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Southern Conference 2017-18 Men’s Basketball #SoConHoops facebook.com/SouthernConference 702 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303 • 864-591-5100• Fax: 864-591-3448 twitter.com/SoConSports Phil Perry, Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations (MBK contact) instagram.com/SouthernConference 2017-18 SOCON MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS – (THROUGH GAMES FEB. 8, 2018) CONFERENCE NEWS AND NOTES Conference Overall • All 10 Southern Conference teams are in action Sat- urday, with a couple of games between top-four foes W-L Pct. H A ST W-L Pct. H A N ST highlighting the slate. Third-place Woff ord visits rival ETSU 12-0 1.000 6-0 6-0 W12 21-4 .840 12-1 9-3 0-0 W15 and fourth-place Furman, while Western Carolina, tied for fourth with the Paladins, visits second-place UNCG. UNCG 9-2 .818 5-0 4-2 W2 18-6 .750 12-1 6-5 0-0 W2 • Three SoCon teams appear in this week’s Colleg- Woff ord 8-4 .667 6-1 2-3 W1 17-8 .680 12-2 4-6 1-0 W1 eInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, tied with the West Coast Conference for the most of any league in the Furman 7-5 .583 4-2 3-3 L2 16-9 .640 10-3 4-6 2-0 L2 poll. ETSU remained at No. 5, while UNCG slipped four Western Carolina 7-5 .583 4-1 3-4 W3 12-13 .480 7-2 3-10 2-1 W3 sports to 18th and Furman dropped fi ve spots to No. 24. Woff ord, which had lost three of its last four be- Mercer 4-7 .364 3-3 1-4 W1 11-13 .458 8-3 2-8 1-2 W1 fore Wednesday’s win over Samford, fell out of the poll from 17th. The Citadel 4-8 .333 3-3 1-5 L1 9-15 .375 7-5 2-10 0-0 L1 • ETSU has won 15 straight games, the second-longest Samford 4-9 .308 3-3 1-6 L3 8-18 .308 7-4 1-14 0-0 L3 streak in the SoCon in the last 10 years (see chart on Chattanooga 3-10 .231 3-4 0-6 W1 9-17 .346 8-6 1-11 0-0 W1 page 2) and one shy of matching the school record set in 2003-04. Its current 12-game winning streak in VMI 2-10 .167 1-5 1-5 L3 7-16 .304 5-6 2-10 0-0 L3 regular-season league games is the seventh-longest in SoCon history. UPCOMING SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES EASTERN) SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK • ETSU’s Desonta Bradford was named the SoCon Play- er of the Month for January after averaging 15.6 points, Feb. 10 (Saturday) Zane Najdawi, Jr., F 6.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game and *ETSU at VMI, 1 p.m. ESPN3 The Citadel helping the Bucs to a 9-0 record in the month. *Woff ord at Furman, 4:30 p.m. WYCW-62/ESPN3 • Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter picked up win *Western Carolina at UNCG, 5 p.m. ESPN3 Najdawi averaged 22 points and 8.5 rebounds per No. 700 for his career with last Saturday’s 88-71 win *Mercer at Chattanooga, 5 p.m. ESPN3 game, helping The Citadel defeat Woff ord and Furman over Samford, becoming one of just 40 NCAA men’s *The Citadel at Samford, 8 p.m. ESPN3 last week. basketball coaches with 700 victories. Feb. 12 (Monday) Najdawi began the week with 16 points and seven re- • Chattanooga earned an 85-82 win over The Citadel on Thursday to cool off one of the hottest teams in *ETSU at UNCG, 7 p.m. ESPN3 bounds as the Bulldogs topped the Terriers 80-78 on Thursday. Against the Terriers, Najdawi became the the league. The Mocs put four in double fi gures, with *Mercer at Samford, 8 p.m. ESPN3 Makale Foreman scoring 22, and shot 57 percent from 33rd player to score 1,000 points at The Citadel. He the fl oor. The Bulldogs entered the game coming off added four blocks in the win and became just the sec- Feb. 15 (Thursday) consecutive wins over Woff ord and Furman after a ond player in program history to total 1,000 points, 400 two-point loss to league-leading ETSU. *UNCG at The Citadel, 6 p.m. ESPN3 rebounds and 100 blocks. *Chattanooga at Furman, 7 p.m. ESPN3 • Woff ord junior guard Fletcher Magee hit four 3-point- *VMI at Mercer, 7 p.m. ESPN3 The junior from Midlothian, Virginia, capped off the ers Wednesday night against Samford and is now just *Woff ord at Western Carolina, 7:30 p.m. ESPN3 week with a double-double against Furman on Satur- two away from becoming the Terriers’ all-time leader. day. Najdawi led the Bulldogs with 28 points, pulled He is currently one back of Karl Cochran (2011-15), Feb. 17 (Saturday) who fi nished his career fourth in SoCon history with down 10 rebounds and blocked three shots in a 100- 312. With 108 so far this year, Magee is just fi ve 3s *VMI at The Citadel, 1 p.m. ESPN3 92 overtime victory. Najdawi began the game 5-for-5 away from surpassing the single-season school record *Furman at Samford, 2 p.m. ESPN3 from the fl oor with a pair of 3-pointers as The Citadel he set last season. *ETSU at Western Carolina, 2 p.m. ESPN3 snapped a four-game losing streak to the Paladins. *UNCG at Mercer, 4 p.m. ESPN3 • Magee was named one of 10 national fi nalists for the *Woff ord at Chattanooga, 5 p.m. ESPN3 For the week, Najdawi shot 53.8 percent from the fl oor Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award as an- (14-for-26) and 60 percent from the 3-point line (6-for- nounced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 10). Fame on Tuesday. The award is presented annually to Feb. 20 (Tuesday) the top shooting guard in DI men’s college basketball. *The Citadel at ETSU, 7 p.m. ESPN3 *VMI at Furman, 7 p.m. ESPN3 • So far this season, SoCon games have either been *Western Carolina at Mercer, 7 p.m. ESPN3 tight aff airs or blowouts, with not much in between. With 60 league games in the books so far, just 27 have *UNCG at Woff ord, 7 p.m. ESPN3 been decided by single digits. The other 33 games were decided by an average of 19.0 points per game. Feb. 23 (Friday) *Mercer at The Citadel, 6 p.m. ESPN3 • Woff ord is connecting on 42.1 percent of its 3-point *Woff ord at ETSU, 7 p.m. ESPN3 attempts this season, a mark that would rank fourth in SoCon history. The Terriers have posted top-10 marks *Chattanooga at UNCG, 7 p.m. ESPN3 in each of the last two seasons, shooting 40.8 percent *Samford at VMI, 7 p.m. ESPN3 (seventh) in 2015-16 and 40.3 percent (10th) last year. *Furman at Western Carolina, 7 p.m. ESPN3 • The Citadel is averaging 17.0 assists per game this year, a mark that would tie last year’s squad for fi fth in SoCon history. The Bulldogs are also on pace for fourth in SoCon history with 9.9 steals per game. SoCon Men’s Basketball Release Feb. 9, 2018 Page 1 CONFERENCE NEWS AND NOTES SOCON RECORD BOOK Coaching milestones Coaching victories at SoCon school Three league coaches have reached career win milestones this season. Mercer coach Bob Hoff man earned his 1. 447 Bob McKillop, DAV 1992-2014 500th career victory Jan. 18 and UNCG coach Wes Miller got win No. 100 on Jan. 24. As noted on the previous 2. 266 Mike Young, WOF 2002-present page, Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter notched his 700th career win Saturday against Samford. Hunter has 3. 243 Mack McCarthy, UTC 1985-97 already moved ahead of legendary NC State coach Everett Case on the SoCon’s all-time wins list this season and 243 Burton Shipley, MD 1923-47 needs two more to move into 11th. 5. 230 Bill Reinhart, GW 1935-42; 49-66 6. 226 Eddie Cameron, Duke 1928-42 1,000-point scorers 226 Bobby Cremins, APP, CofC 1975-81; 2006-12 Seven league players have hit the 1,000-point milestone for their careers so far this season. UNCG junior Francis 8. 223 Lyles Alley, FUR 1945-49; 50-66 Alonso reached the mark on Nov. 20 against Delaware, and Furman senior Daniel Fowler joined the club on Dec. 9. 213 Les Robinson, CIT, ETSU 1974-90 30 against VMI. ETSU senior Desonta Bradford reached 1,000 points on Jan. 13, also against VMI, and Mercer’s 10. 205 Murray Greason, WF 1935-53 Stephon Jelks hit the milestone on Jan. 20 against UNCG. As stated on the previous page, three players reached 11. 194 Norman Shepard, UNC, DAV 1923-24; 37-49 the mark Feb. 1, as UNCG’s Marvin Smith did so against VMI, Mercer’s Jordan Strawberry against Furman and The 12. 192 Larry Hunter, WCU 2005-present 13. 187 Everett Case, NCSU 1946-53 Citadel’s Zane Najdawi against Woff ord. Based on their seasonal scoring averages and the number of remaining 14. 176 Lefty Driesell, DAV 1960-69 games on their schedules, two more could reach 1,000 points by the end of the season: Samford’s Demetrius Denzel-Dyson and Mercer’s Demetre Rivers.