GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's basketball team will play its third game in the last five days Monday night when the Spartans travel to Greenville, S.C., to take on the Furman Paladins. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Timmons Arena.
The game will be televised on the American Sports Network (ASN) with Darren Goldwater and Dean Keener on the call. ASN is available in Greensboro at WMYV-My 48 (Ch. 15 Time-Warner, Ch. 15 North State, Ch. 48 ATT), WXLV-2 and MASN. A full list of ASN affiliates nationwide for the game will be on www.uncgspartans.com. No internet stream is available.
The Spartans enter Monday's game with a 9-15 overall record and a 5-6 mark in Southern Conference play. UNCG is coming off a tough loss at home Saturday evening when they fell to East Tennessee State 68-65. The Bucs out-scored the Spartans 15-3 down the stretch to take home the victory.
UNCG enters the game Monday with just an 1-11 record on the road with its lone win coming Jan. 28 at The Citadel (102-95). The Spartans are currently in sixth place in the SoCon standings, holding a one-game lead over Western Carolina. UNCG is averaging 72.4 points per game this year while allowing 74.2 points per game. The Spartans are shooting 44.1 percent (622-of-1411) from the field and 36.5 percent (213-of-583) from distance.
Monday's game marks the 28th meeting all-time between UNCG and Furman. The Spartans hold a slight 14-13 edge in the series as they have won four out of the last five meetings. Last year, the teams split the regular season series with the home team victorious in both contests. Furman picked up a 71-64 victory in Greenville before the Spartans posted an 84-49 victory at the Greensboro Coliseum, their second-largest Southern Conference victory in program history.
Earlier this season, the Spartans held off the Paladins for a 67-66 victory in Greensboro. The back-and-forth affair saw the game tied 15 different times and had 11 different lead changes. Junior guard Diante Baldwin (Greensboro, N.C./High Point Christian) hit the game-winning shot with 3.9 seconds left Tuesday night to cap the Spartans' comeback as the Spartans scored the game's final seven points in the final 3:08 of regulation, including the last six from Baldwin in the last 1:40 of the game to secure the victory. Baldwin finished the night with 10 points and five assists, scoring six of his points in the last two minutes of the game
Junior center R.J. White (Frisco, Texas/Frisco) posted his first double-double of the season with 17 points and a season-high 13 rebounds. Senior Kayel Locke (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) added 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting while freshman guard Demetrius Troy chipped in 12 points. Stephen Croone led the Paladins with 27 points on 6-of-20 shooting but he was the only Paladin in double figures.
Freshman guard Francis Alonso (Malaga, Spain/Cushing Academy) leads four players in double figures scoring at 12.9 points per game. Alonso is shooting 39.9 percent (61-of-153) from distance this year and 84.3 percent (59-of-70) from the free throw line. Locke is tied for the team lead in scoring at 12.9 points per game while adding 5.4 rebounds per game. He is shooting 46.4 percent (122-of-263) from the field and is averaging 18.3 points per game over the last six contests, including a career-high 30 points at The Citadel.
White is third on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game and also leads the team on the glass with 7.3 rebounds per game. He is shooting 63.1 percent (111-of-176) from the field this year. Baldwin rounds out the Spartans in double figures scoring at 10.3 points per game. Baldwin leads the team with 123 assists and grabs 4.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward Marvin Smith (Richmond, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) adds 9.8 points per game and has hit 41 3-pointers at a 31.8 percent clip.
Furman enters Monday's game with a 14-11 overall record and an 8-4 mark in Southern Conference play. The Paladins had their five-game winning streak snapped on the road at league-leading Chattanooga Saturday, 62-54. Furman is 10-1 at home this year, including an undefeated 6-0 mark in league play. The Paladins are averaging 69.3 points per game while holding opponents to a league-low 63.9 points per game. Furman is shooting 44.4 percent (588-of-1323) from the field and 32.4 percent (183-of-565) from 3-point land.
Croone leads the team in scoring at 16.4 points per game and he has gone to the free throw line a team-high 172 times, hitting on 76.7 percent. He has also hit 29 3-pointers, good for second on the team. Furman has eight different players with at least 10 made 3-pointers on the year. Devin Sibley is second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game ... Sibley has also hit 29 3-pointers, connecting on 34.1 percent.
Matt Rafferty is third on the team in scoring at 8.0 points per game but leads the team on the glass grabbing 7.2 rebounds per game. Kris Acox adds 7.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while shooting a team-high 59.9 percent (82-of-137) from the field.
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