Sophomore forward Sean Cusano returns to his home state of South Carolina to face Furman this Saturday
photo by Ray Soldano/GoMocs.com
In the 100th all-time meeting, the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team travels to Furman for a key Southern Conference showdown on Saturday evening inside the Ben Secours Arena in downtown Greenville, S.C. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
Chattanooga (11-7, 3-2) is coming off Wednesday's exciting 83-81 comeback overtime victory over Wofford, a game in which the Mocs erased an early 20-point deficit with a strong second half. Down six with under a minute left in regulation, Bash Wieland forced the extra frame with back-to-back threes before Trey Bonham hit the game-winning leaner with 3.0 seconds left to break the tie.
Furman (15-3, 3-2 SoCon) enters Saturday's contest on a bit of a roller coaster ride as the squad has split its last four games in opposite fashions. During the stretch, the Paladins suffered large setbacks at UNCG (L, 67-84) on January 4 and at home to Wofford (L, 62-81) on Monday while tossing in close victories at The Citadel (W, 67-63 OT) on January 8 and at home against ETSU (W, 73-70) on Wednesday.
Furman compiled an impressive 12-1 non-conference slate, with the lone loss at the hands of then-No. 1 Kansas by an 86-51 count on the road. Included among the Paladins early wins were impressive road victories at Belmont, Florida Gulf Coast and Harvard along with conquests over Tulane, Jacksonville and Princeton at home.
The Paladins had to replenish their roster after the loss of four of their top five scorers from last year to the transfer portal. JP Pegues (18.4) left for Auburn, Marcus Foster (17.0) is now at Xavier, Alex Williams (13.2) migrated to Duquesne and Carter Whitt (7.9) transferred to Belmont.
Former Lee University senior guard PJay Smith Jr. leads Furman with 16.6 points per outing, followed by Barry graduate transfer Nick Anderson at 12.5 and sophomore forward Cooper Bowser at 8.5 points.
Furman is shooting at a 45.8% clip, including 34.5% from 3-point range where they average 10.3 makes per contest. Free throw shooting is suspect at only 68.5%, and the Paladins average 37.2 rebounds per game.
Chattanooga is led by Bash Wieland’s 13.8 average, followed by Trey Bonham (13.0), Honor Huff (12.9) and Frank Champion (9.4). The Mocs are shooting at 47.4% on the season, including 35.7% from long range where they also average 10.3 3-pointers a game. UTC is converts 76.2% of its free throws and is averaging 33.3 rebounds per contest.
Both teams won on their home court last season, after meeting three times including the SoCon championship tilt the previous two years. Chattanooga swept the series in the 2021-22 campaign by a total of nine points, including David Jean-Baptiste’s game-winning heave to send the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament. Furman won all three games in 2022-23 including an 88-79 victory in the conference finals before stunning 4th-seeded Virgina in their first round NCAA game.
UTC & Furman will meet for the 100th time in the storied all-time series' history as the game marks the 86th meeting in SoCon regular season action. The Mocs hold a 58-41 (.585) all-time edge over the Paladins in the series. In recent memory, Furman has won 12 of the last 16.
THREES A PLENTY IN BACK-TO-BACK WINS: Chattanooga has averaged 17.5 3-point field goals made over the past two games (both wins) following Sunday's program record (vs. DI opp.) 19 triples against VMI and Wednesday's 16 threes against Wofford. UTC has climbed to 25th in NCAA DI this season with a 10.3 3FGM per game average.
SOCON HOOPS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART: Southern Conference action is in full swing and the dramatics have continued. UTC has seen two of its first five league games go into overtime (L, 94-99 at Mercer/ W, 83-81 vs. Wofford) and a third result in a buzzer-beating decision (L, 75-78 - vs. UNCG).
HISTORIC THREE-POINTER STREAK: The Mocs have made 5+ 3PT FG in 86-straight games, every game under Dan Earl. The such streak is currently the longest active streak in Division I and 11th longest all-time.
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