Big South Conference Notebook
Rough Week
Nothing came easy to anyone in the Big South this week, as the teams of the league combined to go 3-8 in a light week of action, with two of those wins coming against Division II squads. Both Winthrop and Birmingham-Southern had the week off for exams and hopefully fared better in the classroom than their conference foes did on the hardwood.
The only team that managed to win a game over a Division I opponent this week was VMI, and they struggled in an overtime battle over Division I newcomer and winless Longwood. The Keydets ended up winning the game 69-64.
Unexpected Return
Liberty found itself appealing and fighting over and over again with the NCAA over the eligibility of forward Glyn Turner, and the persistence paid off for the Flames as the NCAA granted Turner an extra season of eligibility this week. Turner played in only 45 seconds of a game during his freshman year in 2000-2001 and Liberty’s administration was originally denied in an attempt to redshirt him for that season.
Over the greater portion of the last two years, LU attempted to get the decision overturned, but had no luck. However, the NCAA finally changed its mind and after missing the first four games of this year, Turner took the court in each of the Flames’ two games this week.
Head coach Randy Dunton will be looking for Turner to add some depth and experience to a frontcourt that has struggled so far this season. Turner played in all 33 of Liberty’s games last year and averaged 3.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest for the Flames as they went on to win the conference championship last season.
Player of the Week
Freshman forward Reggie Williams of VMI had a stellar week as he was a scoring machine and chipped in on the boards as VMI split a pair of games. Williams averaged 24.5 points and 6.5 rebounds over the two games, including a strong 28 point, 9 rebound effort in the Keydets’ loss to Towson.
Team Reports
Birmingham-Southern Panthers (5-3 overall, 0-0 last week)
Birmingham-Southern had this past week off to focus on final exams. The Panthers will return to the court on December 18 at home in an exhibition game against Montreat. The next game that will count in the standings for BSC will be on December 20 when the Panthers travel to Texas-Pan American.
Charleston Southern Buccaneers (1-3 overall, 0-1 last week)
Charleston Southern came into its game at Clemson this past week 0-15 against the Tigers, hoping to somehow pull off the upset over their foe from the upstate. However, the Bucs came out sluggish, allowing Clemson to score the first nine points of the game as CSU ended up falling 73-55. Senior center Nathan Ball led all CSU scorers with 13 points while freshman guard Darius Lane added 11 points to go along with 5 assists and 5 steals.
Over the course of the next few days, the Bucs will get to stay home for a pair of games. Division II foe Lander will be the first squad to visit the CSU Field House on December 15. Following that contest, CSU will host Wofford on December 18.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (1-6 overall, 1-0 last week)
Usually when a team is struggling, a home game against a Division II school is the best recipe to turn things around. After starting the season with six straight losses, Coastal found itself hosting Division II Coker this past weekend and the Chants finally found themselves in the win column, crushing the Cobras 86-50.
Junior forward Pele Paelay had a huge first half, scoring 19 points on his way to a team-high 21 points. Freshman guard Jack Leasure and sophomore forward Moses Sonko each had strong offensive outputs as well, both scoring seventeen. Senior point guard Alvin Green led the team with 8 rebounds and 7 assists in the easy victory.
Coastal remains home for two more games in front of the Chanticleer faithful this week. Jacksonville State will come into Conway on December 15 before nearby UNC-Wilmington visits Kimbel Arena on December 18.
High Point Panthers (2-7 overall, 0-2 last week)
High expectations coming into the season for High Point have not translated to wins so far as the Panthers dropped both of their games this week to fall to 2-7 and 0-6 against Division I competition. They opened the week on the road and kept Michigan within striking distance most of the way before falling to the Wolverines, 67-53. The offense struggled again later in the week, this time at home as the Panthers lost 58-45 to Furman.
Over the two games, High Point only managed to shoot 32.1 percent from the field and struggled to make any type of offensive run to come back in either contest. Junior guard Titus Byrd had a breakout performance against Michigan with 17 points, but besides that performance and the typical solid games by senior forward Danny Gathings, not many Panthers have been able to find the basket with any regularity. Senior center Jerry Echenique, who is third on the High Point team in scoring and second in rebounding, was benched for the Furman game by head coach Bart Lundy for undisclosed reasons.
The Panthers will have one game this week in which to try and snap their three game skid. High Point will host Mt. St. Mary’s on December 18, a team that the Panthers beat last year, 72-64. Forward Mark Wilson, a transfer from North Texas, should be eligible to play against Mt. St. Mary’s after sitting out the first nine games of the season.
Liberty Flames (1-5 overall, 0-2 last week)
The defending Big South champions continue to struggle to start the season as they fell twice against stiff competition this past week. The Flames opened the week at home and faced a very dangerous Old Dominion squad. Liberty played well for a half before slipping late in a 70-54 loss. Sophomore guard Larry Blair had a career-high 31 points, but was the only member of the team to reach double-figures.
Blair was stellar again against North Carolina State with 22 points, but got little offensive help as Julius Hodge and the Wolfpack rolled to a 93-60 win over the Flames over the weekend. Liberty’s defense had no defense for Hodge as he scored 27 points and also added 9 assists and 9 rebounds.
In Liberty’s only game of the upcoming week, UNC-Greensboro will visit the Vines Center on December 18. Liberty is still seeking its first win over a Division I opponent this year and will hope to gain that win over the Spartans. Senior point guard Brian Woodson is expected back for the game after missing the first month of the season due to academic reasons.
Radford Highlanders (5-3 overall, 1-1 last week)
Generally, when you think of the offensive weapons of Radford, you think of junior guard Whit Holcomb-Faye or sophomore forward Chris Oliver. However, sophomore Reggie McIntyre set two career-highs in scoring this past week and led the Highlanders in scoring in both of their games as they split a pair of contests.
McIntyre scored 17 points in Radford’s first game of the week, an 89-74 loss to Hampton in a pseudo-home game at the Salem Civic Center, which is 35 miles up the road from the Radford campus. McIntyre then followed that performance up with an 18 point performance in a 97-77 win over Lees-McRae at Radford’s regular home, the Dedmon Center. Holcomb-Faye also had a strong all-around game against Lees-McRae, scoring 15 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing out 6 assists.
Radford does not have any games this upcoming week due to final exams. The Highlanders will not take the court again until December 23 when they begin a three-game trip out west with a game against Colorado.
UNC-Asheville Bulldogs (1-5 overall, 0-1 last week)
Despite falling behind 12-0 early to Maryland, UNC-Asheville was able to keep things respectable, playing even with the Terrapins for the rest of the first half before falling 96-72 in College Park. Senior forward Bryan McCullough had a strong game, scoring 16 points, but the Bulldogs had trouble keeping the Terrapins off of the scoreboard. Maryland shot 55 percent from the field for the game. Other UNCA players that played well against the Terrapins were senior forward Joseph Barber, who led the team with 7 rebounds, and sophomore guard K.J. Garland, who had 7 assists for the game.
The Bulldogs will host a pair of contests from neighboring non-Division I schools this week before hitting the road again. Division II Lenoir-Rhyne visits the Justice Center on December 15 while NAIA Montreat comes to town on December 17. Following those games, UNCA will take on in-state foe Charlotte on December 19.
VMI Keydets (4-2 overall, 1-1 last week)
Even though the Keydets struggled this week, barely beating winless Longwood and losing at home to Towson, they have found an emerging star in freshman forward Reggie Williams. As mentioned at the top of this column, Williams had a very strong week and has taken the role as the team leader for VMI, leading the team in scoring and rebounding early on. However, the Keydets lost second-leading scorer Levar Joseph to a knee injury near the end of the Longwood game, and his absence was felt later in the week against Towson.
The Keydets opened the week on the road and had to go to overtime to beat Longwood, 69-64. Near the end of the second half, Joseph bruised his knee and sat out the rest of the game and is expected to miss a couple of weeks. To complement Williams’ team-leading 21 points, sophomore guard Matt Coward chipped in with 15 points and 5 assists. Coward also scored 15 points and dished out 6 assists in VMI’s next game against Towson, but his effort, along with Williams’ 28 points were not enough to overcome the Tigers, as VMI lost 84-69.
VMI will have one game this week before taking a long break for exams and the holidays. The Keydets will host NAIA Bluefield on December 13 and will not play again until after Christmas.
Winthrop Eagles (6-2 overall, 0-0 last week)
Winthrop did not take the court this past week in order to finish finals and rest up after a hectic start of the season. The Eagles will finally take the court again on December 17 as they head to Greenville, NC to face East Carolina.
