SOUTHERN CONFERENCE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2019-20 702 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303 • 864-591-5100• Fax: 864-591-3448 Phil Perry, Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations (MBK contact) facebook.com/SouthernConference • twitter.com/SoConSports • instagram.com/SouthernConference 2019-20 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL StaNDINGS NOTES Conference Overall • The postseason picture will start to come into clear- er focus Wednesday, as all 10 Southern Conference W-L Pct. H A ST W-L Pct. H A N ST squads take the floor in the final midweek games of ETSU 14-2 0.875 7-1 7-1 W7 25-4 0.862 15-1 10-3 0-0 W7 the regular season. Furman 13-3 0.813 7-1 6-2 W1 23-6 0.793 13-1 9-5 1-0 W1 • ETSU can lock up at least a share of the regular-sea- UNCG 13-3 0.813 7-1 6-2 W6 23-6 0.793 14-3 9-3 0-0 W6 son SoCon title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Ingles SoCon Basketball Championship presented by Western Carolina 9-7 0.563 4-4 5-3 W1 17-10 0.630 9-4 8-6 0-0 W1 General Shale with a win over Wofford on Wednesday. Mercer 9-7 0.563 4-4 5-3 W2 15-14 0.517 8-6 7-6 0-2 W2 • Furman and UNC Greensboro, tied for second in the Chattanooga 8-8 0.500 4-4 4-4 L1 17-12 0.586 9-4 6-8 2-0 L1 league at 13-3, face each other Wednesday in Greens- Wofford 8-8 0.500 5-3 3-5 L5 16-13 0.552 10-4 6-9 0-0 L5 boro, North Carolina. Both squads are still alive in the race for the regular-season SoCon title and No. 1 seed but Samford 3-13 0.188 1-7 2-6 L2 9-21 0.300 6-8 3-13 0-0 L2 are looking up at ETSU. Should the Bucs win Wednesday, VMI 3-13 0.188 1-7 2-6 L1 8-21 0.276 5-9 2-11 1-1 L1 the Furman-UNCG winner will clinch the No. 2 seed in the The Citadel 0-16 0.000 0-8 0-8 L16 6-21 0.222 3-10 3-11 0-0 L16 SoCon tournament and the loser is assured the No. 3. • With the squads boasting identical 23-6 overall re- cords, as well, the Furman-UNCG contest should be UPCOMING SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES EASTERN) SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK (2/25) one of the best on the Division I docket Wednesday, as the Paladins and Spartans have the most combined Feb. 26 (Wednesday) wins of any matchup on the day across DI. *Mercer at The Citadel, 7 p.m. ESPN+ PRESENTED BY • ETSU has won seven straight games and 17 of its *Furman at UNCG, 7 p.m. ESPN+ last 19. The Bucs are one of just six squads (Gonzaga, *Chattanooga at VMI, 7 p.m. ESPN+ Jeff Gary, R-So., G Liberty, San Diego State, Kansas and Dayton) with at *Samford at Western Carolina, 7 p.m. ESPN+ Mercer least 25 this season. UNCG has won six straight and is *ETSU at Wofford, 7 p.m. ESPN+ 11-1 in its last 12. Furman saw its seven-game winning Gary scored a career-high 32 points in the Bears’ 106-66 streak snapped at ETSU on Feb. 19 but has still won 16 Feb. 29 (Saturday) home win over Samford on Feb. 19, tying the Hawkins of its last 19 games. *Western Carolina at ETSU, 4 p.m. ESPN+ Arena record for made 3-pointers with an 8-for-10 ef- *The Citadel at Furman, 4 p.m. Nexstar/ESPN+ fort from beyond the arc. Overall on the day, he was • Mercer, Western Carolina, Chattanooga and Wofford 12-for-16 from the floor, dished off five assists, grabbed are duking it out for for the Nos. 4-7 seeds, with one of *Wofford at Mercer, 4:30 p.m. ESPN+ four rebounds and had a blocked shot and a steal. those squads destined to fall into Friday’s first-round *UNCG at Chattanooga, 4:30 p.m. ESPN+ action. *VMI at Samford, 5 p.m. ESPN3 In Mercer’s 85-80 win at Chattanooga on Saturday, the redshirt sophomore from Austin, Texas, scored 17 • Mercer, Chattanooga and Western Carolina have all Ingles SoCon Game of the Week Nexstar affiliates points, hitting four more 3s as part of a 6-for-10 day surpassed their overall win totals from last season. ECBD (Charleston) from the floor. Gary pulled down three rebounds and With 15 wins, the Bears are four better than last year, EJHL (Tri-Cities) had three assists. while the Mocs are five better than their total of 12 WMUB (Macon) in 2018-19. The Catamounts have made the league’s WWCW (Lynchburg/Roanoke) For the week, Gary had eight assists without a turnover, biggest jump this year, adding 10 wins to their total WYCW (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville) averaging 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game to go of seven last year. along with 24.5 points. He was 18-for-26 from the floor overall and 12-for-18 (66.7 percent) from 3-point range. • Chattanooga graduate student Matt Ryan scored his March 6 (Friday) 1,000th career point in the Mocs’ 85-80 loss to Mercer Ingles SoCon Championship presented by General on Saturday. Shale ESPN+ 5 p.m., 7:30 p.m. • With his seven made 3-pointers Saturday night at (Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville; Asheville N.C.) Western Carolina, The Citadel’s Fletcher Abee im- proved his season total to 74, jumping up to third in March 7 (Saturday) program history for 3-pointers made by a freshman. Ingles SoCon Championship presented by General He is just five away from tying the record and six from claiming it outright. Shale Nexstar/ESPN+ 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 8:30 p.m. • UNCG’s James Dickey is 19 points away from becom- (Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville; Asheville N.C.) ing just the second player in SoCon history to notch 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 200 blocks in his Nexstar affiliates career. The only league player to do so thus far is EJHL (Tri-Cities) Spartan great Kyle Hines (2004-08), who finished with WMUB (Macon) 2,187 points, 1,047 rebounds and a SoCon-record 349 WWCW (Lynchburg/Roanoke) blocked shots. Dickey (981 points, 1,037 rebounds, WYCW (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville) 216 blocked shots) needs just 11 more rebounds to pass Hines for the UNCG program rebounding record. March 8 (Sunday) • Western Carolina’s Carlos Dotson is the only SoCon Ingles SoCon Championship presented by General player averaging a double-double this season, as he Shale Nexstar/ESPN+ is scoring 15.7 points and grabbing 10.0 rebounds 4 p.m., 6:30 p.m. per game. He has a league-best 17 double-doubles, (Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville; Asheville N.C.) including 13 in his last 15 games. #SoConHoops Release Feb. 25, 2020 Page 1 CONFERENCE NEWS AND NOTES SOCON PLAYERS OF THE WEEK SOCON 20-WIN SUCCESS • With its 96-94, double-overtime win over Jackson- PRESENTED BY • The SoCon boasts three 20-game winners in ETSU, ville on Nov. 21, Western Carolina became one of just Furman and UNCG. 10 Division I schools to erase a 22-point second-half Nov. 12 ......................................Kaleb Hunter, So., G, UNCG deficit and the only team to do it with under nine min- Nov. 19 .................................Mason Faulkner, R-Jr., G, WCU • ETSU has reached the milestone in a school-record utes remaining in regulation. Nov. 26 .................................Mason Faulkner, R-Jr., G, WCU five straight seasons, a streak that is tied for the fifth- Dec. 3 ............................................... Clay Mounce, Jr., F, FUR longest in SoCon history. Furman and UNCG have • Wofford (30), UNCG (29) and Furman (25) all set Dec. 10 .........................................Carlos Dotson, Sr., F, WCU both turned in four straight 20-win seasons, school school records for wins last season. The Terriers be- Dec. 17 ...........................................Ethan Stair, R-Sr., G, MER records for both squads and tied for seventh in SoCon came just the third team to record 30 wins in league Dec. 24 ............................Jeromy Rodriguez, R-Sr., F, ETSU history. history, joining the 1945-46 North Carolina squad and Jan. 7 ..............................................Jordan Lyons, Sr., G, FUR the 1950-51 NC State team. Jan. 14 ..........................................Kaelon Harris, Sr., F/G, CIT Consecutive 20-win seasons, SoCon history Jan. 21 ...............................Djordje Dimitrijevic, Sr., G, MER School No. From To • ETSU notched 24 wins last season to give the SoCon Jan. 28 ...............................................Bo Hodges, Jr., G, ETSU West Virginia 8 1955-56 1962-63 four teams with 20 wins for the third straight season. Feb. 4 ..................................Chevez Goodwin, Jr., F/C, WOF Chattanooga 8 1980-81 1987-88 The Bucs have reached 20 wins for four straight sea- Feb. 11 ...........................................Jordan Lyons, Sr., G, FUR NC State 7 1946-47 1953-54 sons, becoming the first SoCon team to post four con- Feb. 18 .........................................Carlos Dotson, Sr., F, WCU College of Charleston 6 1998-99 2003-04 secutive 20-win seasons since Davidson turned in five Feb. 25 ..............................................Jeff Gary, R-So., G, MER Davidson 5 2004-05 2008-09 straight from 2004-09. ETSU’s 100 wins in the last four March 2 ........................................................................................