For today’s News, Notes and the first weekend of highlighted conference games – CLICK HERE
For Part Two of Jon Teitel’s non-conference teams by conference – CLICK HERE
The Citadel (9-4, 1-1 SoCon) at Furman (13-2, 2-1) – 4:00 PM EST (ESPN3)
Today’s UTR Game of the Day matches up a pair of in-state foes in South Carolina as the Bulldogs of Citadel travel upstate to Greenville to play the Furman Paladins. The Citadel had a seven-game winning streak back in December that included wins at South Florida and at Campbell, but have given up at least 110 points per game in back-to-back losses against Longwood at home and at Wofford. Matt Frierson did crack the 1,000 point club during the Bulldogs’ loss at Wofford two days ago. As a team, Citadel is currently averaging 97.7 points per game but are also surrendering 85.7 points per game at the moment.
Furman comes into the game with a 71-58 home win against Mercer to up their record to 2-1 in SoCon play. This was after a two-game losing streak that included blowout losses at Louisiana State and East Tennessee State. Still, they should get a little mileage out of their win at Loyola-Chicago and more mileage out of their win at Villanova from back in March. Matt Rafferty (16.9 PPG, 9.0 RPG) and Jordan Lyons (16.9 PPG) lead the Paladins in scoring and both figure to have big days today given the fast tempo that Citadel employs in their games.