Jan 7th Conference Play Previews
Recapping the games from Jan 3rd and previewing the action on Jan 7th
The first full week of Big South games is finally in the book and we are already down to just 4 undefeated teams, by Wednesday at next week there will be a max of one but knowing this league it could very well be zero.
Lets recap what all happened on our first Big South Saturday, and preview what will happening during the start of Week 2 of Big South play.
Jan 3rd Recap:
Presbyterian beats USC Upstate 86-77
Recap: The first game of Presbyterian’s Big South campaign didn’t disappoint as this game was defined by the runs. The first of which coming after Upstate had an 8-6 lead early in the going before Presbyterian rips off the first of 2 “kill shot” runs as they took a 16-8 lead after a 10-0 run by Presbyterian. Presbyterian continued to extend their lead going up as 31-21 before Upstate rattled off a run of their own to cut the deficit to 1 at half.
After a bit of back for forth at the start of the 2nd half, Presbyterian had a 39-36 lead before Upstate rattled off another run, again for 9 points giving them a 6 point lead. After extending their lead to 7, Presbyterian finally delivered their final “kill shot” with a 13 point run to take the lead which they would not relinquish for the rest of the game winning 86-77 behind Jonah Pierce’s 29 point and 12 rebound double double and Jaylen Peterson’s 13 point and 13 rebound double double.
Presbyterian Takeaways:
When everything is clicking, Presbyterian plays levels above the perceived talent.
Jonah Pierce is a SNEAKY Big South POY contender, especially if he keeps a similar form to the past 3 games.
43 Free Throws for a team that isn’t known for getting to the line, will be interesting to see if this trend follows.
USC Upstate Takeaways:
Got to clean up the free throw shooting, Upstate isn’t the best FT shooting team in the Big South but shooting 59% you aren’t going to win many games.
Rebounding Margin, Upstate lost to rebounding margin by 9 to a Presbyterian team who didn’t play anyone taller than 6’10 then 6’8.
DO NOT PANIC: Upstate ran into a buzzsaw with this matchup, PC coming off a week of rest and getting 43 free throws. Something like this likely won’t happen again for USC Upstate.
Charleston Southern beats UNC Asheville 86-83
Recap: Probably the longest game we will see all season in the Big South, this game elapsed 2 hours and 19 minutes of video time, not counting media timeouts. The last 30 seconds alone elapsed nearly a half hour. The game actually began with Charleston Southern taking a 14-6 lead before UNC Asheville used an 8-0 run to tied it before CSU entered a 6-0 run of their own. After that run CSU continued to extend their lead to as much as 15 before Asheville entered an 8-0 run closing the gap to 9 before halftime.
Asheville continued their 8-0 run in the 2nd half closing it to 3 before CSU could get on the board to start the 2nd half, then closed the gap once again to a 1 point Charleston Southern lead at 41-40 before CSU really began their 2nd half. UNC Asheville kept it close throughout the 2nd half cutting it to a single possession multiple times but never got over the hump. With a little over 3 minutes left in the game, CSU had a 15 point lead before UNC Asheville got hot and normal Big South shenanigans allowed Asheville to close to 3 before getting a shot to tie the game on a late 3, but Toyaz Solomon’s buzzer beater hopes bounced off the front and back rim and finally off the hoop giving CSU the win. Giving CSU their best conference play start since the 2012-13 season.
Charleston Southern Takeaways:
Make your free throws, if CSU shoots better than 51.7% from the free throw line, this game is not close at all.
Depth, this team has around 5-6 real scoring threats, two to three of which usually coming off the bench, this is a hard to game plan for.
Luke Williams is that man. He is worthy of all conference honors at seasons end. I currently don’t have a vote for it, but he would definitely be on at least be an HM for me in his current form.
UNC Asheville Takeaways:
19 offensive rebounds. Asheville had as many ORB’s as they had DRB’s. That is something you have to like if you are an Asheville fan or coach.
Starting Lineup Change? For some reason, Sage Tolentino got the start over Toyaz Solomon then Solomon played the rest of the game. Mike Morrell’s Mind Tricks.
DJ Patrick, Underrated. Despite not really having a great game, Patrick still made his presence known with 4 steals almost as many as Charleston Southern’s entire team which had 5.
High Point beats Longwood 80-67
Recap: The last two schools to represent the Big South in the Big Dance, it’s usually fireworks, this time, not so much. The game began with Longwood taking a 2-0 lead then High Point taking the lead after a Braden Hausen 3, creating the only lead change of the entire game. High Point stretched that lead to as much as 11 in the 1st half but some scoring droughts allowed Longwood to pull within 2 points at halftime.
The first 5 minutes of the 2nd half was much like the 1st half where Longwood was still within arms reach but never took the lead tying the game multiple times. Until, like many times this season, High Point goes a run and extends their lead this time to 9 points, which seemed to put it out of reach. The true kill shot came with just under 10 minutes left as High Point went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 17 which Longwood cut down to 13 before the clock struck 0:00.
High Point Takeaways:
REBOUND!!! Seemingly a rally cry for High Point fans in almost every single game, it’s something that High Point always seems to struggle with. This time allowing 11 offensive boards and losing the overall battle by 4.
Ball Hawks. High Point continues to reek havoc forcing Longwood into 15 turnovers, 11 of which coming off steals without Chase Johnston for a majority of the game.
No Cam, No Problem: Cam Fletcher missed this game for what’s been described as a “inner team concern” but it was no issue as Terry Anderson and other stepped up and seemingly filled in his role nicely.
Longwood Takeaways:
Lacking that SUPERSTAR. Going to use a Madden Reference here. The successful Longwood teams had a X-Factor level star, this team just seems to have a ton of Superstar’s but no true X-Factor.
Fats Finding Footing: After a few rough games in the middle of the non conference, it seems like Fats Billups is finding a middle ground, could be interesting if he has some breakouts.
Turnovers = Game Over. The biggest flaw for Longwood has been their turnover issues. In both of their bad losses they have 19 and 16 turnovers, when they control the ball well, they usually win or give themselves a chance to.
Winthrop beats Gardner Webb 88-77
Recap: Much like the game for Gardner Webb earlier this week, they started out with a massive offensive output leading by 8 in the 1st 6 minutes led by Spence Sims who scored 7 of those first eleven. It didn’t just stop there for Gardner Webb as they jumped out to an 18 point lead with 6 minutes left in the 1st half. Winthrop then began to cut into the lead entering the half down 13, but lost Daylen Berry to an apparent ankle injury which caused him to miss the rest of the game.
The start of the 2nd half was much like the end of the first half as Winthrop continued to cut into the lead getting it to under 10 by the 16 minute mark. Then continued to cut into more coming within 1 point with 12:41 remaining, and after a bit of a stalemate Winthrop finally took the lead with Kody Clouet hitting 2 free throws. That one lead change would be the only lead change of the game as Winthrop continued to extend their newly found lead winning by 11 led by Logan Duncomb with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Winthrop Takeaways:
Logan Duncomb is the CLEAR #1 for Winthrop, 31 points last game and 21 in this one.
Rebounding Domination: In this game Winthrop won the rebounding battle 49-25 almost doubling Gardner Webb, including 4 players have the same or more rebounds than GWU’s leading rebounder.
Kody Clouet becoming the #2 scorer, with Berry seemingly out for a bit will be interesting if he can keep this up.
Gardner Webb Takeaways:
NIL, Gardner Webb needs to do something with their money situation or they will be left behind by even the middle of the pack like they have this season.
Freshman of the Year, it is very likely Spence Sims will win Big South FOY. It is imperative that GWU tries to keep him around next season if they want to win.
1st Half Dominance and 2nd Half Drubbing. GWU has outscored teams 96-71 in the first half and have been outscored 106-60 in the 2nd half of conference games.
Jan 7th Game Previews:
Longwood at UNC Asheville - 6:30pm EST
Preview: There is always talk about contrasting styles, but this is more of a contrast of rosters. Longwood being viewed as one of the deeper teams in the conference and UNC Asheville having one of the most anemic benches in all of college basketball. This game is really one to watch, if Asheville can pull this one out, then I think Asheville will be a middle of the pack team but if they fall in this one, they might be headed to a 7 to 8 seed in Johnson City. While I do think Asheville will lead this one for a bit, but as the game goes on I think Longwood pulls it out with their depth and ability to draw fouls carrying them to the road upset.
Score Prediction: Longwood 77 - UNC Asheville 74
Charleston Southern at Winthrop - 6:30pm EST
Preview: Last years game at Winthrop was an INSTANT classic as it went to triple overtime including 2 buzzer beaters and ending in a 103-97 win for Winthrop. This one could be up for the same billing as CSU travels to (hopefully) play their former star guard Daylen Berry. Both teams live and die by the 3 ball, CSU more than Winthrop and Winthrop allowed teams to average 36.7% from 3PT, CSU also does a very good job of forcing bad shots. I feel we see an “upset” brewing, so I am taking Charleston Southern took keep rolling into their marquee game vs High Point with a win.
Score Prediction: Charleston Southern 95 - Winthrop 89
Presbyterian at Radford - 7pm EST
Recap: Two of the four undefeated teams in the Big South both having wins over the same USC Upstate team. Radford is coming off their bye game and Presbyterian had theirs on Day 1 of conference play. Along with that, this is both the fastest Big South team in Radford against the slowest team in the Big South being Presbyterian. Radford seems to have found something, at least in their 1 conference game, that along with the extra rest and being at home makes me think Radford will get their 2nd win of conference play.
Score Prediction: Radford 72 - Presbyterian 63
Gardner Webb at High Point - 7pm EST
Recap: We have talked about contrasting roster, and contrasting styles in this article. Now we have the ultimate contrast between High Point and Gardner Webb. Simply, everything about these schools is direct opposites outside of both being in North Carolina. Last year this game was just a simple beatdown by High Point being up 53-23 at halftime. This year, I don’t know if High Point will be up 30 at halftime but I think they will take this one pretty handedly.
Score Prediction: High Point 97 - Gardner Webb 71