The SoCon Lowdown: Chattanooga's missed chances and the Catamounts' moment in the spotlight
Plus: UNCG's strong loss, Mercer's heartbreak, and ETSU's shocking defeat
The first few weeks of the college basketball season are often an opportunity for teams to establish themselves as contenders (or make it clear that they’re not going to be playing for much this year). Multi-team events and tournaments pit them against their peers and betters, offering an opportunity to piece together a stretch of impressive performances that can turn around expectations quickly. Many of the SoCon’s teams embarked on such a slate this week, so who made a name for themselves (and who had an MTE they would rather forget)?
From the perspective of unfeeling metrics that have no trouble smoothing out wild variances, Furman’s performance at the Charleston Classic left them in about the same place they entered. But parsing their results is a bit of a mess for humans, who have to deal with the following:
A loss to Penn State in which they trailed by over 20 points in the first half, yet clawed all the way back to a single score in the final minutes
A loss to Old Dominion in which they scored 50 points in the second half, yet gave up 48 to an unimpressive Monarchs offense
A win over South Carolina in which they led by multiple scores for the last 29:31 and ultimately won by 19 points
It’s hard to know what to make of that! Part of the Paladins’ inconsistency is a result of leaning heavily on Garrett Hien, who’s emerging as a talented forward but hasn’t been reliable as a go-to scorer just yet. They’ll look to keep the momentum from their win over South Carolina as they face D2 Tusculum on Friday.
Samford did what they were supposed to this week in a manner that, if not spectacular, was at least encouraging after their dodgy opening week of flirting with non-D1 disaster. The Bulldogs put away Alabama A&M and Texas Southern by 20 and 15 points, and while neither is a top-250 team in Torvik, dealing with them so efficiently is a positive sign. If Samford can get past their big test this week, Louisiana Tech, and put away Valparaiso and Tennessee Southern as well, they’d enter a fascinating run of road games (DePaul, UCF, ULL, SC State, Belmont) at 8-0.
UNCG’s meeting with Towson on Thursday, while not exactly high-scoring (the final was 56-53), was a well-played duel, as expected. The 4-0 Tigers are one of the best mid-majors in the nation, and while a sloppy first half put them well behind the eight-ball, they gradually clawed back a fifteen-point deficit and held on to win despite some late-game heroics from Kobe Langley. After what should be an easy win over UMBC on Tuesday, the senior-heavy Spartans will head up to Quebec for the Northern Classic, taking on a trio of teams over which Torvik favors them by 1.2, 4.0, and 1.7 points.
Chattanooga has had winning chances against both of their D1 opponents thus far, and they could easily be 4-0 with wins over Charleston and Ole Miss, a résumé that would make them hard to ignore in the conversation about the SoCon’s top team. But the Mocs allowed those opportunities to slip away, and they lost both games without even making it close in the end. More effective shooting in the paint from Jake Stephens, the tallest and most-used player on the roster, is key. Chattanooga will still be searching for their first win in Division 1 this week as they face Lipscomb and Murray State.
Much like Chattanooga, Mercer is painfully close to being 4-0 and starting some serious buzz about their contender status. Their losses have come by just two points apiece—though East Carolina and Georgia State, even on the road, are admittedly teams they feel they should beat. The Bears bounced back from their overtime loss to the Panthers by cruising over Winthrop, with Kamar Robertson scoring 23 points (the second-highest total of his career) in his 81st game for Mercer. The Bears will meet Robert Morris, Fairfield, and Towson in the Hostilo Hoops Community Classic this weekend, but they first get a chance at a P6 upset over Florida State, which is reeling from four straight losses (three to mid-majors) to start the season.
While Wofford wasn’t able to complete their upset bid against Drake, they were tied with the Bulldogs—perhaps the best mid-major in the nation this side of Charleston—within the final ten minutes before eventually falling behind and losing 80-72 on the road. It was a spirited performance from the Terriers, who then hosted the Terrier Classic over the weekend and swept Gardner-Webb and North Carolina A&T. While not exceptional, Wofford doesn’t seem to have fallen as far as many feared, with emergent freshman Jackson Paveletzke—who’s scored over ten points in each of his first five college basketball games—leading their solid start. After facing D2 North Greenville, Wofford will test their mettle against another tough road matchup when they head to LSU.
The Buccaneers’ struggles with Little Rock—a team outside the top 300 in Torvik that they should’ve steamrolled at home—were cause for concern, and three days later they showed why. ETSU let Tennessee Tech, otherwise winless in D1 play, take the lead with 11:43 left in the first half and never took it back, only even getting close around halftime. Jordan King has been settling back into his role as the cornerstone of this team, scoring 39 total points across this week’s games, but nobody else has impressed much; DeAnthony Tipler was the only other player in double figures against the Golden Eagles, scoring 11 off the bench in the loss. If East Tennessee State can’t pick up a home win over App State on Wednesday, it might be time to panic.
Recent seasons haven’t been kind to Western Carolina: they’ve gone 134-185 in the last decade, including two seasons with fewer than ten wins and just eleven wins in each of their last two campaigns. It’s still early, but this season could be a bit magical for the Catamounts, who already have four wins thanks to a stunning sweep in the McNeese State MTE. WCU pulled off the remarkable performance with a pair of overtime wins over Lamar and Lindenwood—not inspiring competition, certainly, but any win is one worth having—and a dominant 88-69 victory over the host Cowboys. The 3-0 week was capped by a three-point play from Russell Jones Jr. in the closing seconds of overtime against Lindenwood, a game in which all five WCU starters scored at least 12 points for the first time in nearly twelve years. How much this means going forward is in the eye of the beholder, considering the other three teams in the event were all in the bottom fifteen nationally according to Torvik, but it’s a wonderful moment for Western Carolina.
Torvik provides a game score that summarizes, based on the strength of their opponent and their statistics from the game, just how impressive or unimpressive a win or loss was. It ranges from 0 to 100, but The Citadel seemed determined to test that lower bound against Butler. The Bulldogs trailed 53-22 at halftime, and they were outscored by 16 points in the second half to fall by a ghastly 89-42 score (and produce, as one would expect, a 0 in that Torvik game score metric). They finished with more turnovers than made shots, which is a macabre sort of accomplishment, admittedly. Facing competition closer to their level should produce better results, of course, and they’ll play three such teams in the Big Easy Classic as they match up against New Orleans, Denver, and IUPUI.
Speaking of that game score metric, VMI logged scores of 2, 3, and 5 this week. Not ideal! The Keydets were run off the court by Longwood (90-58) and SIU-Edwardsville (93-67), no mighty teams themselves, and couldn’t even salvage a single win in the MTE against Fairleigh Dickinson, whose 93 points against VMI might be the most they score all season. Those results weren’t exactly surprising (although falling to FDU stings), but they solidify that the Keydets’ inexperienced lineup and staff are going to face a lot of growing pains this season. Hopefully, a home date with NCCAA Regent will help to stop the bleeding a bit.
Who made headlines around the former SoCon this week? Quite a few teams, as it happens!
App State surged to a 38-25 halftime lead at Louisville and just barely held on when the Cardinals took a fraction of a second too long on their final shot.
Charleston dazzled in their MTE, crushing Davidson 89-66, rolling past Colorado State 74-64, and claiming their first Charleston Classic title on a game-winning shot with just seconds left, defeating Virginia Tech 77-75.
While Davidson did lose that opening game decisively, they bounced back to take down South Carolina 69-60 and Old Dominion 66-61.
Florida sent the entire state into chaos, dropping a home game to FAU before turning around and defeating Florida State on the road.
Maryland pieced together one of the finest weeks in recent program history, rocking Binghamton, Saint Louis, and Miami by a combined 70 points.
North Carolina settled down after a rough start to the season by thrashing a solid James Madison team, leading 45-26 at the half and winning 80-64.
Sewanee defeated LaGrange in a D3 thriller, a game in which no team led by more than six points and in which the Tigers scored the last six points in overtime to escape 93-89.
Vanderbilt picked up a quietly impressive road win over Temple, outlasting Damian Dunn’s 38-point performance for the Owls in an OT win.
Virginia stunned the nation, upsetting Baylor and defeating Illinois to win the Continental Tire Main Event and make a case for a top-ten ranking.
Washington and Lee moved to 3-1 with a strong week, highlighted by a 106-100 overtime escape from Mary Baldwin after squandering a lead late in regulation.
Thanks for reading! The SoCon Lowdown will be back next Monday with the latest from another week of action around the Southern Conference.