GREENSBORO, N.C. – De'Monte Buckingham made his UNC Greensboro (UNCG) debut one to remember by tying a career-high with 28 points to help the Spartans rally past North Carolina A&T, 57-53, at the Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday in the season-opener for both programs.
Playing with determination and fire, Buckingham was special from beginning to end.
The Cal State-Bakersfield transfer made nine of 15 shots from the field, including two gigantic 3-pointers in the final five minutes that gave UNCG the juice it needed to finish strong and make a 10-point deficit disappear.
First-year UNCG head coach
Mike Jones loves talking about the juice. It's one of the core tenets of his program. Buckingham supplied that and a whole lot more to light up an electric crowd of 6,948 fans.
He bolstered the Spartans winning edge with a 3-pointer from in front of the Spartan bench with 3:01 remaining that gave UNCG the lead for good, 51-49. Buckingham delivered an encore triple 44 seconds later to push the Spartans into a four-point lead and send the crowd into a frenzy.
Mohammed Abdulsalam added eight points and 11 rebounds for the Spartans.
Justin Watson and Tyler Maye finished with 17 points each for North Carolina A&T.
Records
North Carolina A&T 0-1
UNCG 1-0
How It Happened
- During UNCG's second half surge, the Spartans got big baskets from J.C. Tharrington, Dante Treacy, Kaleb Hunter, and Abdulsalam, which set the stage for Buckingham's brilliance in the end.
- UNCG limited North Carolina A&T to 15 points over the final 17 minutes.
- The Spartans held the Aggies to seven baskets and 22.6 percent shooting in the second half.
- Maye helped the Aggies to a slim 31-28 halftime lead by tallying 14 first half points on 6-of-6 shooting.
- Buckingham's 18-point first half was almost wasted as the Aggies opened the second half with seven straight points to open a 38-28 advantage with 17 minutes, 47 seconds remaining.
- Buckingham scored 14 of the Spartans' first 16 points of the game.
- He made his first five shots of the contest.
- Buckingham scored UNCG's first eight points.
- He tallied the first points of the 2021-22 season on a short jumper at 7:04 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Inside The Numbers
- This is the 60th time in double figures for Buckingham.
- It's also the 10th time in his career that he's hit for 20 or more points.
- Buckingham scored 28 points in a game against Georgetown on Nov. 25, 2017.
- The first half featured eight lead changes and five ties.
- The Aggie bench contributed 15 of their 17 points in the opening 20 minutes.
- North Carolina A&T transformed eight UNCG turnovers into nine points.
- This is the sixth time that Abdulsalam has hit for double digit rebounds.
- UNCG won the rebounding battle, 51-34.
- This is the second straight game in which the Spartans finished with at least 50 rebounds against A&T.
- In its last two games against A&T, the Spartans have grabbed 114 rebounds against North Carolina A&T.
Quotable
Buckingham on the crowd.
"It was amazing. Getting our fans to come out and support was amazing especially last year dealing with COVID. It was special to be in front of a great crowd tonight and put on a show for them."
Buckingham on the Spartan thought process when it trailed by 10 points.
Coach always puts us through adverse situations during practice so that helped us tonight when we were down by 10. We did well by not letting ourselves down when they went on a quick run. We got together as a team and said we were going to be fine. It feels even better when coach tells us we're going to be fine. That made us feel better and we eased our way back into the game, one play at a time."
Jones on UNCG's second half performance.
"We battled in the first half. Our offense wasn't as good as we wanted it to be. Defense we were pretty good. We fixed some things in the second half that made it tougher for them to get to the basket. That was a big key to our defense in the second half. I also thought we were grittier and tougher than we were in the first half. We put more pressure on the ball and kept them out of the paint."
Up Next
- UNCG visits Northern Kentucky Friday at 7 p.m.
