Winthrop opens conference play Thursday

Winthrop begins Big South Conference play Thursday night at Charleston Southern, after closing out one of the most successful non-conference slates in the school’s relatively young men’s basketball history.

The Eagles beat Illinois, Georgia Southern and Furman, all teams ranked in the top-150 by KenPom.com, which uses a variety of measures in its ratings that make for a well-rounded system. KenPom ratings date back to 2001-02; only the 2007-08 Winthrop team beat more non-conference opponents in the top-150 (Illinois-Chicago, Georgia Tech, Akron, Miami (Fla.), and Old Dominion) than this year’s squad did. Winthrop had little, if any, success against top-150 teams in the years before Gregg Marshall arrived in 1998.

The historic 2006-07 club that beat Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament also beat three teams in the top-150: Missouri State, Old Dominion and Mississippi State.

With conference play beginning Thursday night for all 10 teams, here’s a look at how Big South schools are playing headed into the new year:

Winthrop (8-3)

Best win: overcoming a 10-point deficit late in the second half to beat Illinois on the road in overtime.

Worst loss: the five-point loss to New Hampshire was a bit of a let-down in an otherwise very strong non-conference showing by the Eagles. New Hampshire imposed its physicality on Winthrop on the Eagles’ home floor.

Best player: this would be Xavier Cooks if he cut down on his turnovers, but it’s probably been Keon Johnson. He had a few quiet games in the non-conference, but still emerges averaging nearly 19 points per game. Johnson is shooting below 30 percent from the 3-point line, which is uncharacteristic for the standout senior.

Eye-popping stat: Winthrop’s players that play more than 10 percent of game minutes average 2.23 years of college basketball experience, according to KenPom.com. No other team in the Big South is higher than 1.89 years (UNC Asheville), and while that number doesn’t exactly translate to wins, its impact should be felt in the next few months. In the non-conference, consider the surprising late wins Winthrop pulled off against Furman and Georgia Southern, victories in which experience and cool heads helped produce comebacks.

UNC Asheville (8-5)

Best win: 11 steals and a plus-six in the turnover column contributed to a solid road win at Elon (No. 136 in KenPom rankings).

Worst loss: losses to VCU, Georgia, Kansas and a two-point defeat against Ohio State were hardly disappointing. A two-point home loss to UNC Greensboro – especially since the Bulldogs had the ball last in regulation to win or tie – was disappointing.

Best player: Ahmad Thomas has developed into the lead man it looked like he could become the last two years. Thomas leads the team in scoring (16.2 points per game) and rebounding (5.7), and is third in the country in steals per game (3.38).

Eye-popping stat: the Bulldogs are sixth in NCAA Division I in steals per game (10.5). Even with the loss of Dylan Smith and Dwayne Sutton to transfers, Asheville still has one of the longest teams in the conference, especially on the perimeter where Thomas and freshman MaCio Teague are defensive windmills.

Gardner-Webb (7-6)

Best win: the Runnin’ Bulldogs forced 20 turnovers and held Nebraska to 3 of 17 shooting from beyond the 3-point line in a confidence-inflating road win against the Cornhuskers.

Worst loss: Gardner-Webb let a second half lead slip in a home loss to Furman.

Best player: sophomore guard Laquincy Rideau has developed the offensive side of his game (12.5 points, 4.8 assists per game) to go with his innate ability to defend and steal the basketball.

Eye-popping stat: Gardner-Webb ranks 347th in NCAA Division I in free throw percentage (57.5), which could undermine any potential conference tournament run in March.

Radford (5-7)

Best win: Radford smashed Elon on the backboards in a home win over the Phoenix, easily the Highlanders’ best win of the season. Two of their five wins are against non-Division I competition.

Worst loss: losing to Georgia Southern normally wouldn’t be that bad of a result for the Highlanders, but Mike Davis would be annoyed that his team had a seven-point lead with about 11 minutes left in the second half, before missing two shots in the last 30 seconds in a one-point defeat.

Best player: sophomore post man Ed Polite has played well in his second year of college ball, leading the league in rebounding (offensive and defensive), and is the only Highlander averaging double digit scoring (10.2 points per game).

Eye-popping stat: Radford leads the conference in offensive rebounding, which is crucial given the Highlanders have the worst field goal percentage in the Big South.

Liberty (5-8)

Best win: the Flames overturned a second half deficit to beat UMass-Lowell at home; three of five Liberty wins are against non-Division I opponents.

Worst loss: Ritchie McKay’s team struggled at the start of both halves in a 17-point loss at Lamar (297 in KenPom rankings).

Best player: Ryan Kemrite has been very effective so far for Liberty, emerging from primarily a long distance shooter into a more well-rounded player. Kemrite leads the team in scoring (13.5 points) and is shooting 46 percent from beyond the arc.

Eye-popping stat: entering conference play, Liberty is still winless on the road in five attempts. That doesn’t bode well in the Big South when nicking road wins becomes more important.

High Point (6-6)

Best win: a road win over UNC Greensboro, in which High Point held the Spartans to 37 percent shooting from 2-point range, just six free throw attempts and forced 15 turnovers, was a good result for Scott Cherry’s rebuilding team.

Worst loss: the Panthers shot just 40 percent from 2-point territory in a road loss at Western Carolina (305 KenPom ranking).

Best player: Miles Bowman Jr. is picking up where he left off the last month of last season, leading the team in rebounding (9.1 per game), shooting 90 percent from the foul line and over 50 percent from the field, and scoring 11.8 points per game.

Eye-popping stat: High Point has won a few games when it struggled offensively but when the Panthers have been unable to stop opponents they haven’t won. In the six games in which Scott Cherry’s team has allowed the opponent over 98 points per 100 possessions, it’s 0-6.

Charleston Southern (4-7)

Best win: three of four wins are against non-Division I foes, so this one is easy. The one-point road win at Abilene Christian is the Bucs’ best result so far.

Worst loss: Charleston Southern constitutes VMI’s lone win over Division I competition this season, so that’s not a good sign.

Best player: freshman Christian Keeling has been a bit of a revelation, leading the Bucs in scoring (15.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.5). That’s taken some of the pressure of sophomore point guard Armel Potter and gives Charleston Southern a decent 1-2 scoring punch.

Eye-popping stat: in Division I games, Charleston Southern is getting 34.7 percent of its scoring from beyond the 3-point arc. That’s the lowest chunk of scoring from 3s for Barclay Radebaugh’s traditionally triple-happy program since 2012, and probably is indicative of Potter and Keeling’s ability to score closer to the rim.

Campbell (7-5)

Best win: Kevin McGeehan’s team hasn’t beaten a team ranked higher than 290 in the KenPom ratings, so the OT victory over Colgate on a neutral floor will have to go down as the best win to this point.

Worst loss: a 16-point defeat at Morgan State (No. 329 KenPom ranking out of 351 teams) was not a good result. The Camels were bad on offense, making just 7 of 14 free throws, 7 of 25 shots from 3-point range and getting out-rebounded by 11.

Best player: Chris Clemons has been very good in the first two months of the season, averaging 22.4 points and four rebounds per outing.

Eye-popping stat: in its games against Division I opponents, Clemons has taken over 37 percent of Campbell’s field goal attempts, third most in the country. No other team in the Big South is as reliant on a single player as Campbell is on its star sophomore guard.

Longwood (3-8)

Best win: the Lancers’ win over Dartmouth is their lone success against D-I competition, so again this is easy.

Worst loss: tough to pick one because there are multiple candidates. The 113-58 blowout loss to Creighton stands out simply because of the 55-point deficit.

Best player: Khris Lane has continued to be a solid contributor for Longwood. He’s second on the team in scoring (13.3 points per game), leads in rebounding (7.5) and is shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. The 6-foot-6, 245-pounder is a tough matchup for most teams in the Big South.

Eye-popping stat: Longwood has been offensively woeful. In nine games against Division I schools, the Lancers have only topped 100 points per 100 possessions (a pretty decent rating) once. Not only that, they haven’t even topped 90 points per 100 possessions in six of those games, which is really bad.

Presbyterian (4-7)

Best win: the Blue Hose’s season-opening win against Furman was a nice result for Gregg Nibert’s program. Presbyterian hit 15 of 18 foul shots to win a two-point contest.

Worst loss: losing to USC Upstate isn’t a huge surprise for Presbyterian, but losing 76-48 to the Spartans on Dec. 13 was.

Best player: freshman Jo’vontae Millner has given the Blue Hose a decent replacement for Desean Murray, who would have been one of the best players in the league this season had he not transferred to Auburn. Millner, a 6-foot-6 power guard, leads Presbyterian in scoring (12 points per game) and rebounding (5.8).

Eye-popping stat: only seven Division I teams (out of 351) have a worse KenPom offensive rating than Presbyterian (91 points per 100 possessions), and only six have worse defensive ratings (allowing 113.4 points per 100 possessions). Compare those numbers to Winthrop (104.3 points per 100 possessions on offense, 100.9 allowed on defense) and you get a sense of the Blue Hose’s struggles.

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Winthrop opens conference play Thursday."