Big South Conference Notebook
Time to Get Down to Business
The fun and games are now over. For the most part, non-conference season has passed and now the serious part of the schedule presents itself as every team in the Big South will tip off their conference season this upcoming week.
Though the league as a whole did not see much success against foes from other conferences, everybody essentially gets a fresh start beginning this week. The favorites appear to be Winthrop and Birmingham-Southern, as they were the only two teams in the Big South that were able to win more often than they lost to other Division I programs.
Of course, not only is the regular season conference schedule important for bragging rights and Big South Tournament seeding, but as it was last year, the higher seeds will host tournament games at their home courts this season, making every conference match-up that much more important. Expect very intense games over the course of the next two months, and though there appears to be a couple of favorites, there are a few other teams that seem capable of making a strong showing in the league.
Player of the Week
There was no Big South Notebook last week due to the holidays, so to make up for lost time (and because picking between these two was too difficult), there will be two Players of the Week this time around. High Point teammates Danny Gathings and Mark Wilson both struggled a bit in the Panthers’ first game of the past two weeks (a 74-73 loss at Marshall), but both came up huge in a blow-out road victory at James Madison. Gathings averaged 17 points and 8 rebounds over the two games while Wilson averaged 17.5 points and 7 rebounds over the same period. Against JMU, Wilson led the team in scoring with 27 points and added 8 rebounds to the cause. Gathings had a double-double, scoring 24 points and bringing down 10 rebounds.
Team Reports
Birmingham-Southern Panthers (7-4 overall, 2-1 last two weeks)
Birmingham-Southern has found great success in tournaments sponsored by soft drinks. Early in the year, the Panthers won the Pepsi Marist Classic in Poughkeepsie, New York. This past week, they brought home the champions’ trophy from the Dr. Pepper Classic in Chattanooga. In the Dr. Pepper Classic, the Panthers defeated Tennessee-Martin 64-53 in the first game before knocking off the host Chattanooga Mocs in the championship game, 64-59.
Before that tournament, BSC found trouble on the road as they fell to Texas-Pan American, 69-57. Senior guard Jakob Sigurdarson has continued to lead the Panthers, scoring in double-figures in all three games, including a team high 20 point outburst against Chattanooga. Junior forward Thomas Viglianco also played well against the Mocs, notching 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Panthers will open their conference season at home with a game against Radford on January 5. Following that match-up with the Highlanders, BSC will hit the road and will take on High Point on January 8.
Charleston Southern Buccaneers (2-7 overall, 1-2 last two weeks)
The Bucs found mixed results over the past two weeks, getting blown out at Georgia Tech, 90-48, before splitting a pair of games on their way to a second place finish at the UCF Holiday Classic. In the Classic, CSU won a tight-battle over Fordham in the first round, defeating the Rams 50-49. The low scores continued into the championship round, with Brown winning the tournament by beating Charleston Southern, 65-52.
CSU continues to struggle to find consistent offense, only scoring over 60 points twice all season in nine games. Senior center Nathan Ball, the team’s second leading scorer, has missed the last couple of games due to a back injury so the scoring load has fallen completely into the lap of senior forward Kurtis Rice. Rice was up to the task against Fordham, scoring 26 points, along with 11 rebounds. However, Rice was stifled against Brown, only managing 9 points.
Charleston Southern hosts Robert Morris on January 3, then tips off conference play with a three-game road trip. The first two games of the trip will take place this week, with UNC Asheville being the first stop on January 5 and VMI being the destination on January 8.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (3-9 overall, 1-2 last two weeks)
Coastal Carolina was involved in three blowouts over the past couple of weeks, unfortunately for them, only one ended up being a win. The Chants failed to beat its two tough Division I opponents, falling to College of Charleston, 87-69, and Tennessee, 83-51, with both games being on the road. However, they did find success at home against Division III Ohio Northern, beating the Polar Bears 63-45.
As has been the case all season, junior guard Pele Paelay continues to be the go-to guy for the Chants. Paelay averaged 15.7 points over the past three games and added 6.3 rebounds to help the Chants on the boards.
The Chants get to open their conference season at home as they will face Winthrop in Kimbel Arena on January 5. Afterwards, Coastal will head to Radford to face the Highlanders on January 8.
High Point Panthers (4-8 overall, 1-1 last two weeks)
As mentioned earlier in the Player of the Week report, High Point split its two games this past week, losing on a buzzer-beater at Marshall, 74-73, before going to James Madison and blowing out the Dukes, 82-63. Against James Madison, High Point finally put together the type of performance that many people expected them to have often coming into the season. The forward combination of Danny Gathings and Mark Wilson combined for 51 points and 18 rebounds and were virtually unstoppable all of the court.
Other Panthers that have seen recent success have been senior guard Zione White and senior center Jerry Echenique. White scored 22 points in the loss to Marshall while Echenique scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against the Thundering Herd.
The upcoming week will be busy for the Panthers as they will have three games, though all of the games will be at home in the Millis Center. High Point will host Utah Valley State on January 3 in their final non-conference game before facing Liberty on January 5 and Birmingham-Southern on January 8 to open up Big South play.
Liberty Flames (2-9 overall, 1-3 last two weeks)
The rough start continues for the defending Big South champions, though they did manage one win in their past four games, all of which were away from home. In the third game of the trip, the Flames notched their first win of the season against a Division I opponent as they beat Marist, 69-67, behind a combined 41 points from the sophomore guard combination of Larry Blair and David Dees.
Blair gave the Flames their only other positive of the past two weeks as he put up 30 points and 5 rebounds in an otherwise ugly 112-68 loss to Maryland in the game that preceded the win over Marist. Liberty started the four-game trip with an 88-44 loss at Miami (OH) and their most recent contest was an 82-45 loss to Seton Hall.
The Flames will remain on the road for one more week as they open up Big South play away from the Vines center for two games. High Point will be Liberty’s first conference opponent on January 5 and Winthrop will be their second stop on January 8.
Radford Highlanders (5-6 overall, 0-3 last two weeks)
It is doubtful that head coach Byron Samuels or the rest of the Highlanders will have too many fond memories of the western half of the country after losing their past three games. Radford opened their westward trip with a 74-58 loss at Colorado, and then followed that with two losses at the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic in Moraga, California. In that tournament, the Highlanders opened with a 72-60 loss to the host school (St. Mary’s) before falling on the second day to Cal-Davis, 67-63.
And not all of the bad news happened on the court for Radford. Right before the game against Colorado, Samuels suspended junior guard Whit Holcomb-Faye and senior forward Brandon Jeffers for ‘lack of leadership and behavior detrimental to the team.’ Though both players returned to the court in the Shamrock Classic, there appears to be some internal problems occurring with the Highlanders.
Radford looks to snap its three-game skid with their conference opener at Birmingham-Southern on January 5. If they fail to win there, they will have a decent chance of earning a conference win with a home game against Coastal Carolina on January 8, as the Highlanders have had plenty of success against the Chanticleers in recent years.
UNC-Asheville Bulldogs (3-8 overall, 0-2 last two weeks)
While Radford may not have any love lost for the western part of the country, UNC Asheville probably has the same feeling for the state of Michigan. The Bulldogs spent the week leading up to New Year’s up north, losing to both Michigan State and Michigan.
In the 92-63 loss to the Spartans, the Bulldogs were led by 14-point efforts from junior guard Omar Collington and sophomore guard Steven Rush. Rush was then unable to play against Michigan two days later due to a hamstring injury, and UNCA missed his sharp-shooting from the outside as they fell to the Wolverines, 75-54. Senior forward Bryan McCullough was the leading scorer for the Bulldogs in that game, putting up 14 points in the loss.
The Bulldogs have the lightest schedule in the league this upcoming week, only playing one game. On January 5, UNCA will begin its Big South slate with a home game versus the Charleston Southern Buccaneers.
VMI Keydets (5-4 overall, 0-2 last two weeks)
The Keydets spent their week between Christmas and New Year’s in New Orleans, and came away from Creole Country with two stinging losses. In their first game of the trip, VMI found itself leading New Orleans 41-40 with a little over nine minutes left, but were never able to regain the lead the rest of the way as the Privateers won the game, 62-49. Tulane was the second opponent on the trip, and though the Keydets led by as many as 19 points in the second half and by 11 points with less than five minutes remaining, they were unable to beat the Green Wave, falling 82-74.
The biggest bright spot for VMI during the trip was the play of sophomore guard Matt Coward. Coward averaged 18.5 points, 4 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in the two games. However, the sophomore point guard did have 11 turnovers in those games and was unable to find much help, save an 18 point performance by freshman forward Reggie Williams in the loss to Tulane.
As the rest of the conference opens up conference play on January 5, VMI will head to Baltimore to face Loyola (MD). After the Keydets get home from that contest, they will tip-off their conference season in Cameron Hall against Charleston Southern on January 8.
Winthrop Eagles (9-4 overall, 2-2 last two weeks)
The West Coast was as unkind to Winthrop as it was to Radford, as the Eagles dropped a pair of games, one to Portland and one to Oregon, in a trip out west. However, the Eagles did grab a couple of wins recently as they defeated Georgia College & State and Ferrum, a pair of non-Division I teams, at home.
Sophomore guard Torrell Martin and sophomore forward both played well in the trip out west, but the Eagles fell to Portland, 70-64, and to Oregon, 71-56. Martin led the team in scoring in both games, averaging 14 points per game on the trip while Williams averaged 11 points and 5 rebounds in the two games. Martin sat out the next two games due to a nagging hip injury, but it did not matter as the Eagles beat Georgia College & State, 69-56, and easily took care of Ferrum, 90-62.
Winthrop will look to carry its successful non-conference performance into their Big South opener at Coastal Carolina on January 5. Three days later, the Eagles will play their first home conference game as they host Liberty. Martin is expected to play after missing the past two games with the hip injury.
