Fab Five: A Big South Recap Week 2
A recap of Week 2 of Big South action and preview of Week 3 of Big South action.
After another amazing week of Big South Hoops, we have games to recap, games to preview, and things to talk about.
Talking Points after Week 2:
1. High Point takes sole possesion of 1st place
After Week 2, mostly because of not having a bye game yet. High Point is currently FIRST in the Big South at 3-1, followed by Radford and UNC Asheville at 2-1 (thanks to having early bye games).
Am I shocked by High Point being first, No. Best roster in the conference, and it seems like they finally have the offense humming on all cylinders and the defense isn’t far behind.
2. Home Domination Continues
Just like in Week 1, home court advantage is massive for winning the conference, going 5-3 in Week 2.
Home teams to start conference play is 13-16, winning 81.3% of games. Since 2021, home court has won at a rate of 53.1% (2021), 56.2% (2022), 60% (2023), and 56.9% (2024). Will be interesting to see how this trend holds up as teams like High Point, Radford, Longwood, UNC Asheville and Winthrop start to have more road games.
3. Battle for the Paint
In last weeks post, I talked about the amazing guard play in the Big South, but the amazing guards should not out shine the amazing bigs the Big South has.
The Big South has 3 Top 30 Offensive Rebounders in all of the D1 NCAA
(Juslin Bodo Bodo, Josiah Harris, Jaylen Peterson)
Along with that, Taje Kelly ranks in the Top 20 in Minutes player and being ranked in the Top 200 in 4 catagories, Isaiah Richards is a Top 30 Defensive Rebounder, Winthrop with Talford and Doucet. Toyaz Solomon, Breylin Garcia, and Elijah Tucker are also ranked in the Top 500 in multiple catagories.
4. Big South Players of the Week
Earlier this week, the Big South released their players of the week. Those players being Kelton Talford winning Player of the Week and Mister Dean and Paul Jones winning Co-Freshmen of the Week.
5. Portal Combat
I can’t get too deep into this, but some key/star players will be portaling.
3 Best Games of Last Week:
3. Winthrop at Gardner Webb
One of those games where you could just tell from the Box Score that this game was good. Gardner Webb led by Anthony Selden and his 20 points, took a close 89-83 win over Winthrop.
Winthrop while being led by Talford and his 21 points, along with DJ Doucet’s 16 points, were hampered by as a team shooting on 55.3% on 21/38 shooting from the free throw line, while GWU shot 84%.
2. UNC Asheville at Presbyterian
The only real game of note/excitement from Saturday, the Bulldogs of UNC Asheville took the trip to Clinton, SC to face the Blue Hose of Presbyterian in what turned out to be a very good game.
UNC Asheville led by the DAWG Guard, Jordan Marsh and his amazing 30 points, along with 3 of the other 4 starters in double digits helped UNC Asheville blow past Presbyterian by a score of 96-87 despite Freshman Triston Wilson’s career day with 21 points.
1. UNC Asheville at Longwood
The other UNC Asheville game of the week, was another one that you didn’t want to miss, with UNC Asheville making the trip to Farmville, VA to face Longwood in what was supposed to be an elite guard matchup but man it wasn’t a guard that changed this game.
Michael Christmas took over, 27 points and 8 rebounds along with Kyrell Luc’s rare PG rebound double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The real battle was in the paint where Longwood got 24 offensive rebounds compared to 4 for UNC Asheville leading to a 85-76 Longwood win.
Other Recaps:
Jan 8th:
High Point 93 - Charleston Southern 79
USC Upstate 77 - Presbyterian 67
Jan 11th:
Winthrop 95 - Longwood 76
High Point 96 - Gardner Webb 55
Radford 80 - USC Upstate 67
3 Best Games for Next Week:
3. Radford at Charleston Southern
One of the sneaky good games for the Big South this week, the weekend will be a treat, and one of the treats is Radford traveling to Charleston Southern.
Two big matchups to watch, one on the outside, Jarvis Moss vs Daylen Berry/RJ Johnson two elite Big South guards who both can catch fire at any moment, and both are due for big games. The other matchup being with two of the smaller bigmen in the conference with Josiah Harris vs Taje Kelly and this will likely decide this game.
Prediciton: Radford 72 - Charleston Southern 74
2. Winthrop at UNC Asheville
Another one of the great weekend games, Winthrop makes the short drive up to Asheville to play the Bulldogs.
Winthrop who has been heating up entering this week will need every bit of shooting and scoring they can to keep up with UNC Asheville who has scored 103, 76, and 96 in their 3 conference games so far. Kasen Harrison will have his hands full with Jordan Marsh but Greg Gantt and Toyaz Solomon will need to slow Winthrop’s two headed monster of Kelton Talford and KJ Doucet.
Prediction: Winthrop 87 - UNC Asheville 95
1. High Point at Longwood
The marquee game of the week, and the only one on Thursday. A rematch of last years Big South Upset, this time with Longwood playing host to High Point.
I wouldn’t call this a MUST WIN for Longwood, but it’s very close to one. Realistically if you want to win the conference you will need to knock off High Point once and doing it in the Q is tough. Longwood will need Colby Garland, Christmas and Luc or Tucker to play an amazing game to limit the flamethrower High Point offense. High Point needs to avoid and break the ball pressure which is something that has been spotty all season for the Panthers.
Prediction: High Point 87 - Longwood 80