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 DEC. 4, 2017) CONFERENCE NEWS AND NOTES Conference Overall • SoCon schools will face three ACC opponents this W-L Pct. H A ST W-L Pct. H A N ST week, as Western Carolina heads to No. 11 North Caro- lina, Woff ord hosts Georgia Tech and Samford plays at Furman 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 5-3 .625 3-1 0-2 2-0 W1 Clemson. UNCG 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 5-3 .625 4-0 1-3 0-0 W1 • ETSU, which is 28-5 at Freedom Hall with head coach ETSU 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 4-3 .571 2-1 2-2 0-0 W2 Steve Forbes on the bench, will play two games in a row at home this week. Mercer 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 5-4 .556 3-0 0-3 2-1 L2 • Woff ord’s Fletcher Magee has scored in double fi g- Chattanooga 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 4-4 .500 4-1 0-3 0-0 W1 ures in 53 consecutive contests dating back to 2015- Woff ord 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 4-4 .500 3-1 1-3 0-0 W1 16. His streak of scoring in double digits is currently tops in the nation. VMI 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 3-4 .429 2-1 1-3 0-0 L1 • On Wednesday, the Terriers will host just their sec- The Citadel 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 3-5 .375 2-2 1-3 0-0 L3 ond-ever ACC opponent when they welcome Georgia Western Carolina 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 3-6 .333 2-0 0-5 1-1 W1 Tech to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Woff ord hosted South Carolina, then an ACC squad, twice in Samford 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 2-6 .250 2-1 0-5 0-0 L1 the 1950s. Coincidentally, the Terriers opened this season at home against the Gamecocks. UPCOMING SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES EASTERN) SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK • VMI, which spent 11 seasons in the Big South Con- ference from 2003-14, has faced three of its former Dec. 5 (Tuesday) Francis Alonso, Jr., G Big South mates this season, beating Presbyterian James Madison at The Citadel, 6 p.m. ESPN3 UNCG and Charleston Southern and falling to Radford. The UNC Asheville at Furman, 7:30 p.m. ESPN3 Keydets will also take on former Big South opponent Chattanooga at Marshall, 7 p.m. ESPN3 Longwood on Dec. 9. Before then, however, the Key- Alonso averaged 26 points per game in a pair of road VMI at Davidson, 7 p.m. A-10 dets take on former SoCon foe Davidson on Tuesday. contests. Samford at Memphis, 8 p.m. ESPN3 • Citadel junior Matt Frierson connected on six The Malaga, Spain, native opened his week with 16 3-pointers on Friday against Marist and added two Dec. 6 (Wednesday) points in a 74-72 loss at Presbyterian, which hit a more against UMBC on Saturday. He now has 135 in Northern Kentucky at ETSU, 7 p.m. ESPN3 buzzer-beater to steal the win after coming back from his career, the 10th-most in program history. Junior Western Carolina at North Carolina, 7 p.m. FSSO a 15-point defi cit. Alonso was 3-for-7 from 3-point Quayson Williams also converted six 3-pointers on Georgia Tech at Woff ord, 7 p.m. ESPN3 range and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line on the Friday, giving him 128 made treys for his career and tying him for 13th in program history. He needs just night. Dec. 7 (Thursday) four more to reach 12th. Elon at UNCG, 7 p.m. ESPN3 Four days later, Alonso practically willed UNCG to a • UNCG junior guard Francis Alonso scored over 30 three-overtime win at Liberty, scoring a career-high points for the third time this season when he dropped Dec. 8 (Friday) 36 points in the 76-75 victory. Alonso hit another a career-high 36 points at Liberty. He is the fi rst Spar- Southern Wesleyan at Western Carolina, 7 p.m. seven 3-pointers in the contest, including the game- tan since Kyle Hines in the 2006-07 season to reach 30 tying bucket with fi ve seconds left in regulation, an- points three times in a season. Dec. 9 (Saturday) other game-tying 3 with six seconds left in the second Longwood at VMI, 1 p.m. ESPN3 • Samford will take on Memphis on Tuesday in a battle overtime, and then the game-winning triple with just Samford at Clemson, 3 p.m. ACCNE that will pit Bulldog coach Scott Padgett against Ti- 2.4 seconds left in the third OT. South Carolina State at Furman, 4 p.m. ESPN3 ger mentor Tubby Smith, who coached Padgett from 1997-99 at Kentucky. The two won the NCAA title to- Florida A&M at Mercer, 4 p.m. ESPN3 gether at Kentucky in 1998. Johnson & Wales at Woff ord, 4 p.m. SDN • The Tigers will be taking on their second SoCon team Dec. 10 (Sunday) in four days. Mercer gave Memphis all it could handle Charlotte at Chattanooga, 1 p.m. ESPN3 on Saturday, putting four players in double fi gures in Hiwassee at ETSU, 2 p.m. ESPN3 an 83-81, double-overtime loss. Dec. 13 (Wednesday) • Junior Mike Amius, who scored a career-high 22 points Thursday night in Western Carolina’s 69-60 loss UNCW at UNCG, 7 p.m. ESPN3 at College of Charleston, followed that up with 19 and the game-winning dunk with seven seconds left in a 72-71 win over Appalachian State on Monday. TV/DIGITAL KEY • Chattanooga center Joshua Phillips, who played out- A-10 Atlantic-10 Network side linebacker for the Mocs’ football team this fall, has ACCNE ACC Network Extra averaged 21.0 minutes, 11.7 points and 5.0 rebounds FSSO Fox Sports South per game since joining the basketball squad three contests ago. He is shooting 77.3 percent from the SDN SoCon Digital Network fl oor (17-for-22). SoCon Men’s Basketball Release Dec. 5, 2017 Page 1 CONFERENCE NEWS AND NOTES SOCON RECORD BOOK The Citadel, Chattanooga extremely young Most victories at SoCon school The Citadel and Chattanooga are two of just seven teams in Division I without any seniors on their rosters. The 1. 447 Bob McKillop, DAV 1992-2014 Mocs, in fact, are the youngest team in the nation, with an average age of 19.31 years of age, according to a 2. 252 Mike Young, Woff ord 2002-present preseason survey sent to all DI schools. 3. 243 Mack McCarthy, UTC 1985-97 243 Burton Shipley, Maryland 1923-47 SoCon on the national level 5. 230 Bill Reinhart, GW 1935-42; 49-66 As a conference, the SoCon fi nished 16th in the RPI last season, its best showing since fi nishing 16th in 2006- 6. 226 Eddie Cameron, Duke 1928-42 07. 226 Bobby Cremins, APP, CofC 1975-81; 2006-12 8. 223 Lyles Alley, FUR 1945-49; 50-66 New faces 9. 213 Les Robinson, CIT, ETSU 1974-90 Two new head coaches join the league in 2017-18. Bob Richey takes over at Furman after six seasons on the 10. 205 Murray Greason, Wake Forest 1935-53 Paladin coaching staff , while Lamont Paris assumes the lead role at Chattanooga after spending the previous 11. 194 Norman Shepard, UNC, DAV 1923-24; 37-49 seven years as an assistant at Wisconsin. 12. 187 Everett Case, NC State 1946-53 13. 181 Larry Hunter, WCU 2005-present Returning weapons 14. 176 Lefty Driesell, DAV 1960-69 • Seven of the 15 All-Southern Conference players from last year return to the league in 2017-18, including fi rst-teamers Devin Sibley of Furman and Fletcher Magee of Woff ord. Career 3-point percentage (min. 120 made) • Collectively, the league returns 92 letterwinners and 30 starters from last season. Mercer, Samford and Pct. 3FG-3FGA Western Carolina each return all fi ve starters, while Furman returns four. Chattanooga is the only team in the 1. 49.3 223-452 Keith Jennings, ETSU 1989-91 league replacing all fi ve starters this year. 2. 45.8 237-517 Fletcher Magee, WOF 2015-pr. 3. 45.2 126-279 Alan Puckett, CIT 1999-02 Postseason experience 4. 45.0 146-324 Shawn Reid, FUT 1984-88 Four teams reached postseason play last season. ETSU won the SoCon Championship and the league’s au- 5. 44.7 159-356 Brandon Born, UTC 1991-95 tomatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where it fell in the fi rst round to Florida. UNCG made its fi rst NIT ap- 6. 44.5 154-346 Derek Rucker, DAV 1985-88 pearance since 2002, falling to Syracuse, while Furman and Samford participated in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, with the Paladins reaching the semifi nals. Sharpshooting Bulldogs SOCON PLAYERS OF THE WEEK 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. Nov. 14 ...........................Ria’n Holland, Sr., G, Mercer Nov.