Winthrop men’s basketball hosts Presbyterian on Saturday

Winthrop hosts Presbyterian Saturday in the second of a two-game Big South December run.

The Eagles held off Charleston Southern on the road Wednesday, Keon Johnson’s late free throws giving the Eagles an 83-82 win over the Bucs. Presbyterian is eager to avoid an 0-2 league start after falling 87-76 to Gardner-Webb, also on Wednesday, the Blue Hose’s third straight loss.

Basics

Winthrop (5-1, 1-0 Big South) vs. Presbyterian College (3-4, 0-1)

Game time: 4 p.m. EST / Site: Rock Hill (Winthrop Coliseum)

Live video: BSN (Big South Network-Mike Pacheco/Bobby Stevens); audio: FM 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 3:30 p.m. with Dave Friedman/Ron Mikels)

Saturday’s matchup by the numbers

30 Winthrop and Presbyterian play men’s basketball for the 30th time Saturday afternoon. The Eagles hold a 17-12 series lead and have won five of the last six against Gregg Nibert’s program.

9 Pat Kelsey’s Eagles have won nine straight home games at the Coliseum, including six straight in Big South play.

89 KenPom.com gives Winthrop an 89 percent chance of continuing that home win streak Saturday against Presbyterian.

15.7 Percentage of opponent’s shots that redshirt sophomore Duby Okeke is blocking when he’s on the court, the fifth-highest rate in the country, according to KenPom. Okeke’s 22 blocked shots through six games gives him more than six teams in the Big South; he’d be tied with Longwood for fifth most.

9.1 The number of fouls drawn over the course of a 40-minute game by Presbyterian sophomore DeSean Murray, the ninth-best rate in NCAA Division I. Murray leads the Big South in scoring at 20.7 points per outing.

23 Presbyterian certainly misses Jordan Downing, the Blue Hose sharp-shooter who graduated. The Blue Hose is hitting just 23 percent of its 3-point attempts this season, worst in the Big South.

88.2 Winthrop is scoring nearly 90 points per game through the first six contests. The Eagles are allowing 81.

4 Winthrop has four players averaging double-digit points headed into Saturday. Jimmy Gavin (19.7) leads the way, followed by Keon Johnson (18.7), Xavier Cooks (15.7) and Bjorn Broman (10.0). Gavin and Johnson rank third and fourth in the league in scoring.

5 The Eagles’ next five contests after Presbyterian are non-conference. Winthrop faces - in order - Georgia, Alabama, Georgia Southern, Alabama State and Rio Grande College (Ohio). The Eagles return to Big South action on Dec. 31 against Campbell at home.

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Winthrop men’s basketball hosts Presbyterian on Saturday."