconds remaining...Robby Bostain added 11 points and seven rebounds in the GSU win...All five starters are averaging better than 9.0 points a game during the team’s three-game win streak -- Bostain 13.7 ppg; Diagne 12.7; Tony Carter 9.7; Eric Webb 9.3; and Stanley Jones 9.0...Furman hosts The Citadel on Saturday, then heads to Elon on Monday.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN (12-5, 3-1 SoCon): The Eagles had their eight-game win streak end Tuesday at home against Furman, 66-63...Donte Gennie paced Georgia Southern with 18 points...Gennie is only the third different Eagle to lead the team in scoring, joining Elton Nesbitt and Louis Graham...Nesbitt scored only 15 points, his lowest output since recording nine points against Missouri State Dec. 2...Nesbitt needs 57 points from becoming only the seventh Eagle to record 1,500 points in a career, while his 168 steals is five shy of third in GSU annals...GSU travels to Davidson on Saturday in a game that will be broadcast on FSN South.
UNC GREENSBORO (8-9, 1-2 SoCon): UNC Greensboro lost for the second straight time on Monday and for the seventh time in eight games following an 87-76 loss to Western Carolina...Ricky Hickman led the way with 26 points while three other starters reached double figures for the Spartans...Hickman is 27 points from reaching the 900 point mark for his career...Kyle Hines added 19 points and nine rebounds...Hines moved past the 700 point and 400 rebound career marks...The Spartans host Appalachian State on Saturday and The Citadel on Monday.
WESTERN CAROLINA (9-10, 3-1 SoCon): Western Carolina won its second consecutive league game on Monday, defeating UNC Greensboro on the road 87-76...Kyle Greathouse paced the Catamounts with a career-high 29 points, while David Berghoefer added 23...Negus McKenna came off the bench to score 13 points against the Spartans, nine more than the entire UNCG team...Greathouse has averaged 23.5 points and 6.5 assists over his last two games while shooting 67 percent from the field...Greathouse’s 29 points were the second most in a SoCon game this year...WCU was 15-of-19 (.789) from the field in the second half against UNCG...The Catamounts travel to Elon Saturday, then host College of Charleston on Monday.
WOFFORD (6-12, 1-4 SoCon): Wofford picked up its first league win of the season with a 67-52 win at The Citadel...It was also the Terriers’ first road win of the season...The trio of Shane Nichols (21 points), Howard Wilkerson (18) and Tyler Berg (17) combined for 56 of the team’s 67 points...Wofford shot 64 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game hitting 50 percent of its shots for the second time in as many games...Wofford is 4-1 this year when it shoots 50 percent or better from the floor...The Terriers host College of Charleston on Saturday in a game that will be televised on CSS...It’s the first of three straight games at home.