SPARTANBURG, S.C. – UNC Greensboro downed defending Southern Conference champion ETSU on the road Saturday and waited out a thrilling finish to the Furman at Wofford contest to claim the regular-season league title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship presented by General Shale at Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina.
 
The tournament begins Friday, March 5, 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 semifinals will air national television for the first time, on ESPNU, while the championship game will air live on ESPN. The other six games will air on ESPN+, with Saturday’s quarterfinals also appearing on select Nexstar affiliates.
 
UNCG had an anxious wait to learn its postseason fate. After falling out of first place Wednesday with an 81-80 loss to Western Carolina, the Spartans moved back to the top of the standings with their 85-74, overtime win at ETSU on Saturday, powered by Isaiah Miller’s career-high 32 points. UNCG needed a Wofford win to prevent Furman from reclaiming the top spot, and the Paladins and Terriers provided another classic installment in their rivalry, with Wofford getting a go-ahead put-back from freshman Morgan Safford with 7 seconds left to claim a 74-73 win, denying Furman and delivering the title to UNCG, its fifth overall and first since 2017-18.
 
The Spartans will face either No. 8 seed The Citadel or No. 9 seed Western Carolina on Saturday, March 6, at noon. UNCG swept a pair of meetings with the Bulldogs this season, claiming an 87-63 home win on Jan. 18 and an 85-66 road win on Feb. 3. UNCG split with the Catamounts, as the squads faced each other twice in three days just this week. The Spartans cruised to a 21-point win on Monday before seeing Western Carolina pull off the upset Wednesday on Mason Faulkner’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 53 seconds to play. UNCG is 2-1 in the SoCon tournament against The Citadel and 3-2 against Western Carolina, though the teams haven’t met since 2012.
 
The Citadel (12-11, 5-11) and Western Carolina (11-15, 4-13) will get the men’s tournament started with their 5:30 p.m. game on Friday, March 5. The squads played twice in a five-day span in the first week of February, with Western Carolina earning its first league win of the season, 76-75 on Faulkner’s floater with 5.5 seconds left on Feb. 1 before the Bulldogs returned the favor 74-63 on Feb. 6. The teams have met in the tournament five times, all in the first round, with the Catamounts holding the slim 3-2 lead.
 
Friday’s second contest will see No. 7 seed Mercer (15-10, 8-9), playing in the first round for the first time since 2016, take on No. 10 seed Samford (6-12, 2-9), which has battled COVID issues this season and was able to play just 11 league games. The first-round matchup should supply plenty of intrigue, as the programs played a pair of thrilling overtime games just two days apart this season. Mercer took an 89-82 win in double overtime on Feb. 8 and followed that up with another overtime win, 77-70, on Feb. 10. The sides will be meeting in the tournament for the first time.
 
The winner of that contest will advance to face No. 2 seed Wofford (15-8, 12-5) on Saturday, March 6, at 5:30 p.m. The Terriers, last year’s seventh seed, pulled off a pair of upsets at the 2020 tournament to reach the title game for the sixth time. Wofford, which finished the regular season with three straight wins, opened league play with consecutive wins over Mercer and Samford, completing the sweep over the Bears with a 72-69 win on Jan. 30. Wofford and Samford were unable to meet a second time. The Terriers topped Mercer in the 2018 quarterfinals in their only tournament meeting and have not faced Samford in the SoCon postseason classic.
 
Saturday’s second game pits No. 4 seed Chattanooga (18-7, 9-7) against No. 5 seed ETSU (12-11, 8-7), the defending tournament champion, at 2:30 p.m. The Mocs took the two meetings between the squads this season by a combined four points, winning 67-65 on the road on Feb. 6 and completing the sweep with a 53-51 home win on Feb. 15. The teams have met in the SoCon tournament 16 teams, splitting the meetings, and will be meeting in the quarterfinals for the third time in four seasons.
 
No. 3 seed Furman (16-8, 10-5), which saw its hopes of its first outright SoCon regular-season title since 1979-80 dashed by just a single point Saturday evening, must regroup to take on No. 6 seed VMI (12-11, 7-7) on Saturday at 8 p.m. The Keydets, whose seven wins are their most since going 7-11 in league play in 2014-15, toppled then-league-leading Furman on Jan. 20, 74-73, in the squads’ only meeting this season. The Paladins holds a slim 7-6 margin in the series in SoCon tournament play, though the teams have not met since VMI rejoined the league in 2014-15, last facing off in 2003.
 
2021 Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship presented by General Shale schedule
Friday, March 5 (ESPN+)
Game 1 - (8) The Citadel vs. (9) Western Carolina, 5:30 p.m.
Game 2 - (7) Mercer vs. (10) Samford, 8 p.m.
 
Saturday, March 6 (ESPN+/Nexstar)
Game 3 - (1) UNCG vs. Game 1 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 4 - (4) Chattanooga vs. (5) ETSU, 2:30 p.m.
Game 5 - (2) Wofford vs. Game 2 winner, 5:30 p.m.
Game 6 - (3) Furman vs. (6) VMI, 8 p.m.
 
Sunday, March 7 (ESPNU)
Game 7 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 5 p.m.
Game 8 - Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 7:30 p.m.
 
Monday, March 8 (ESPN)
Championship game, 7 p.m.