CONFERENCE NOTES:
SoCon Tournament Tickets On Sale Friday: Tickets for the Southern Conference Men’s and Women’s Tournament will officially go on sale on Friday at Ticketmaster outlets and at the North Charleston Coliseum box office. Single session tickets are $12 or a tournament book for all sessions is $60. Tickets are also available through SoCon member institution ticket offices.
Seven Games on SIRIUS in February: Seven SoCon games will be broadcast on SIRIUS Satellite Radio in the month of February, beginning with Thursday’s Wofford at Appalachian State game. Each game will take the home feed. Below is a listing of this month’s scheduled games.
Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Schedule for February on SIRIUS
Feb. 2 ? Wofford at Appalachian State, 7 p.m. (Channel 110)
Feb. 4 ? Western Carolina at Davidson, 1 p.m. (Channel 117)
Feb. 11 ? Elon at Appalachian State, 3:30 p.m. (Channel 107)
Feb. 13 ? Georgia Southern at College of Charleston, 7 p.m. (Channel 110)
Feb. 18 ? Furman at Davidson, 2 p.m. (Channel 181)
Feb. 23 ? UNC Greensboro at Appalachian State, 7 p.m. (Channel 110)
Feb. 25 ? College of Charleston at Davidson, Noon (Channel 110)
Home Streak Continues For Davidson: Davidson has won 19 straight games at Belk Arena, following the Wildcats’ wins over Elon last Friday and Princeton on Sunday. The streak is the longest active home winning streak in the conference and is the fifth-longest active streak in Division I. The Wildcats host Western Carolina on Saturday.
Coaching Milestones: Davidson’s Bob McKillop became the first SoCon coach to win 150 league games with his victory over Elon last Friday. On Sunday, he won his 275th for his career (and 250 since the Wildcats have been in the league) with a win over Princeton. College of Charleston’s Tom Herrion won his 75th career game on Monday against Appalachian State. Elon’s Ernie Nestor is two wins short of 100.
Home Teams Continue To Win: Home teams have won 15 of the last 19 league contests. Entering Thursday’s game, home teams are 31-14 in conference games. Only Davidson, Elon and College of Charleston at 2-2 have a .500 record on the road in conference play.
Big Month of January for Hines: UNC Greensboro’s Kyle Hines had a big month of January for the Spartans. In nine games, Hines averaged 21.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 2.7 bpg, with all averages ranking in the top three in the conference. Hines also led the conference in field goal percentage, connecting on 69 percent of his shots.
GSU’s Nesbitt Surpasses 1,500 Points: Georgia Southern’s Elton Nesbitt became only the seventh player in school history to score 1,500 points in a career. Nesbitt, who leads the conference in scoring at 21.4 ppg, scored a league-best 36 points in a win over UNC Greensboro on Saturday. Nesbitt has scored in double figures in 20 of 21 games this season and has 12 games of 20 or more points. He is currently sixth all-time at GSU with 1,530 points.
SoCon Television Schedule: The SoCon’s eight-game television package on FSN South continues Saturday with Chattanooga hosting Georgia Southern at 2 p.m. The next scheduled game on FSN South is Saturday, February 18 as Davidson hosts Furman, while the next CSS telecast is Monday, February 6 as Elon entertains College of Charleston.
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 (9-12, 3-5 SoCon): Appalachian State had its two-game winning streak snapped on Monday with a 64-53 loss at College of Charleston...The loss to the Cougars was its fourth straight defeat in Charleston, and the Mountaineers have not won on CofC’s home floor since the 1959-60 season...D.J. Thompson has led ASU in scoring in each of the past three games, including a 21-point performance against The Citadel last Saturday...Thompson moved past the 900-point mark for his career, and has 908 points entering Thursday’s game against Wofford...Jeremy Clayton is second in the league in blocks-per-game average (1.94) and is third overall with 35 blocked shots...Clayton, who has 73 career blocks, will move into sole possession of sixth place in ASU career annals with his next block...After its contest with the Terriers, ASU is off until Tuesday, Feb. 7 when it travels to Furman.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (13-7, 6-3 SoCon): The Cougars are riding a season-best four game winning streak...CofC has held its last four SoCon opponents to under 60 for the first time since the Cougars joined the league in 1998-99...Tom Herrion won his 75th game vs. UTC on Saturday...Dontaye Draper has scored 20 or more points in two of his last three games, including a 26-point outing Monday against Appalachian State...Draper is averaging 20.0 ppg during the team’s win streak...Freshman Jermaine Johnson is shooting 60 percent from the floor (12-for-20)...Drew Hall has averaged 9.3 points, 4.8 rebound and 4.3 assists per game over his last four games...Josh Jackson is averaging 10.8 points and 4.0 rebounds...The Cougars are off until Monday, when they travel to Elon.
CHATTANOOGA (13-10, 4-4 SoCon): Chattanooga enters Saturday’s FSN South game at home against Georgia Southern winners of four of its last five games...The Mocs split their two-game road swing in Charleston, falling to College of Charleston (67-53) and winning in overtime against The Citadel (74-64)...Charles Anderson has paced the team in scoring in each of the past two games, recording 15 versus the Cougars and 16 against the Bulldogs...Since being inserted into the starting lineup four games ago, Steve Cherry has averaged 10.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game...Cherry was 6-for-7 and a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-points range en route to scoring 15 points in the Mocs’ win over The Citadel...UTC hosts Wofford on Monday.
THE CITADEL (6-15, 0-9 SoCon): The Citadel lost a pair of home games last week, falling to Appalachian State (66-65) and in overtime to Chattanooga (74-64)...Donny McLendon scored 20 points in the Bulldogs’ loss to the Mocs, the team’s first 20-plus point outing since McLendon tallied 25 against College of Charleston on Jan. 14...McLendon has led the team in scoring in three of the team’s last five games...The Citadel has three players in the top-30 in scoring -- Dante Terry (12.3 ppg, 16th), Demetrius Nelson (10.3, T24th) and McLendon (10.1, 28th)...The Bulldogs are at Elon on Saturday then step out of league play for a game with Savannah State on Tuesday.
DAVIDSON (13-7, 6-2 SoCon): Brendan Winters missed the Princeton game with a stomach virus, ending his consecutive games started at 104; he had played in the first 107 games of his career at Davidson before sitting out this one...Winters became the fourth Wildcat to score 1,700 points with a three-pointer against Elon, giving him 1,702...Senior Jason Morton started in place of Winters for his third career start and contributed 12 points and five rebounds in 32 minutes...Sophomore Boris Meno has led the Wildcats in rebounding in 11 of the past 13 games, plus scored a career-high 13 points against Princeton on Sunday...After starting the first 18 games this year, Meno has come off the bench the last two and averaged 11 points with 6.5 rebounds while hitting 8-of-12 from the floor and both three-point attempts...Point guard Kenny Grant dished out 10 assists for the third time this year in the win over the Tigers...Davidson has gone 12-0 this year when shooting at least 41 percent from the floor, and 1-7 when shooting below that figure...The Wildcats have led at the half 13 times, winning each game; when trailing or tied at the half, Davidson is 0-7...The win over Princeton was Bob McKillop’s 275th at Davidson and 250th since the Wildcats rejoined the Southern Conference, more than any other SoCon coach ever...Davidson hosts Western Carolina on Saturday, then hosts UNC Greensboro on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
ELON (10-11, 6-2 SoCon): After winning eight in a row, Elon dropped a pair of road games last wek at Davidson (79-60) and Georgia Southern (63-45)...Senior guard Scottie Rice’s 15 points against Davidson tied a season best...Rice scored 15 points in the season opener against Southeastern...With his five assists against Georgia Southern, Rice moved to third on Elon’s all-time assists list with 326 assists...The 45 points scored against GSU was the second-lowest output the Phoenix scored this year...Colin Wyatt was the lone player for Elon to score in double figures against the Eagles, netting 10 points...Chris Chalko scored 18 points -- all on 3-pointers -- against Davidson, shooting 6-for-12 from beyond the arc...Jackson Atoyebi added 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds...Ernie Neston is two wins shy of 100 for his career...Elon hosts The Citadel on Saturday and College of Charleston on Monday.
FURMAN (12-8, 5-3 SoCon): Furman went 1-1 last week, defeating North Dakota State (73-61) and falling to Western Carolina (85-76)...Robby Bostain scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds against NDSU...Bostain moved past the 900-point mark for his career after a 17-point outing against the Catamounts...Head coach Larry Davis is four wins shy of 125 for his coaching career...Eric Webb scored a team-high 21 points in a loss to WCU, while Moussa Diagne added 12...Despite going 2-for-5 from the free throw line at WCU, Webb still leads the SoCon in free throw percentage (.895)...The Paladins are at UNC Greensboro on Saturday, then hosts three straight beginning next Tuesday (Feb. 7) against Appalachian State.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN (14-7, 5-3 SoCon): Georgia Southern snapped a season-long three-game losing streak by knocking off UNC Greensboro on Saturday (86-78)...The Eagles then defeated North Division leader Elon (63-45)...Elton Nesbitt became only the seventh player to score 1,500 career points at GSU following a 36-point performance against the Spartans...Nesbitt is now sixth all-time with 1,530 points and second in steals with 175...Louis Graham averaged 11.0 ppg, 13.5 rpg and 3.0 bpg in the two wins last week...Graham recorded his second double-double of the season against UNCG with 13 points and a career-high 16 boards...He also moved into second place in school history in blocked shots versus the Phoenix with 88...GSU forced Elon into 23 turnovers and leads the league in turnover margin (+4.62)...The Eagles are at Chattanooga on Saturday in a game featured on FSN South, then host Western Carolina Monday.
UNC GREENSBORO (10-12, 3-5 SoCon): UNC Greensboro dropped a pair of road games at Georgia Southen (86-78) and Wofford (84-78) in overtime...Ricky Hickman and Kyle Hines each had 27 points in the loss to the Terriers...Hickman is 40 points shy of 1,000 for his career...Hines moved into 10th place in league history with 166 blocked shots in only 51 games...During the month of January, Hines averaged 21.1 ppg and 8.0 rpg while shooting 69 percent from the floor...Hines is also three points from reaching 800...The Spartans host Furman Saturday.
WESTERN CAROLINA (10-13, 4-4 SoCon): Western Carolina split a pair of league games, losing at Wofford (76-57) and then defeating Furman (85-76) at home...Negus McKenna scored a career-best 24 points in the win over the Paladins, making 7-of-9 3-point attempts...Corey Muirhead and Antonio Russell both broke out of slumps versus Furman...Muirhead, who was 15-of-his-last-56 from the field, made 7-of-8 from the field against the Paladins to score 16 points, while Russell, who scored 18, his most since getting 20 in an overtime loss to Gardner-Webb on Dec. 12...Since 2000-01, WCU has only won double-digit games twice, including a 12-win season in 2001-02 and a 13-win season in 2003-04...The Catamounts have surpassed its SoCon win total of three from last season..WCU is at Davidson Saturday and at Georgia Southern Monday.
WOFFORD (8-13, 3-5 SoCon): Wofford put together its first win streak of the year, knocking off Western Carolina (76-57) and UNC Greensboro (84-78) in overtime...Three players had double-doubles for Wofford against UNCG on Monday -- Howard Wilkerson had 14 points, 10 rebs, Tyler Berg had 18 points and14 rebounds and Drew Gibson had 10 points, 12 assists...The last time Wofford had two players with double-doubles was in 2001...Wilkerson logged a career-high 44 minutes against UNCG...Gibson also played a career-high 42 minutes and Byron Fields had career-best 38 minutes...Berg’s 14 rebounds tied his career-high...With UNCG’s Ricky Hickman and Kyle Hines each scoring 27, it marked the first time that two players scored 25 or more points against Wofford since 1989.