Big South Conference Notebook
Beating the Big Boys
Teams from conferences such as the ACC and Big East generally give Big South teams fits during the non-conference portion of the season. It is not uncommon to see Big South schools come home from games against the big boys with 30, 40, or even 50-point losses. But usually about once a season, a Big South squad breaks through and takes out one of the schools with the recognizable name. When would it happen this year? Could it happen more than once?
Those questions were answered recently as Winthrop started the week by traveling to Providence and knocking off the Friars, 60-54, to give the Eagles their first-ever win over a Big East squad. Not to be outdone, VMI hosted their in-state neighbor Virginia Tech of the ACC on Saturday and proved to be rude hosts as they gave the Hokies their first loss of the year in a 72-68 upset.
Winthrop knocking off a team from an elite conference is not terribly surprising. The Eagles have knocked off Missouri, Clemson, and Georgia in head coach Gregg Marshall’s tenure. However, none of those teams had an All-American player that can compare with Providence’s Ryan Gomes. Gomes did his part by leading the Friars with 19 points, but his teammates were ice-cold from outside and Winthrop was able to overcome a sixteen-point deficit in the second half to pull out the win.
VMI’s win was more surprising, especially when you consider that the Keydets were coming off of a 48-point loss to Old Dominion earlier in the week. VMI scorched the nets from outside, making 13 of 28 three-point attempts, and held the Hokies to under 40% from the field. This was the first time in 40 years that VMI has managed to knock off an ACC squad, last doing it in 1964 against Virginia.
Player of the Week
Birmingham-Southern junior forward Thomas Viglianco came to the Panthers as a transfer from William & Mary, and he has been able to step in immediately to fill the power forward position admirably for BSC. Over the past week, Viglianco made 14 of his 21 shots (66.7 percent) from the field and 10 of 14 shots from three-point range (71.4 percent). Viglianco averaged 21 points in Birmingham-Southern’s two games to go along with 5.5 rebounds and 4 assists per contest as the Panthers split a pair of road games last week.
Team Reports
Birmingham-Southern Panthers (5-3 overall, 1-1 last week)
This past week was spent on the road for Birmingham-Southern and the Panthers managed to split the pair of games that they had away from home. BSC started the week at Indiana State and despite a late comeback attempt, fell to the Sycamores 62-55. The end of the week proved to be much better as the Panthers led almost the whole contest to defeat a pesky Alabama State team, 71-63.
It has been a two-man show lately for Birmingham-Southern, as senior guard Jakob Sigurdarson and junior forward Thomas Viglianco were the only two Panthers to reach double-figures in either game. Sigurdarson scored 17 points in the loss to Indiana State, but played even stronger by draining 23 points against Alabama State. Viglianco matched Sigurdarson’s 23-point effort in the Alabama State game and led the team with 19 points against Indiana State to go with his team-high 7 rebounds.
The Panthers will now take time off to focus on exams for about the next two weeks. On December 20, BSC will have an exhibition game at home against Montreat before playing a real game at Texas-Pan American two days later.
Charleston Southern Buccaneers (1-2 overall, 0-0 last week)
Due to exams, Charleston Southern did not play in the past week. The Bucs will finally get back on the court on Saturday, December 11 as they travel to the other side of the state to face Clemson.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (0-6 overall, 0-2 last week)
It continues to be a very rough start for Coastal as they remain winless after losses to Chaminade and Eastern Kentucky in the past week. After falling to Hawaii on November 26, the Chanticleers wrapped up their trip to the islands with a game against Division II Chaminade and found that winning six hours away from home is a difficult task. Chaminade made a late first half run and held on to win 70-61. A return home did not prove to be any better as Eastern Kentucky gave Coastal a 77-62 beating in the Chanticleers’ home opener.
As has been the case for most of the season so far, junior Pele Paelay has proven to be the go-to guy for the Chants, scoring 15 points against Chaminade and 14 against Eastern Kentucky. Junior point guard Colin Stevens has been filling in admirably for senior Alvin Green, who has been battling a hand injury. Stevens led the Chants with 22 points in the Chaminade game. Green has been able to play thus far, but not very effectively until he was able to stay on the court for 32 minutes and score a season-high 11 points in the loss to EKU.
The Chanticleers will remain at home this week as they look for their first win of the season when Division II Coker comes to town on December 12.
High Point Panthers (2-5 overall, 1-2 last week)
Another week saw another disappointing loss for the Panthers. After falling to Division II Alaska-Anchorage at the Great Alaska Shootout on November 27, High Point returned to face winless North Carolina A&T on the road and continued to find it difficult to win away from home, falling to the Aggies 77-68. The loss occurred despite a sparkling performance by senior forward Danny Gathings as the reigning Big South Player of the Year scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the loss.
The week continued with two more games and the results were predictable as High Point dominated Division III Greensboro at home, 79-42, and fell to undefeated Creighton on the road 79-60. Gathings was strong in both games, scoring 12 against Greensboro and 15 against Creighton. Senior guard Zione White tried his best to give the Panthers the upset against Creighton, but his 19-point, 6-rebound effort could not lead High Point to victory.
High Point has a couple of contests this week, one on the road and one at home. On December 7, the Panthers will be in Ann Arbor to face Michigan. Later in the week, head coach Bart Lundy’s troops will face Furman at home on December 11.
Liberty Flames (1-3 overall, 1-1 last week)
The defending Big South champions look nothing like the championship team that took the court last season as the Flames have struggled early. This past week proved that Liberty has a long way to go if it wants to successfully defend its title. Liberty opened the week away from home and got tripped up by Western Carolina 75-63. The Flames returned home on December 4 in what looked to be an easy game to get their first win. However, looks were deceiving as Division III Shenandoah gave the Flames all they could handle, even leading late in the second half before Liberty prevailed, 86-82 in overtime.
Sophomore guards David Dees and Larry Blair continued to be the primary offensive weapons for head coach Randy Dunton’s team. Dees led the team with 16 points against Western Carolina and then added a double-double (22 points, 12 rebounds) against Shenandoah. Blair was also effective, leading the team with 23 points in the win over Shenandoah after scoring 15 points against WCU.
Liberty has two tough games facing them this week. The Flames will host Old Dominion on December 7 before hitting the road to take on North Carolina State on December 11.
Radford Highlanders (4-2 overall, 2-1 last week)
The Highlanders continue to get strong games from sophomore forward Chris Oliver and junior guard Whit Holcomb-Faye and the duo led Radford to another 2-1 week. Holcomb-Faye and Oliver scored 18 and 16 points respectively to complement senior forward Olumuyiwa Popoola’s team-high 23 points in an easy 89-60 victory over Division III Ferrum to open the week. The duo joined senior Brandon Jeffers in double-figures in Radford’s second contest of the week as the Highlanders fought off an upset bid to beat North Carolina A&T 66-61 in their second game of the week.
The good fortunes of the Highlanders failed to continue to the weekend, though, as a trip up to West Virginia gave Radford a 78-44 loss to close out the week. Only five Radford players managed to score in the game with Holcomb-Faye scoring a team-high 16 points and Oliver chipping in with twelve.
Radford will look to get back to their winning ways with two home games this next week. Hampton comes to town on December 8 before Division II Lees-McRae visits the Dedmon Center on December 10.
UNC-Asheville Bulldogs (1-4 overall, 1-1 last week)
UNCA faced a pair of Southern Conference foes in the past week, and split the two meetings, losing on the road at Furman and beating Western Carolina at home. In the 72-68 loss to the Paladins, the Bulldogs found themselves down by double-digits most of the way before making a valiant comeback effort in the final four minutes. UNCA was down by as many as 16 points in the second half but managed to close the deficit to two points before Furman’s Eric Webb clinched the game with a jumper with less than ten seconds remaining. In their other contest, the Bulldogs had five players in double-figures as they beat the nearby Catamounts 85-71. Sophomore guard K.J. Garland led the charge with 16 points, while senior forward Bryan McCullough had an amazing all-around game, scoring 13 points, grabbing 7 boards, dishing out 7 assists, and getting 6 steals.
The Bulldogs will have several days to prepare for their next contest, which will be on December 12 at Maryland.
VMI Keydets (3-1 overall, 1-1 last week)
You will have trouble finding any team that will have a stranger week than the Keydets had. VMI had one of the worst performances in school history in an 86-38 debacle at Old Dominion. However, they followed it up with one of the best wins in recent memory as they beat neighboring Virginia Tech at Cameron Hall, 72-68.
In the loss to Old Dominion, VMI’s offense was nowhere to be found, with the Keydets only shooting 27.6 percent from the field and getting seventeen shots blocked by the Monarchs. Things turned completely around against the Hokies as sophomore guard Matt Coward scored 15 points and dished out 8 assists to lead the way for the Keydets. Junior guard Levar Joseph was VMI’s leading scorer on the day with 19 points and freshman forward Reggie Williams added 16 points in the historic win.
The Keydets’ next game will be on December 8 on the road at Division I newcomer Longwood. After that battle with the Lancers, VMI will return home to take on Towson on December 11.
Winthrop Eagles (6-2 overall, 3-0 last week)
Defense has been the name of the game early in the season so far for Winthrop, as the Eagles held all three of their opponents to under 60 points this week and added Providence to the list of big-conference schools that Winthrop has knocked off in recent years.
In the 60-54 upset over Providence, Winthrop came back from a 16-point second half deficit, led by a key three-pointer and several free throws down the stretch by sophomore guard Torrell Martin. Martin shared team-high scoring honors with freshman guard Chris Gaynor and sophomore forward Craig Bradshaw, who all scored 11 points. Martin and Bradshaw were the key components in an 86-57 rout of Division II Barton later in the week, with the two making all seven three-pointers that they attempted. The Eagles closed the week with a 67-58 win over Siena. Martin led Winthrop in scoring with 18 points and junior center Billy Houston added six blocked shots.
The Eagles will take some time off for exams and to reflect on the best start of the Gregg Marshall era. Following the exams, Winthrop will kick off a three-game road trip at East Carolina on December 17.
