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Presbyterian (8-12, 5-2) at Winthrop (13-7, 7-0) – 2:00 PM (ESPN+)
Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to suburban Charlotte (Rock Hill, SC to be specific) for a matchup of two of the top teams in the Big South. The surprising Presbyterian Blue Hose will travel upstate to face off against the hometown Winthrop Eagles. Winthrop has run hot and cold to say the least this year – they got a big win at Saint Mary’s back in November, but then proceeded to lose six games in a row against D1 competition. Since that skid, the Eagles have now won nine straight games, most notably a 5-point win at Radford to give themselves a firm hold of first place in the Big South and race for home-court advantage in the conference tournament. Josh Ferguson averages 12.4 points a game and 6.8 rebounds a game for Winthrop.
Presbyterian entered conference play as one of the worst-rated D1 teams in the power metrics, yet they got off to a 4-0 start in conference play. Their best win was on the road at defending conference champion Gardner-Webb by a 68-62 margin. While a home loss against Radford was hardly unexpected, a loss at Charleston Southern may be a sign of a regression back to the mean for the Blue Hose. Cory Hightower leads PC with 12.8 points a game and 6.0 rebounds a game.