Men’s Basketball Contact: Jason Yaman, Associate Commissioner [email protected] Offi ce: 864.591.5100 Fax: 864.591.3448 2014-15 Southern Conference Basketball Standings February 4, 2015 Conference Overall W-L Pct. Streak W-L Pct. Home Road Neutral Last 10 Streak Wofford 9-1 .900 W5 18-5 .783 11-0 5-5 2-0 9-1 W5 Chattanooga 8-2 .800 W1 15-8 .652 12-2 3-6 0-0 8-2 W1 Mercer 7-3 .700 L1 12-11 .522 9-1 2-8 1-2 6-4 L1 ETSU 6-5 .545 L2 13-8 .619 8-2 5-6 0-0 6-4 W1 Western Carolina 6-5 .545 W2 11-12 .478 6-2 4-9 1-1 6-4 W2 Furman 4-6 .400 L1 7-14 .333 6-3 1-10 0-0 4-6 L1 VMI 4-8 .333 L2 8-15 .348 5-4 2-10 1-1 3-7 L2 The Citadel 3-7 .300 L4 8-13 .381 7-2 1-9 0-2 4-6 L4 Samford 3-8 .273 W3 10-14 .417 8-4 1-9 1-1 4-6 W3 UNCG 3-8 .273 W1 7-17 .292 4-8 3-7 0-2 2-8 W1 Upcoming Schedule Quick Hits • Southern Conference teams are 41-10 at Thursday, February 5 Saturday, February 14 home in nonconference play and 7-7 in neu- *Mercer at The Citadel 6:00 p.m. *Furman at ETSU 4:00 p.m. tral court contests. *Wofford at ETSU 7:00 p.m. *UNCG at Mercer 4:00 p.m. *Chattanooga at Furman 7:00 p.m. *Wofford at Western Carolina 5:00 p.m. • The 2015 Southern Conference tourna- *Samford at Western Carolina 7:00 p.m. *Samford at Chattanooga 7:00 p.m. ment will be held March 6-9 at the U.S. Cel- lular Center in Asheville, N.C. Saturday, February 7 Sunday, February 15 *UNCG at The Citadel 1:00 p.m. *VMI at The Citadel 8:00 p.m. • The league’s men’s basketball programs *Wofford at VMI 1:00 p.m. combined for a Graduation Success Rate *Samford at ETSU 4:00 p.m. score of 83, topping the national average of *Mercer at Furman 4:00 p.m. 73 by 10 points. *Chattanooga at W. Carolina 4:30 p.m. • Home teams are 34-19 in league play. Thursday, February 12 *Furman at VMI 7:00 p.m. • UTC’s Justin Tuoyo has 76 blocked shots *Chattanooga at Wofford 7:00 p.m. and needs just four more to move into 10th *ETSU at UNCG 7:00 p.m. place on the league’s all-time single-season *Western Carolina at Mercer 7:00 p.m. list. *The Citadel at Samford 8:00 p.m. • Four league games are set for Thursday night with a full slate of fi ve league games on tap Saturday. Weekly Awards Player of the Week CRONS Freshman of the Week Casey Jones, Chattanooga, Jr., F Tucker Thompson, Western Carolnia, F Chattanooga’s Casey Jones averaged 23.5 points, 8.5 Western Carolina’s Tucker Thompson has been named rebounds and shot 54 percent from the fi eld last week the CRONS Freshman of the Week. Thompson aver- as the Mocs split a pair of league games. Jones posted career aged 8.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in two starts last week as the highs in points (24) and rebounds (15) in a narrow 75-72 overtime Catamounts picked up a pair of road wins over VMI (85-70) and loss at Mercer last Thursday. In Saturday’s 78-73 win over The UNCG (78-73). He posted nine points and 11 rebounds Thursday Citadel, Jones scored a game-high 23 points in 34 minutes of at VMI, including fi ve offensive boards. He chipped in eight points action. The New Orleans, La., native ranks 10th in the league in in 24 minutes of action against the Spartans on Saturday. Thomp- scoring (14.0 ppg) and is third in rebounds (6.8 rpg). son shot 67 percent from the fi eld and was 9-of-10 from the free- throw line last week. Southern Conference Basketball Weekly Release February 4, 2015 Page 1 Conference News and Notes SoCon Record Book One-Possession Games 3-Point Field Goas Made - Career Southern Conference teams have played 53 league games to date. Ten games (19 percent) 1. 414 Stephen Curry, DAV 2007-09 have been decided by one possession or went into overtime. 2. 396 Andrew Goudelock, CofC 2007-11 • In 2014 the league had 17 of 88 (19 percent) conference games decided by one pos- 3. 358 Donald Sims, APP 2007-11 4. 299 Ian Chadwick, WOF 1997-01 session. 5. 295 Zach Urbanus, CIT 2007-11 • In 2013 the league had 30 of 108 (28 percent) conference games decided by one pos- 6. 281 Karl Cochran, WOF 2011-pres. session. 7. 278 Jake Robinson, WCU 2006-10 • In 2012 the league had 32 of 108 (30 percent) conference games decided by one pos- 8. 273 Eric Webb, FUR 2004-07 session. 9. 270 D.J. Thompson, APP 2003-06 10. 268 Brendan Winters, DAV 2003-06 Athletes of the Month Western Carolina guard James Sinclair averaged 19.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in six No- Steals - Career vember games to help the Catamounts to a 3-3 mark. Sinclair opened the season with four 1. 334 Keith Jennings, ETSU 1988-91 2. 293 D.J. Thompson, APP 2003-06 straight 20-plus games, scoring 20 in a 10-point loss at Mississippi State to open the season. 3. 285 Brigham Waginger, WCU 2006-10 He followed that up with a career night in another close loss at an SEC opponent, scoring 31 4. 250 Derek Rucker, DAV 1985-88 points in an 80-74 setback at Alabama. The senior from Savannah, Ga., then led WCU to its 5. 247 Tyson Patterson, APP 1996-00 fi rst win of the season with 25 points and nine rebounds against Hiwassee before capping his 6. 246 Zakee Wadood, ETSU 2001-04 20-point spurt with an even 20 and another nine boards in a double-overtime win at Oakland 7. 240 Jason Bell, VMI 1995-98 in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. For the month, Sinclair was second in the SoCon in scoring 8. 236 Ricky Hickman, UNCG 2003-07 and steals per game (2.2). He was the SoCon Player of the Week on Nov. 18. 236 Rodney Peel, APP 1988-92 10. 223 Courtney Eldridge, UNCG 1999-01 208 Karl Cochran, WOF 2011-pres. Furman guard Stephen Croone averaged 20.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game for the Paladins in December, highlighted by a season-high 33 points in a Dec. 6 Most Victories At SoCon School win over Samford. The Covington, Ga., junior scored in double digits in all seven games, 1. 447 Bob McKillop, DAV 1992-2014 eclipsing 20 points three times. In addition to the 33 points against the Bulldogs, Croone also 2. 243 Mack McCarthy, UTC 1985-97 notched 25 and 23 in road losses to Minnesota and TCU, respectively. He had a team-high 3. 243 Burton Shipley, Maryland 1923-47 eight rebounds in contests against Liberty and Florida Gulf Coast and added six boards and 4. 230 Bill Reinhart, GW 1935-42; 49-66 fi ve steals against Samford. Croone had at least three steals in fi ve games in the month. For 5. 226 Eddie Cameron, Duke 1928-42 the month, he shot an even 50 percent from the fl oor, going 39-for-78, and was 15-for-37 226 Bobby Cremins, APP, CofC 1975-81; 2006-12 (40.5 percent) from 3-point range. 7. 223 Lyles Alley, FUR 1945-49; 50-66 8. 213 Les Robinson, CIT, ETSU 1974-90 9. 207 Mike Young, Wofford 2002-present Head Coaches 10. 205 Murray Greason, Wake Forest 1935-53 Six of the 10 Southern Conference head coaches returned to the bench in the league this 11. 194 Norman Shepard, UNC, DAV 1923-24; 37-49 season. The current head coaches have a combined 30 years of experience in the SoCon. 12. 187 Everett Case, NC State 1946-53 Three coaches joined the league this season with the additions of ETSU (Murry Bartow), Mer- 13. 176 Lefty Driesell, DAV 1960-69 cer (Bob Hoffman) and VMI (Duggar Baucom). Scott Padgett took over the reigns at Samford 14. 168 Malcolm J. Pitt, Richmond 1935-52 during the summer. 15. 148 Herman J. Stegeman, Georgia 1921-31 • Wofford head coach Mike Young ranks 10th on the league’s all-time wins list. Young has tallied 194 wins with the Terriers and needs just one more victory to move past Nor- man Shepard into tenth place. Young was named the 2014 Coach of the Year by the league’s coaches, while UTC’s Will Wade earned the nod from the league’s media. Schedule Adjustment With ten teams in the SoCon, league teams will play an 18-game double-round robin confer- ence schedule. League teams played 18 conference games from 2007-13, but this season marks the fi rst time since the 1993-94 that SoCon teams will play a double-round robin sched- ule. Southern Conference Coaching Records Coach, School Years at School Record at School SoCon Record Career Record Career Years Chuck Driesell, The Citadel 5 40-107 19-61 40-107 5 Murry Bartow, ETSU 4 221-159 25-18 324-241 17 Niko Medved, Furman 2 16-35 7-19 16-35 2 Bob Hoffman, Mercer 7 138-92 7-3 450-246 20 Wes Miller, UNCG 4 40-69 26-34 40-69 4 Scott Padgett, Samford 1 10-14 3-8 10-14 1 Will Wade, Chattanooga 2 33-23 20-6 33-23 2 Duggar Baucom, VMI 10 148-155 4-8 148-155 10 Larry Hunter, Western Carolina 10 151-164 87-84 660-388 35 Mike Young, Wofford 13 207-190 118-101 207-190 13 Southern Conference Basketball Weekly Release February 4, 2015 Page 2 Preseason Honors Southern Conference News and Notes Preseason Player of the Year Close Encounters Karl Cochran.................................Wofford Southern Conference teams lost 13 nonconference games in 2013-14 that were decided by one possession or went into overtime.