The SoCon Lowdown: Wofford sends out the non-conference slate on a high note
Plus: Chattanooga takes the lead, Samford takes another loss, and Mercer takes down a tough foe
After Chattanooga lost to Illinois by just a single point in March Madness to end last season, the SoCon seemed to uniformly decide to lose as many close P6 games as possible. Furman beat South Carolina handily, but they also saw a comeback fall just short against Penn State (73-68). Despite lacking team leader Ques Glover most of the way, Samford took DePaul to overtime before losing (103-98), and they followed it up by doing the same against soon-to-be-P6 UCF (80-77). Chattanooga bookended the non-conference slate with such games, as Ole Miss (70-58) pulled away in November and Georgia (72-65) did so in December against the Mocs. UNCG, of course, raised eyebrows by taking ranked Arkansas down to the wire (65-58). Perhaps most prominently, Wofford suffered one-score losses at two SEC teams in the span of a week: first LSU (78-75), then Vanderbilt (65-62). With the Gamecocks spiraling to a 6-6 record and losing to such luminaries as George Washington (by 24 points!) and East Carolina, it seemed any chance of a real marquee win had slipped away.
And then Wofford beat Texas A&M! That’s a nice early Christmas gift, isn’t it?
Other things did happen in the SoCon this week. Torvik has finally caught up to Samford looking absolutely awful for the last couple weeks, and the top of the rankings has shifted accordingly. The reigning champs now sit in first as we enter conference play, despite back-to-back losses to capable Belmont and Georgia teams. It’s bewildering that the Mocs were able to hang around so long despite (a) a 5:57 scoring drought, (b) five points in the last 6:02, and (c) Jake Stephens posting just 10 points and 8 rebounds, pedestrian by his standards. Jamal Johnson, playing in his 132nd career game for his fourth different team, accounted for that discrepancy with a career-high 23 points in a feel-good story that was just missing…y’know, the P6 upset that was right there for the taking. Still, it was a solid performance to round out a perfectly capable non-conference slate for Chattanooga, which puts them in great position entering SoCon play.
Furman rolled past non-D1 Anderson (SC) without too much trouble, with five players scoring double-digits as JP Pegues’ 20 points led the way. Notably absent from that quintet, however, was Mike Bothwell, who logged eight assists but only nine points in 27 minutes. He didn’t miss shots, going 2-for-2 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the line; presumably the Paladins just wanted to test his ball movement a bit more heading into more consequential games. In the all-encompassing offensive stat PORPAGATU!, Bothwell is the sixth-best player in the nation at present—but still second in the SoCon, with Stephens ranking third overall. By that measure, the duel for SoCon Player of the Year is the best in any conference thus far. (Although it rather lacks for other options; third-place Jackson Paveletzke is way down in 63rd.)
There have been some rumblings that Glover will return after Christmas break—which is to say, against Mercer in the first conference game of the season. Samford desperately needs him, as demonstrated by the contrast between what Vegas expected, presumably without remembering to check the Bulldogs’ injury log (a +5 spread against Belmont), and what happened (a 23-point loss). The blowout caps a seven-game losing streak to end Samford’s non-conference schedule, and while Glover’s absence and a minor step up in difficulty give some excuse, it’s clear this team isn’t where it needs to be. Somewhere in Homewood, there must be considerations of what Bucky McMillan is being paid to do if his job comes down to the presence of one game-changing player.
The SoCon saw a lot of wild narrative shifts over the course of an eventful non-conference schedule, but Mercer was consistent nearly the whole way. The Bears’ first eleven games saw them start #206 in Torvik and finish #205; they lost to every team ranked higher than that and beat every team ranked lower, save for #217 Georgia State (who they faced on the road). Then, in their last two games, Mercer rocked a non-terrible Morehead State at home and went on the road to shock Troy, skyrocketing to #154 in a matter of days and positioning themselves as a team to watch in the scrum beyond the SoCon’s top four. Before the year is out, they’ll get two chances to shake things up with a visit to Samford and a home game against Chattanooga.
UNC-Greensboro is, in every way, the sort of weirdness that can result from a team without much of a clear offensive goal, but the ability to stifle just about anybody on defense. In three of their last five games, they’ve spooked Arkansas, taken down Marshall, and set a school record for points against non-D1 Warren Wilson. In the other two? A four-point win at Elon, one of the nation’s worst teams, and a four-point loss at Eastern Kentucky, which isn’t all that much better. The Spartans haven’t scored 80 points in a D1 game this season, no matter the fact that they’ve played Torvik’s #263, #347, and #253 teams. None of their opponents have either, no matter the fact that they include Torvik’s #53, #12, and #64. It’ll be intriguing to see this defense try to shut down the conference’s top three, all of whom rely primarily on offensive success.
So how about those Terriers? It made sense to expect they’d have a chance against Texas A&M, what with the previous close calls against SEC opponents, but they’d also lost by 22 to Georgia Southern in their last D1 game. Wofford put in a brilliant defensive effort; while the Aggies’ Wade Taylor IV racked up 20 points, no other starter surpassed five and no other player surpassed seven for Texas A&M. Paveletzke stole the show on offense for the Terriers, totaling 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists and scoring their last nine points of the game on a three and six free throw shots, all good. The win was a clear demonstration of just how good Wofford can be when everything clicks, and it makes them one of the league’s most intriguing teams entering conference play.
The Buccaneers had every chance to upset LSU on the road. Thanks to a block by Josh Taylor—whose 22 points were a massive career high—with 25 seconds to go, ETSU got the ball with a one-score deficit and an opportunity to win in regulation. But they didn’t hit a shot after that, and the Tigers eked out a victory. Following a 3-1 start to the season, the Bucs have now lost eight of their last nine and haven’t won a D1 game in well over a month. Astoundingly, their ongoing five-game losing streak hasn’t seen a single defeat by more than four points; that does indicate they’re probably better than their record suggests, but it’s cold comfort with most of their winnable games now in the rearview mirror.
The goodwill inspired by The Citadel’s solid 5-3 start is beginning to dry up. The Bulldogs have logged four consecutive game scores of 20 or worse, most recently dropping a winnable game at NC Central thanks to four separate three-minute scoring droughts. While the lineup has some intriguing upside—Austin Ash and Stephen Clark are great all-around pieces, and Jackson Price has evident offensive talent—the Bulldogs are severely lacking in size and ability to hit shots from distance. Plus, it’s difficult to win games when you come two fouls short of the entire starting lineup fouling out.
Probably moreso than any other SoCon team, WCU feels like they have a lot of potential if they can just figure out how it all goes together. Tre Jackson, Tyzhaun Claude, Vonterius Woolbright, and Russell Jones Jr. is a perfectly capable group to round out most of the starting lineup, and while depth is poor, the Catamounts should have plenty of upside. The closest they came to showing that was in a somewhat close loss to a non-terrible Davidson; otherwise, they didn’t beat a team ranked higher than #293 in non-conference play and were decisively outclassed even by bottom-100 teams in D1. There’s optimism after a solid win over Tennessee Tech last week, but is it a sign that Western Carolina is ready to take the next step?
VMI came close to ending a rough non-conference run with three wins in their last four D1 games, but a rally to force overtime against Fordham came up just short in the extra period. The game ended on a wild sequence in which the Keydets attempted four shots from three-point range, missed them all, but kept rebounding and getting chances to tie it. Despite their unfortunate last-minute shot selection, it was a solid offensive performance for VMI against a capable Fordham defense, and this game should give them some confidence entering SoCon play.
Around the former SoCon…
Auburn rebounded from a rough recent stretch by rolling past Washington for a methodical 84-61 win as they head into the SEC slate.
Charleston continues to bolster their case for a ranking, now moving to 12-1 with a decisive win over Coastal Carolina.
Thanks to that win over Chattanooga, Georgia improved to 9-3 and took another step towards the bubble near the end of non-conference play.
LSU may have dilly-dallied against ETSU, but the victory puts them at 11-1 as they too prepare to face the SEC, with their only loss to a solid Kansas State team.
A long undefeated start to the season finally met its end for Mississippi State, which dueled with an underrated Drake squad but eventually lost 58-52.
North Carolina has been flying high ever since a four-game losing streak put them off the radar; most recently, they’ve knocked off Ohio State (89-84) and Michigan (80-76).
Virginia and Virginia Tech both took eye-catching losses that should shake up this week’s top 25—the former to Miami, the latter to Boston College.
In perhaps the biggest surprise of the week, Wake Forest took down in-state rival Duke, overpowering the Blue Devil’s stifling defense in an 81-70 win.
Washington & Lee returned to play after a two-week break by defeating Scranton 86-72, finishing 2-0 in the Puerto Rico Clasico.
The AFCA announced its FCS all-American teams this week. For the SoCon, Furman (TE Ryan Miller, OL Jacob Johanning) and Chattanooga (OL McClendon Curtis, DL Jay Person) led the way with two selections each, while ETSU (DB Alijah Huzzie) and VMI (LS Robert Soderholm) also saw players named. Meanwhile, the MLS Superdraft saw UNCG midfielder J.C. Ngando selected fifth overall by Vancouver, while teammate Ethan Conley was taken 50th and Mercer’s Ousman Jabang went 75th.