SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford, which completed its undefeated run through the Southern Conference regular season on Saturday, is the No. 1 seed and defending champion UNC Greensboro is the No. 2 in the upcoming Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship presented by General Shale at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
The tournament begins Friday, March 8, with a pair of first-round games. Four quarterfinal games follow on Saturday, with the semifinals on Sunday and the title game on Monday at 7 p.m. The championship tilt will air live on ESPN, while every other contest will air on ESPN+ and the quarterfinals and semifinals will air on select Nexstar affiliates.
The Terriers’ No. 1 seed is their first since the 2014-15 season, when they won the regular season outright and went on to win their second tournament title in a row. Wofford finished the regular season with a 26-4 overall record and an 18-0 mark in league play, completing the first undefeated SoCon season since Davidson went 20-0 in conference games in 2007-08. The Terriers, who enter the tournament riding a 17-game winning streak and nationally ranked, will be seeking their fifth title since 2010.
Wofford will play either No. 8 seed VMI or No. 9 seed Western Carolina on Saturday at noon. The Terriers have faced the Keydets just once in tournament play, in 2000, and have taken on the Catamounts eight times, most recently in 2016.
The Keydets (10-20), Catamounts (7-24) and The Citadel (12-17) each finished 4-14 in league play, with VMI winning the tiebreaker for the top seed among the group and WCU getting the second. VMI and Western Carolina will open the men’s tournament Friday at 5 p.m. The Keydets swept the Catamounts during the regular season. The teams haven’t met in the tournament since 1996, when Western Carolina won in the semifinals en route to their lone championship title.
No. 7 seed Samford (16-15, 6-12 SoCon) and No. 10 seed The Citadel follow at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The squads split in the regular season, each winning tight games on its home floor. Samford claimed an 80-77 on Jan. 17 but The Citadel answered with an 87-83 overtime win on Feb. 23. The teams have met twice in the SoCon tournament, in 2009 and 2010.
The winner of that contest will advance to face No. 2 seed UNCG (26-5, 15-3) on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Spartans swept both opponents during the regular season. UNCG has played in the last two tournament title games, topping ETSU in last year’s tilt for its second title overall and first since 2001. The Spartans have faced The Citadel in the tournament three times, including in the quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons, and have taken on Samford just once, in 2015.
Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. contest features No. 4 seed ETSU (23-8, 13-5) taking on No. 5 seed Chattanooga (12-19, 7-11). The Bucs, who have played in the last three tournament title games, winning in 2017, swept the season series from the Mocs. The sides will be meeting in the tournament for the 16th time, a high for either team against other SoCon opponents. They also faced each other in the quarterfinal round last season and in the final in 2016, when Chattanooga won its first title since 2009.
Furman (24-6, 13-5), which set a school record for overall wins, claimed the tiebreaker with ETSU for the No. 3 seed by virtue of its season split with UNCG. The Paladins, who opened the season 12-0 and jumped in the national rankings for three weeks, will take on Mercer (11-19, 6-12), which earned the tiebreaker with Samford for the No. 6 seed via its season sweep of the Bulldogs, on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Furman swept Mercer during the regular season. The teams have met in the SoCon tournament just once, in the 2015 semifinals, which saw the 10th-seeded Paladins win to advance to the title contest against Wofford.
2019 Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship presented by General Shale schedule
Friday, March 8 (ESPN+)
Game 1 - (8) VMI vs. (9) Western Carolina, 5 p.m.
Game 2 - (7) Samford vs. (10) The Citadel, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 9 (ESPN+/Nexstar)
Game 3 - (1) Wofford vs. Game 1 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 4 - (4) ETSU vs. (5) Chattanooga, 2:30 p.m.
Game 5 - (2) UNCG vs. Game 2 winner, 6 p.m.
Game 6 - (3) Furman vs. (6) Mercer, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 10 (ESPN+/Nexstar)
Game 7 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 8 - Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, March 11 (ESPN)
Championship game, 7 p.m.
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