Box Score
IOWA CITY, IA – Ricky Hickman hit a free throw to break a 78-78 tie with 1.5 seconds to play as UNC Greensboro knocked off Southern Mississippi, 79-78, in the first round of the Gazette Hawkeye Challenge on Friday evening.
Hickman was fouled by Michael Ford on a three-point attempt from the right wing. Hickman missed the first attempt, but broke the tie on the second foul shot. After a Southern Miss timeout, Hickman intentionally missed the third shot and the Golden Eagles could not get off a desperation shot before time expired.
Hickman led the Spartans with a career-high 29 points, 15 of which came in the first half. It was the second-straight game that Hickman had an explosive first half. The sophomore from Winston-Salem, NC scored 21 of his 23 points in the first half of Tuesday night's win over Bridgewater. Hickman also tied a career-high with six assists.
Ronnie Burrell added a season-high 27 points and 10 rebounds for UNCG, his ninth 20-point game of his career and the ninth double-double of his career. Burrell, a senior from Montclair, NJ, scored 20 of his points in the second half.
Burrell and Hickman combined to score UNCG's last 23 points over the final 11:41. Josh Gross' free throw with 11:41 to play was the last points for the Spartans not scored by Burrell or Hickman.
“I was really pleased with our play down the stretch, particularly in our execution” said UNCG coach Fran McCaffery. “We got the ball down low to Ronnie and he was feeling it. Our big guns, Ronnie and Ricky, just kept coming up big for us.
“We wanted to run on them and get back and not let them run the floor on us. That wasn't the case early in the game and they got the lead. But we made some adjustments in the locker room at halftime and got our big guys into transition.”
UNCG took advantage of a Southern Miss drought and went on a 13-1 run midway through the first half to rally from a nine-point deficit and take its first lead of the night. Ricky Hickman's driving lay-up with 9:17 left in the half gave the Spartans their first lead at 22-21. After a Kevin Oleksiak steal, Josh Gross tipped in a Ray Bristow miss to give UNCG a 24-21 advantage and cap off the run.
Menawhile, the Golden Eagles (3-2), who began the game by hitting seven of its first eight shots from the field, did not have a field goal for 7:28 as the Spartans rallied. Contributing to the drought was the foul trouble of Jarekus Singleton, the Golden Eagles' second-leading scorer. Singleton played only the first 4:04 of the first half, picking up three quick fouls in that span.
The Spartans clung to that lead until Jasper Johnson hit two free throws with 3:40 left in the half to give Southern Miss a 28-27 lead.
The Golden Eagles knocked down a pair of three-point field goals to open the second half and open its lead back up to eight, 44-36. But UNCG was not ready to fold, running off seven in a row to pull back within a point and forcing Southern Miss to call timeout.
The Spartans regained the lead on a bizarre play. Hickman stole a pass in the frontcourt and raced the length of the floor. As Hickman drove to the basket, Southern Miss' Rashaad Caruth bearhugged Hickman for an intentional foul. However, Hickman made the shot, was awarded two foul shots and UNCG retained possession under its own basket. The end result, after Hickman made both free throws and Burrell hit a shot in the lane, was a six-point play that gave UNCG a four-point lead, 51-47.
“Ricky made a great play on that. His concentration to hit the basket and the free throws was outstanding. Then, we scored off the in-bounds on a set play, which is something we felt we could do in the scouting report.”
UNCG opened up its biggest-lead of the game with 8:34 to play, 66-59. Southern Miss head coach Larry Eustachy, making his first trip back to the state of Iowa since leaving Iowa State, was hit with a technical foul. Burrell drained both free throws and UNCG scored on the ensuing possession to take a seven-point lead.
After the teams traded buckets, Southern Miss ran off five straight points to close to within two, 68-66, and force the Spartans to call timeout.
The game went back-and-forth from there. Ronnie Burrell gave UNCG a 74-71 lead with a leaner in the lane, but the Golden Eagles' Solomon Brown countered with a three-pointer to tie the game with 2:20 to play. Southern Miss took the lead on a controversial goaltending call, 76-74, when Ricky Hickman blocked a shot from behind on a fast break. Hickman tied the game with two free-throws at the 1:21 mark.
After a Golden Eagle miss, UNCG called timeout with 43.2 seconds to play. Burrell hit a hook shot from the right side to give the Spartans a two-point lead with 38 seconds to play. Johnson countered with a lay-up to tie the game with 20 seconds left, setting the stage for Hickman's free throws.
The Spartans had their way down low again on Friday. UNCG scored 52 of its 79 points in the lane. Coming into the game, UNCG had scored nearly half (49.2 percent) of its points in the paint.
The game was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. It also marked the first time UNCG participated in an in-season tournament since 1997-98 and the first time in McCaffery's tenure.
With the win, UNCG moved to 4-1 on the season for the first time since the 2001-02 season, when the Spartans finished 20-11 and earned a trip to the NIT. It was UNCG's first win over a Conference USA member since beating East Carolina on December 5, 2001, which, ironically, made the Spartans 4-1 on the season. The win also snapped UNCG's six-game non-conference losing skid away from Fleming Gymnasium.
The Spartans will take on the winner of the Centenary - Iowa game on Saturday at 9 p.m. EST. The game will be televised by ESPN-Plus and will be available on the ESPN Full Court package.
AGATE
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI (3-2)
Brown, 7-11 6-8 25; Johnson, 8-15 3-3 19; Ford, 5-14 2-2 13; Singleton, 2-4 3-6 7; Haywood, 1-3 3-4 6; Carruth, 1-4 1-2 4; Forte, 2-2 0-0 4; Lewis, 0-0 0-0 0; Brown, 0-0 0-0 0; Stiggers, 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 18-25 78.
UNC GREENSBORO (4-1)
Hickman, 8-17 12-15 29; Burrell, 10-15 7-8 27; Hines, 5-9 0-0 10; Gross, 2-4 1-2 5; Bristow, 1-6 0-0 3; Oleksiak, 1-2 1-2 3; Johnson, 1-4 0-0 2; Everette, 0-0 0-0 0; Beckford, 0-1 0-0 0; Wilson, 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-58 21-27 79.
Halftime: Southern Miss 38-36. 3-point goals-Southern Mississippi 8-19 (Brown, 5-7; Ford, 1-5; Carruth, 1-3; Haywood, 1-2; Stiggers, 0-1; Johnson, 0-1), UNC Greensboro 2-12 (Hickman, 1-7; Bristow, 1-4; Oleksiak, 0-1). Fouled out: Southern Mississippi: None, UNC Greensboro: None. Rebounds: Southern Mississippi 39 (Johnson, 9), UNC Greensboro 27 (Burrell, 10). Assists: Southern Mississippi 18 (Brown, 6), UNC Greensboro 14 (Hickman, 6). Total fouls: Southern Mississippi 18, UNC Greensboro 19.
