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 NOV. 20, 2017) NOTES Conference Overall • Southern Conference teams have evened their re- W-L Pct. H A ST W-L Pct. H A N ST cord at 21-21 on the young season, with nine of the wins coming against non-Division I opponents and 13 UNCG 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 3-1 .750 3-0 0-1 0-0 W3 of the losses coming against Power 5 and/or ranked Mercer 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 4-2 .667 2-0 0-1 2-1 L1 teams. Woff ord 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 3-2 .600 3-1 0-1 0-0 W2 • The 10 league teams have combined to go 17-1 at home, 3-19 in true road games and 1-1 on neutral Chattanooga 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 2-2 .500 2-0 0-2 0-0 W2 courts. ETSU 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 2-2 .500 1-0 1-2 0-0 W1 • The Southern Conference has faced three ranked Furman 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 2-2 .500 2-0 0-2 0-0 L2 teams so far, and Western Carolina has taken on two The Citadel 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 2-2 .500 1-0 1-2 0-0 W1 of them. The Catamounts have dropped road games at No. 12 Cincinnati and No. 14 Minnesota. VMI 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 1-2 .333 1-0 0-2 0-0 W1 Samford 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 1-3 .250 1-0 0-3 0-0 L2 • Woff ord’s Fletcher Magee and Mercer’s Ria’n Holland are 1-2 in NCAA Division I in made 3-pointers. Magee Western Carolina 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 1-3 .250 1-0 0-3 0-0 L1 has hit 24 so far this season, including at least six in three straight games, while Holland has connected on 21 3-point attempts. UPCOMING SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES EASTERN) SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK Nov. 21 (Tuesday) Fletcher Magee, Jr., G • Mercer made a run to the title game of the Paradise Trinity Baptist at The Citadel, 6 p.m. SDN Jam over the weekend, starting with a win over host (Jamaica Classic) Woff ord Liberty. The Bears then topped Drexel to reach the ti- Ohio Valley at VMI, 7 p.m. ESPN3 tle game before falling to undefeated Colorado, 79-70. Western Carolina at Massachusetts, 7 p.m. Magee averaged 28.7 points for the week, helping the (Barclays Center Classic) Terriers to a 2-1 mark. In a 79-65 loss at California on • Chattanooga held Alabama State to just 14 fi rst-half Longwood at UNCG, 7:30 p.m. ESPN3 Thursday, the Orlando, Florida, native scored nearly points Monday, the fewest points by a Mocs DI oppo- (UNCG Showcase) nent at the half since The Citadel scored 12 on Feb. 10, Jacksonville State at Chattanooga, 7:30 p.m. ESPN3 half of Woff ord’s points on the day, hitting seven (Cayman Islands Classic) 3-pointers as part of a 10-for-16 (.625) shooting day 2007, in McKenzie Arena. Samford at Valparaiso, 8 p.m. ESPN3 en route to 32 points. (Savannah Invitational) • ETSU downed Delaware State 81-57 at home Mon- day, improving to 27-4 at Freedom Hall under coach Two days later, Magee scored 23 points in just 23 min- Nov. 22 (Wednesday) Steve Forbes. Woff ord at Texas Tech, 6:30 p.m. FSSW+ utes as the Terriers cruised to a 98-65 home win over Troy at ETSU, 7 p.m. ESPN3 Bob Jones. He was 8-for-13 from the fl oor (.615) and • UNCG junior guard Francis Alonso became the 23rd (Adolph Rupp Classic) 6-for-9 (.667) from long range. He closed his week with player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark a 31-point eff ort in an 86-83 win over North Florida on Nov. 24 (Friday) for his career Monday, surpassing the number with his Furman vs. New Hampshire, 1 p.m. Sunday. He went 11-for-19 from the fl oor (579) and hit career-high 32-point eff ort against Delaware. (PK80-Phil Knight Invitational at Nashville, Tenn.) another six 3-pointers to raise his season total to an Southeastern Louisiana at Samford, 2 p.m. ESPN3 NCAA Division I-best 24. • So far this year, Samford is averaging 28 points in the (Savannah Invitational) fi rst half of action. Conversely, the Bulldogs are scor- UNCG at Wake Forest, 7 p.m. ACCNE For the week, Magee was 29-for-48 (.604) from the ing at a 46-point clip in the fi nal 20 minutes of play. Western Carolina vs. UT-Arlington, 7 p.m. fl oor and 19-for-32 (.594) from 3-point range. He was a (Barclays Center Classic; Niagara University, N.Y.) • Woff ord coach Mike Young picked up the 250th win The Citadel at Florida State, 8 p.m. ACCNE perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line and averaged (Jamaica Classic) 2.0 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game. He was the over his career Saturday, 96-65 over Bob Jones. The leading scorer in all three games. Terriers would top North Florida the following day to Nov. 25 (Saturday) push Young’s career record to 251-228. Furman vs. Northeastern, 3 p.m. (PK80-Phil Knight Invitational at Nashville, Tenn.) • Saturday at High Point, The Citadel trailed by 15 Fort Wayne at ETSU, 4 p.m. ESPN3 points with 13:49 to play before storming back to (Adolph Rupp Classic) claim the road win, leading by as many as eight points VMI at American, 4 p.m. PLN late in the second half. It was the biggest defi cit the Western Carolina vs. Alabama A&M or Niagara, 4/7 p.m. (Barclays Center Classic; Niagara University, N.Y.) Bulldogs have overcome to win since the 2012-13 Tennessee Wesleyan at Chattanooga, 7 p.m. ESPN3 squad came back from a 16-point defi cit to win 68-57 at Furman on Feb. 2, 2013. TV/DIGITAL KEY • VMI sophomore guard Tyler Creammer scored career highs in successive games with 13 points at Duquesne ACCNE ACC Network Extra and 19 points against Presbyterian. He also pulled FSSW+ Fox Sports Southwest Plus down a career-high nine rebounds against the Blue PLN Patriot League Network Hose. SDN SoCon Digital Network SoCon Men’s Basketball Release Nov. 21, 2017 Page 1 CONFERENCE NEWS AND NOTES SOCON RECORD BOOK Most victories at SoCon school SoCon on the national level 1. 447 Bob McKillop, DAV 1992-2014 As a conference, the SoCon fi nished 16th in the RPI last season, its best showing since fi nishing 16th in 2006- 2. 251 Mike Young, Woff ord 2002-present 07. 3. 243 Mack McCarthy, UTC 1985-97 243 Burton Shipley, Maryland 1923-47 New faces 5. 230 Bill Reinhart, GW 1935-42; 49-66 Two new head coaches join the league in 2017-18. Bob Richey takes over at Furman after six seasons on the 6. 226 Eddie Cameron, Duke 1928-42 Paladin coaching staff , while Lamont Paris assumes the lead role at Chattanooga after spending the previous 226 Bobby Cremins, APP, CofC 1975-81; 2006-12 seven years as an assistant at Wisconsin. 8. 223 Lyles Alley, FUR 1945-49; 50-66 9. 213 Les Robinson, CIT, ETSU 1974-90 Returning weapons 10. 205 Murray Greason, Wake Forest 1935-53 • Seven of the 15 All-Southern Conference players from last year return to the league in 2017-18, including 11. 194 Norman Shepard, UNC, DAV 1923-24; 37-49 fi rst-teamers Devin Sibley of Furman and Fletcher Magee of Woff ord. 12. 187 Everett Case, NC State 1946-53 • Collectively, the league returns 92 letterwinners and 30 starters from last season. Mercer, Samford and 13. 181 Larry Hunter, WCU 2005-present Western Carolina each return all fi ve starters, while Furman returns four. Chattanooga is the only team in the 14. 176 Lefty Driesell, DAV 1960-69 league replacing all fi ve starters this year. Career 3-point percentage (min. 120 made) Postseason experience Pct. 3FG-3FGA Four teams reached postseason play last season. ETSU won the SoCon Championship and the league’s au- 1. 49.3 223-452 Keith Jennings, ETSU 1989-91 tomatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where it fell in the fi rst round to Florida. UNCG made its fi rst NIT ap- 2. 45.3 227-501 Fletcher Magee, WOF 2015-pr. pearance since 2002, falling to Syracuse, while Furman and Samford participated in the CollegeInsider.com 3. 45.2 126-279 Alan Puckett, CIT 1999-02 Tournament, with the Paladins reaching the semifi nals. 4. 45.0 146-324 Shawn Reid, FUT 1984-88 5. 44.7 159-356 Brandon Born, UTC 1991-95 Sharpshooting Bulldogs 6. 44.5 154-346 Derek Rucker, DAV 1985-88 The Citadel led the nation in scoring last season at 89.9 points per game, fi nishing second in Division I with 397 made 3-pointers, a SoCon record. Preston Parks paced the Bulldogs with 18.1 points per game, the fourth-best mark in the league, en route to being named the SoCon Freshman of the Year.