GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dante Treacy's career best 24 points helped the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's basketball team earn a critical 73-64 victory over Western Carolina in a Southern Conference contest at the Greensboro Coliseum Wednesday night.
There must be something about February 23 that excites Treacy. His previous career-best was 23 points on this day against Fairleigh-Dickinson in February of 2020 while he played for Robert Morris.
Treacy had help as
Kobe Langley scored 14 points – including his third halftime buzzer beater, a bank shot from 35 feet that gave the Spartans a 41-28 halftime lead.
De'Monte Buckingham added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Kaleb Hunter contributed eight points.
UNCG moved into a three-way tie for fourth place with VMI and Wofford in the congested SoCon standings. All three teams are 9-8 with one regular season contest remaining.
For Treacy, this was a beautiful bounce back from his scoreless outing Saturday at Samford. Following that game, a dejected Treacy spent 15 minutes postgame chatting with his parents in the Samford stands before shuffling slowly to the idling team bus as the sun was setting.
He had a lot of time to think about his performance as well as his father's inspiring words during the 8.5-hour bus ride home from Birmingham to Greensboro.
Records
Western Carolina 10-20 overall, 4-13 SoCon
UNCG 17-12, 9-8
Quotable
Treacy on his father's message.
"My dad used to coach me, and he got into me a little bit after that game. Just telling me to be confident and play my game. It was also coming down to everybody knowing what I am capable of and me, not having trust in myself. My coaches have been on me to shoot more and be more aggressive and my teammates continued to show faith in me."
Treacy on tonight's mindset.
"I actually went over to (Buckingham) and I said let's have fun tonight. Lately, there's been a lot of these games we'd been playing too serious instead of having fun with it and doing what we love. I told him to have fun tonight and that was the motto for the game."
How It Happened
- Treacy and Buckingham combined to make 12 of 18 shots (66.6 percent).
- They combined to score 21 of UNCG's first 28 points in the first 13 minutes.
- Treacy scored 10 points in the first half and 14 after intermission.
- Treacy scored five quick points in 36 seconds to help UNCG reverse an early 10-6 deficit.
- His driving layup gave UNCG the lead for good, 11-10, with 13:09 remaining.
- Kobe Langley concluded the first half with two straight 3-pointers, including his third halftime buzzer-beater this season.
- Langley's triple from the top of the key gave UNCG its largest bulge of the contest, 57-36, with 12:16 remaining.
Inside the Numbers
- Mohammed Abdulsalam finished with eight rebounds.
- Miles Jones blocked a career-best four shots to go along with six rebounds in 14 energetic minutes.
- The six total blocks were a season-high for the Spartans.
- UNCG made 12 3-pointers, one shy of its season-best, which was also against Western Carolina on Feb. 7.
- UNCG enjoyed a 15-4 edge in fastbreak points.
- This was the third time this season and 19th time in his career that Treacy scored in double figures.
- This was the 20th time this season and the 79th time in his career that Buckingham scored in double figures.
- Kobe Langley has reached double-digits in scoring 10 times this season and for his career.
- Marcus Banks led the Catamounts with 13 points.
- Joe Petrakis (11 points) and Marlow Gilmore (10) were a combined 8-for-11 shooting for Western Carolina.
- UNCG has won 12 of the last 13 meetings against Western Carolina.
Up Next
- UNCG closes the regular season by hosting East Tennessee State on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 4 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Final Word
UNCG head coach Mike Jones
"I think we played some of the best ball of the season for a big stretch of the first and second half to extend the lead. Every game is hard to win in this league and I am proud of our guys for getting the win."
Jones on Treacy's performance.
"Dante has been through a lot of college basketball games and he's a good player. I was proud of how he came out aggressive tonight. He and Mo were outstanding in terms of their aggression to start the game. Dante spent some extra time getting some shots up and he shot it with confidence tonight, so it was nice to see it go in for him."
