The Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament tips off Tuesday, and, as tipoff gets closer, here’s a quick preview of each team entering the tournament this week:
#1 Winthrop
The Eagles finished the regular season in a first place tie for the second straight year, this time being tied with UNC Asheville. Pat Kelsey’s squad is led by Big South Player of the Year Keon Johnson and fellow first teamer Xavier Cooks. Winthrop has advanced to and lost in the Big South Tournament Championship game each of the past 3 seasons. They will be looking to end a 7 year tournament championship drought, and their road begins Thursday evening against either Charleston Southern or Longwood.
#2 UNC Asheville
The defending tournament champs will be looking to defend their title as a 2 seed. UNCA opens their tournament title defense in the first game Thursday in Rock Hill, South Carolina against the winner of the Campbell/Presbyterian game. First-team all-conference performers Ahmad Thomas and MaCio Teague pace the way for the Bulldogs. Both Winthrop and Asheville have been projected on the 14/15 seed line for the NCAA Tournament if one of them wins the Big South Tournament Championship.
#3 Liberty
The Flames continue to show significant improvement in head coach Ritchie McKay’s 2nd season back at the helm. Liberty improved on their 10-8 mark in conference play a season ago to finish 14-4, and they had an opportunity to win a share of the regular season conference title with a win in the season finale against Asheville. Liberty is 14-0 against all Big South teams not named Winthrop or UNCA, and 0-4 against the top 2 teams in the league. McKay’s squad faces off with Radford Thursday at 3:30. The Flames defeated the Highlanders by the slimmest of margins this season, winning in overtime and on a game winning banked-in 3 pointer at the buzzer.
#4 Gardner-Webb
The Runnin’ Bulldogs are as capable of winning the tournament as any other team. They’ve won 4 straight and 7 of 9 with their only losses during that stretch coming in double overtime against Liberty and by 6 points against Winthrop. Tim Craft’s squad knocked off UNCA on Thursday. 2nd-team all-conference selections Tyrell Nelson and Laquincy Rideau are as good of an inside-outside punch in the conference. Gardner-Webb has a rematch with High Point in a game the Runnin’ Bulldogs won in overtime in each team’s regular season finale on Saturday.
#5 High Point
The Panthers have had an up and down conference season, starting Big South play 1-4. Coach Scott Cherry and his team would rebound to win 6 straight, before limping towards the finish line with a 2-5 finish. High Point has had 4 games go to overtime in conference play and have lost 8 Big South games by single digits. They have a tough path to try to win their first ever Big South Tournament, opening against Gardner-Webb where a win would likely pit them against #1 seed and host Winthrop.
#6 Radford
The Highlanders are the only team in the conference with own wins over both Winthrop and UNCA, as they opened Big South play with wins over the eventual #1 and #2 seeds. Losing 5 straight and 7 of 8 during the heart of league play is largely to blame for why Radford finds themselves in the bottom half of the conference standings. They are playing better of late, winning 4 of their last 6 games. The Highlanders have lost in their first game of the Big South Tournament in 4 of Mike Jones’ 5 seasons as head coach.
#7 Campbell
Campbell boasts the Big South’s leading scorer in first team honoree Chris Clemons, who’s averaging 23.1 points per game this season. The Camels defeated Radford in the regular season finale to land the 7 seed. They will face #10 seed Presbyterian Tuesday evening in Buies Creek. Campbell won both meetings against PC this season by an average of 12 points per game. Head Coach Kevin McGeehan is 0-3 in the Big South Tournament.
#8 Charleston Southern
The Buccaneers have won 3 of their past 4 games including an 86-78 win over Longwood on Saturday. Those two teams meet again in the opening round of the Big South Tournament on Tuesday evening. CSU is led by Christian Keeling, who’s averaging a freshman conference-best 16.9 points per game. Charleston Southern was 2-0 against the Lancers this season, winning both games by double figures.
#9 Longwood
It’s been a difficult year for Longwood and head coach Jayson Gee. The Lancers were down to 6 scholarship players in their final 2 regular season games. Longwood has lost 15 straight games after opening Big South play 3-0. The 8/9 matchup between CSU and the Lancers is a rematch of the 8/9 matchup a year ago. In last year’s meeting, the Lancers defeated Charleston Southern, 75-69. Longwood has actually defeated CSU in each of the past 2 Big South Tournaments.
#10 Presbyterian
The Blue Hose finished the regular season 1-17 in league play with their only win coming against Longwood back in late January. Presbyterian picked up their first ever win in the Big South Tournament last year with a 65-65 upset over #7 Radford in the 7/10 matchup before falling to #2 Winthrop in the quarterfinals. The Blue Hose meet Campbell on Tuesday evening.
