Jan 10th Conference Play Previews
Recapping the games from Jan 7th and previewing the action on Jan 10th
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO.
With Charleston Southern and Presbyterian losing their first conference games of the season, we have two undefeated teams left. Radford and High Point.
Will both of them stay undefeated until their matchup on Jan 24th, I personally think at least one will slip up, most likely Radford but High Point also doesn’t have an easy stretch either.
High Point has to travel to CSU, Radford hosts UNC Asheville, will either of them lose this week?
Jan 7th Recap:
UNC Asheville beats Longwood 72-61
Recap: After a little bit of back and forth the start the game, including the only two lead changes of the matchup. UNC Asheville went on a 9-0 run to make their 3-2 deficit into a 11-3 lead which became a pretty steady cushion for Asheville throughout the first half. Longwood would periodically cut it down to as little as 3 points before Asheville would stretch it back it, at time to as much as 15 points. Asheville’s offense would stagnate near the end of the half allowing Longwood to cut the lead to 5.
Much of that stagnation followed UNC Asheville into the start of the 2nd half allowing Longwood to cut the lead to 1 within 3 minutes of the 2nd half starting and even allowing them to tie the game at 50 with just under 11 minutes to go in the game. Then Asheville went on a 10-2 run giving them a 60-52 lead with around 6 minutes to go and that seemingly be enough as Longwood just ran out of gas only scoring 11 points in the last 10:25 of action allowing UNC Asheville to win 72-61.
UNC Asheville Takeaways:
Morrell Magic Tricks: Last game Morrell had Solomon coming off the bench, this game it was Kam Taylor, both players with some of their best performances of the year.
DJ PaTREYick: DJ Patrick with 6-10 from 3, one of his best games of the season and is 1 of 9 Big South players to average 40% from behind the arc on volume.
Double Digit Dan: Dan Thomas with his 1st double digit rebound game, along with 8 points.
Longwood Takeaways:
Turnovers: Longwood held their turnovers to 10, and had their lowest TO% since their loss to American earlier in the season.
3PT Woes: Longwood once again shot below 30% behind the arc, and even shot below their season average of 28% which is 348th in the country.
Rebounding: Longwood allowed 14 offensive rebounds, compared to Longwood’s 9 including ZERO in the 2nd half.
Winthrop beats Charleston Southern 81-77
Recap: Likely the most anticipated game of the day, and it did not fail to meet expectations. After a bit of back and forth, Charleston Southern took the first notable lead of the game with a 19-12 lead after a 6-0 from the Bucs gave them that advantage. CSU even stretched that lead to 9 going up 30-21 with 7:02 remaining before Winthrop went on a 13-1 run going up 34-31 before once again cooling off and even losing to lead before an Isaiah Wilson half court heave gave Winthrop a slim 37-36 advantage going into halftime.
The 2nd half was much of the same with almost non stop back and forth until Charleston Southern broke out a 6 point with just under 8 minutes to go. CSU would hold onto that lead until 4 minutes left in the game but two massive things happened in those 4 minutes as both Lase Olalare and Reis Jones would foul out of the game, leaving CSU with only 1 big man in Devin Brafford left in the game. While Brafford did play very good in those minutes, Logan Duncomb was too much of a headache as he scored 12 points in last 5 minutes to help Winthrop win 81-77.
Winthrop Takeaways:
Duncomb POTY: Logan Duncomb is quietly becoming the front runner for Big South POTY, which would be Winthrop’s first since DJ Burns in 21-22.
No Berry, No Issue: Daylen Berry missed this game due to an ankle injury in which he suffered last game.
DEFENSE: Despite allowing teams to shoot over 35% from 3, Winthrop held CSU to 25.8%.
CSU Takeaways:
Sumler Resurgence: In all 3 Big South games so far for CSU, A’lahn Sumler has led the team in scoring, averaging 23 PPG in conference play.
No Worries: I have no reason to be out on this CSU team, Blaine had his worst game of the season and as a team shot 25.8% from 3, which is unlikely to be a trend.
Brafford Block Party: Devin Brafford had 5 blocks, which is tied for 2nd most this season and had the least minutes of anyone with 5 blocks this season in the Big South.
High Point beats Gardner Webb 104-49
Recap: This game was truly a blood bath from the beginning, High Point jumped out to a 16 point lead before Gardner Webb got even their first points of the game. After that maybe Gardner Webb began a run, nope. High Point then scored another 14 before Gardner Webb got their next points of the game. High Point finally capped off their 40-6 run and almost immediately began another 13-1 run before Gardner Webb hit a layup to enter halftime down 40, which considered this game, as Erik Haslam form HaslamMetrics would say #AnalyticallyFinal.
After a little bit of back and forth to begin the 2nd half, High Point went on their 3rd and final big run of the game. This time it was a 21-3 run which put them up 80-20 and High Point continued to cruise to their 104-49 victory which was the largest in Big South conference history.
High Point Takeaways:
This Year’s Bobby, Conrad: One of the best players this year for High Point, much like last year, is their bench PG. Last year it was Bobby, this year it’s Conrad Martinez. Conrad currently has a 3.6 PRPG!, which ties him for 2nd in the Big South.
Dominance: This is currently the 4th most dominant win in all of CBB this season, the most dominant in a conference game, and High Point 3rd game in the Top 100 most dominant games.
Elite Company: In the post game presser, Flynn Clayman mentioned High Point and Houston are the only two teams to be Top 15 in Offensive Turnover % AND Defensive Turnover %. HPU is 6th in Offensive and 11th in Defensive.
Gardner Webb Takeaways:
DJ Jefferson Breakout: DJ Jefferson led Gardner Webb with 20 points, many of which coming in the 2nd half. It would be interesting to see if he can build off it.
Bo Knows: Bo Barber, a Grad Assistant at the start of the year, led GWU in assists with 4.
KenPom Gains: Thanks to The Citadel losing by 38 to Mercer, Gardner Webb actually moved up to 358 on KenPom, gaining 1 spot from their previous spot at 359th.
Radford beats Presbyterian 80-61
Recap: The final of the four Big South games on Jan 7th, and this one was guaranteed to take aways one of the team’s 0 in the loss column in conference play. The first half was a near constant back and forth between Presbyterian and Radford until Radford took the lead at the 10 minute mark and continued to hold their narrow margin until at the buzzer Carl Parrish hit a 3 to tie that game at 36.
The second half was different story, after the 18 minute mark where Presbyterian once again tied the game, this time at 40. Radford started to take hold of this contest, due in part to Del Jones with 2 3’s and Tyson Brown getting 2 of his own sparking off an 8-0 run. Radford was able to keep their lead pretty healthy and finally delivered a final blow with 12-0 run over 5 minutes of game time and extending Radford lead to 19, which is the exact margin Radford would win by, 80-61.
Radford Takeaways:
Del and Dennis Show: Radford might have one of the best two player duos in the Big South with Del Jones and Dennis Parker, Parker has averaged 23 PPG in conference and Jones is averaging 19.5 PPG in conference.
Radford is Rollin: Despite starting the season 2-6, Radford is now 9-8 with those only 2 losses coming to a in hindsight pretty decent Southern Miss team and CAA contender William and Mary.
Keep the 0: Radford has kept their 0 in the loss column for the first time since Mike Jones in the 2020-21 season.
Presbyterian Takeaways:
Free Throw Woes: Presbyterian shot 50% from the free throw line, 16% lower than the season average for PC.
Homegrown Talent: 58 points of PC’s 61 came from players who were in the program last year.
Pierce and Peterson: Jonah Pierce and Jaylen Peterson both with stellar performances including a double double for Pierce and 7 points and 8 rebounds for Peterson.
Jan 10th Preview:
Winthrop at USC Upstate - 2pm EST
Preview: Winthrop pulled likely the biggest resume win so far in Big South conference play, and their reward? Traveling to USC Upstate which coming off a week of rest. So far teams taking a week off are 2-0, one funny enough faced USC Upstate. The game will really come down to the matchup down low between Duncomb and the duo of Coen Collier and Jafeth Martinez. I think the rest, and home court advantage along with their two defense forward centers gives Winthrop issues as Upstate cruises to their first conference win.
Score Prediction: USC Upstate 78 - Winthrop 72
High Point at Charleston Southern - 2pm EST
Preview: This game right here, could be potentially game of the year for the Big South. High Point just got done with biggest win in Big South history and CSU is MOTIVATED after losing a close one to Winthrop. This game likely comes down to what High Point can stop, I think High Point will do what they want on the offensive end and I think CSU has to make this a true shootout and start out hot. In the end, it’s hard to pick against High Point, they seem to be the Killdozer and the Big South is the town of Granby.
Score Prediction: High Point 91 - Charleston Southern 87
UNC Asheville at Radford - 2:30pm EST
Preview: Another must see Big South game on Saturday, this time it’s two teams that both seem to some of the most interesting teams in the conference. Radford despite an awful start seems to be playing their best hoops of the season and UNC Asheville has 4 all conference level players, but really seemingly have no other offensive output from the others. If this game gets into crunch time, I favor Radford and with this being a conference game, I think we get into crunch time and that depth will take Radford to the finish line before UNC Asheville.
Score Prediction: Radford 72 - UNC Asheville 70
Presbyterian at Longwood - 3pm EST
Preview: I will be honest, this game just doesn’t pop off the page like the others. Not slight to either team as I think both are still very high level and could very well put on a good game. Longwood seemingly can be the Top Dog but can also stumble and be the bottom, PC is much more consistent but can also stumble that same way. I do think Longwood handles business at home and gets back to .500 in conference play.
Score Prediction: Longwood 68 - Presbyterian 61