SPARTAN ESSENTIALS
Who: Towson (7-4)
Where: SECU Arena | Towson, Md.
When: Tuesday, December 14 | 7 p.m. 
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Game Notes: UNCG | Towson

GREENSBORO, N.C. – For the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's basketball team, it's out of the frying pan and into the fire as it prepares for a tough two-game swing in Baltimore, a city in which the hit television show "The Wire" was filmed, to battle Towson and UMBC.
 
The trip starts Tuesday at Towson. The Tigers are another program that's been butcher-knife sharp at home. They have 73 victories inside of SECU Arena since moving into their beautiful facility in 2014.
 
This will be UNCG's first game against Towson since 2011. It's also UNCG's first visit to traffic-congested Baltimore County since Jan. 23, 1995 -- an amazing span of 9,823 days. The games in 1994 and 1995 were played inside of the Towson Center. This contest doubles as a Big South reunion as these two programs were once playmates in the same conference in the mid 90s.

Both teams pride themselves on tenacious rebounding and aggressively sticking to defenders like Old Bay seasoning on crabs.
 
It's probably safe to say that whoever wins the rebounding battle will put themselves in a great position to capture this matchup. UNCG is sixth in the country in rebounding margin (+12.5) and Towson is 26th (+8.4). Both marks lead their respective conferences.
 
The Spartans are 27th nationally with 420 rebounds while the Tigers are 34th nationally with 417 rebounds.
 
Last Time Out

• De'Monte Buckingham had 10 points and five rebounds in a loss to 13th-ranked Tennessee on the road.
• Towson made a school-record 16 3-pointers in defeating Coppin State, 89-75, on the road on Saturday. Jason Gibson scored 24 points on eight 3-pointers to lead the Tigers.

 
A Look At UNC Greensboro

• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, UNCG is the winningest program in the Southern Conference with 132 victories.
• Buckingham paces UNCG in scoring (13.0) and rebounding (8.0).
• He has scored in double figures in three straight games.
• Buckingham has scored 20 or more points three times and collected two double-doubles.
• In two road games this season UNCG has allowed 72.5 points.
• The balanced Spartans have had nine different players score in double figures in at least one game this season.
• Bas Leyte averages 9.1 points per game.
• Kaleb Hunter, who had five rebounds against Tennessee, adds 8.4 points per contest.
• J.C. Tharrington notched his first career steal against Tennessee.
• Miles Jones has dunked in two consecutive contests.
• UNCG averages 42 rebounds per game, which is 24th nationally.
• This will be UNCG's second game this season against a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) program.
• UNCG beat Elon, 74-61, on Nov. 30.
• UNCG has won five straight games against CAA opponents.

 
A Look At Towson

• Towson is 3-1 at home.
• Towson's average margin of victory in its three home wins is 16 points.
• The Tigers have won four of their last five contests.
• Towson has scored at least 70 points in five straight games.
• Another way to look at it is that the Tigers have scored 70 points in every game except for two.
• The Tigers are balanced and have four players averaging double figures led by Cameron Holden's 15.2 points per game.
• Niclas Timberlake (13.6), Terry Nolan Jr. (12.0), and Jason Gibson (11.3) are also double-digit scorers for Towson.
• Holden leads the Tigers in rebounding (9.5).
• Gibson and Timberlake have combined for 41 3-pointers.
• Gibson made eight 3-pointers in Saturday's win over Coppin State.
• For good measure, Anthony Rizzuto scores at a 9.4 point per game clip.
• The Tigers have been bolstered by three impactful transfers in Holden (UT Martin), Rizzuto (Albany) and Nolan Jr. (Bradley and George Washington).
• Towson has allowed 63 points or fewer in seven of its first 11 games.
• Towson leads the CAA in field goal percentage defense (40.1) and is second in three-point field goal defense (31.2).
• Towson is ninth nationally in free throws attempted (239) and 20th in free throws made (166).

 
Series History

• UNCG is 2-3 all-time against Towson.
• UNCG won the last matchup 72-60 against Towson in 2011 in a game played in Murfreesboro, Tennessee as part of the EA Sports Maui Classic.
• The series started in 1994.
• UNCG has never won at Towson, dropping both games in 2014 (75-74) and 2015 (73-66).
• UNCG has won two straight over the Tigers.

Up Next

• UNCG concludes this road trip with a contest at UMBC on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
• UMBC owns a road victory at Pittsburgh this season.