Here’s our updated Big South Basketball Power Rankings with games played through December 29th. Conference play begins on Wednesday.

Note: National rankings are courtesy of KenPom.com. Arrows denote movement in power rankings since last week.

1. High Point 9-3 #148

   no change

The Panthers won their only game this week, beating someone called Thomas, 85-48. Preseason Big South Player of the Year John Brown leads High Point and is 3rd in the league with 18.6 points per game. HPU opens conference play with a couple of big tests as they host Coastal Carolina and travel to Winthrop.

2. Coastal Carolina 9-3 #125

   no change

Coastal Carolina didn’t play a game this week over the Christmas holiday. Cliff Ellis’ squad has gotten good play out of seniors Josh Cameron and Warren Gillis who each rank in the top 17 in the Big South in scoring.

3. Gardner-Webb 8-5 #165

   no change

The Runnin’ Bulldogs didn’t play this past week. They look to continue their stellar play into conference play when they open at Presbyterian. Jerome Hill is probably the leader in the clubhouse for conference player of the year. Hill is 2nd in the league in scoring (18.8) and rebounding (9.1). GWU owns wins over Clemson and Purdue.

4. Radford 9-4 #172

  1

The Highlanders beat Central Penn, 119-69, in their lone game of the week. Radford opens with a couple of winnable conference games with Asheville at home before they travel to Longwood. Javonte Green leads the league in rebounding with 9.2 per game.

5. Charleston Southern 6-5 #223

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The Buccaneers won their lone game of the week, beating Johnson University. The win put a stop to CSU’s 3 game losing streak; those 3 losses came to NC State, Wofford, and Colorado State.

6. Winthrop 5-6 #239

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The Eagles didn’t play this week and will open conference play on Wednesday at home against Longwood. Winthrop has been up and down throughout the season as head coach Pat Kelsey tries to get the Eagles back to where they were when Greg Marshall was the coach.

7. Campbell 6-7 #271

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After a nice win over UNC-Wilmington, 69-66, Campbell laid an egg at Samford. The Camels lost to the Bulldogs, 65-56, on the road. Samford is ranked 311 in KenPom. Campbell may be one of the more difficult teams to figure out in the Big South at this point, are they the team that lost 5 in a row and fell to Samford, or the team that won 5 out of 6 games?

8. UNC-Asheville 4-7 #257

   no change

No games for Asheville this week. Andrew Rowsey leads the conference and is in the top 10 of the country in scoring with 22.1 points per game. Rowsey has struggled his last 3 games as they are the only games of the season he has failed to reach 20. UNCA is 1-7 against Division I opponents.

9. Liberty 6-7 #312

   no change

The Flames beat Cincinnati Christian in their only game this week. Liberty’s record is inflated with 4 wins over non-Division I teams. Forward Tomasz Gielo is still injured and expected to be out for at least a couple more weeks. Liberty travels to face Campbell to open conference play on Wednesday.

10. Longwood 4-9 #339

   no change

The Lancers fell on the road to Ball State, 69-64, in their final nonconference tune-up. Longwood has 2 of the top 8 scorers in the Big South in Quincy Taylor (17.2) and Shaquille Johnson (13.7). Lotanna Nwogbo has also been productive averaging 12.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

11. Presbyterian 4-9 #349

   no change

The Blue Hose conclude their nonconference schedule 0-9 against Division I opponents after falling to Virginia Tech, 87-65. Jordan Downing is one of the best scorers in the conference as he leads PC at 16.3 points per game.