UNCG's "Secret Scrimmages"

According to Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports, The Spartans will be holding "Secret Scrimmages" against UNC and Radford. Find his entire list is here ...

*I've listed other SoCon games and other teams of interest.

SECRET SCRIMMAGES

Fri., Oct. 29
Samford at Kennesaw State

Sat., Oct. 30
Clemson at Georgia
Virginia Tech vs. Georgetown
Wake Forest at College of Charleston
George Mason at Richmond
VCU at La Salle
High Point at East Carolina

Sun., Oct. 31
UNC at UNC Greensboro
UT Chattanooga at Ole Miss
Wofford vs. Belmont at Maryville College

Fri., Nov. 5
Radford at UNC Greensboro

Sat., Nov. 6
Charlotte at Virginia Tech
Liberty at Appalachian State

Terriers Ends UNCG's Run

UNCG 47 - Wofford 59

News & Record
Charlotte Observer
UNCG Athletics
Wofford Athletics

#4N UNCG (8-22) vs #1S Wofford (23-8)

When: Saturday, March 6 4:30 pm*
Where: Bojangles Coliseum (9,605)
TV: None/SoConTV.com

* This game is scheduled to start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Western Carolina-Elon game. That game will tip at 2 pm.

- The winner of today's game will advance to take on the winner of the 2 pm at approximately 6 pm tomorrow at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Wofford Athletics
Wofford Forum

Spartan Notes:
- Yesterday, UNCG got the benefit of a mistake by Furman's Amu Saaka. Saaka went for a 2 point basket when the Paladins needed a 3 pointer to tie. Even though he made the basket, the Spartans won 66-65.
-The Spartans have now won 2 games in a row and 3 of their last 4 games.
- The Spartan lost both contests to Wofford this season.
- Ben Stywall leads UNCG in scoring (14.2) and rebounding (10.4) . Kyle Randall leads the team in assists (2.6).
- For the year, UNCG is shooting 38.8% from the field, 29.2% from behind the arc and 69.4% from the free throw line.

Terrier Notes:
- Last time out, Wofford lead all the way en route to a win over Citadel, 75-66. Noah Dahlman lead Wofford with 18 points.
- Dahlman was named Southern Conference Player of the Year by the coaches. Wofford coach Mike Young was named Coach of the Year by the media and the coaches.
Wofford will get the SoCon automatic bid to the NIT should they not win the conference tournament.
- Dahlman leads Wofford in scoring (17.4). Tim Johnson leads in rebounds (7.8) and Brad Loesing leads the team in assists (3.1).
- For the season, Wofford is shooting 44.1% from the field, 35.2% from behind the arc and 67% from the free throw line.

My Thoughts:
UNCG has got to continue to survive and advance. The Spartans haven't played well against Wofford this season. Hopefully, they will this time.

Go Spartans !!!

Spartans Survive and Advance

UNCG 66 - Furman 65

News & Record
UNCG Athletics
Furman Athletics

Amu Saaka apparently didn't get the memo that the Paladins needed a 3 pointer to tie the game. Saaka drove the length of the court and dunk the ball with less than a second left in the game. The Spartans inbounded the ball to win by a point. The Spartans advanced to pay Wofford on Saturday. The Terriers watched the entire game in person at the Bojangles Coliseum.

Positives
- Welcome back Brandon --- Brandon Evans was absent on Monday and has spent the last half of the season in a less featured role. However, his 13 first half points really seemed to spark UNCG to take command early in this game.
- Freshmen are growing up --- I thought all 3 freshmen made big plays down the stretch. Brian Cole had a big 3 pointer and Kyle Randall made a huge steal and 3 point play. I was most impressed, though, With Randall and Korey VanDussen's desire to have the ball in their hands when UNCG needed made free throws.

Negatives
- For the second straight game, the Spartans need to make better use of their time at the free throw line. A few more made ones would have sown this game up.

#5S Furman (13-16) vs #4N UNCG (7-22)

When: Friday March 5 4:30 pm*
Where: Bojangles Coliseum (9,605)
TV: None/SoConTV.com

* This game is scheduled to start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Davidson-Elon game. That game will tip at 2 pm.

- The winner of today's game will advance to take on Wofford at approximately 4:30 tomorrow in Bojangles Coliseum.

Furman Athletics
Furman Forum

Spartan Notes:
- Last time out, the Spartans ran out to a 20 point second half lead, and then had to hold on to defeat Georgia Southern 81-79. It was the final home game of the year. Ben Stywall led UNCG with 30 points and 11 rebounds.
- UNCG finished the regular season tied for 3rd with Chattanooga. However, the Mocs won the tie breaker and are the 3rd seed from the North Division.
- Stywall is trying to be the first Spartan to finish the season averaging a double-double.
-UNCG and Furman split their 2 regular season games this year. Each team won on it's home floor.
- Ben Stywall lead UNCG in scoring (14.5) and rebounding (10.3). Kyle Randall leads in assists (2.6).
- For the year, UNCG is shooting 38.7% from the field, 28.9% from behind the arc and 69.3% from the free throw line.

Paladin Notes:
- Furman's rally can up short against College of Charleston on Saturday. The Cougars defeated the Paladins 69-66. Jordan Miller lead Furman with 20 points.
- Furman finished the regular season with a 7-11 conference record. They were 2 games behind the Citadel.
- Amu Saaka leads Furman in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (7.2). Darryle Evans leads the team in assists (3.2).
- For the season, Furman is shooting 41.8% from the field, 35.5% from behind the arc and 71.7% from the free throw line.

My Thoughts:
It's win or go home. I'd sure rather see G win.

Go Spartans !!!

Tournament Move is Official

Charlotte in '10 and back to Chattanooga in '11.

The first few days will be played in Bojangles Coliseum (formerly Cricket Arena)with the semifinals and finals being played in Time Warner Cable Arena.

Chattanooga Times Free Press
Official SoCon Press Release

SoCon Tournament Possibly Moving

Over the past few weeks, it appears Charlotte business leaders and SoCon officials have been in talks to bring the 2010 Southern Conference Tournament to either Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena or Bojangles' Coliseum. Here are some links to articles and discussions.

Davidson Forum
Chattanooga Forum
College of Charleston Forum
UNCG Forum

Charlotte Observer (3/29/09)
Charleston Post & Courier (3/28/09)
Chalreston Post & Courier (3/30/09)
Chattanooga Times Free Press (3/29/09)
Chattanooga Times Free Press (3/31/09)

It appears that Chattanooga is willing to back their hosting date up one year and probably get some financial considerations for being so helpful. But, why the rush to get this in place for next year?

The CIAA Tournament is locked into TWC Arena for the next 3 years. In 2011 & 2012, that tournament and the SoCon Tournament fall on the same weekend. Next year is the only available year where that's not the case.

Don't believe that reason? Let's try this one. Stephen Curry will be a senior next season (provided he doesn't go pro). Imagine the fanfare of this tournament in a central location with a legitimate NBA lottery pick playing in it. Also, Davidson's campus is right down the road. Seems like the perfect storm to fill up the arena.

Want another option? If you believe massage board talk, Chattanooga barely broke even hosting this year's tournament and that's with the hometown team winning. It appears next season that UTC will be rebuilding. Why not wait a year to host again when the Mocs might be better and get more locals into the arena?

I think all of these reasons have some merit to them. I think Chattanooga is a fine place to host the tournament. Unfortunately, Chattanooga (and Charleston) are destination spots for the tournament. With economic times the way they are, the SoCon is going to have to take the tournament to where the fans are located.

I really hope this happens. Money is tight for me right now, just like everyone else. It would be nice to drive ~ 1 hour down the road to see the tournament. Plus, I really like TWC Arena. This seems like the right thing to do at the right time.

But, that's just my opinion.

Regular Season Recap - November

Since the regular season is now over, let's take a look back to what happened. Here's a quick game-by-game recap.

We'll do these in separate posts for each month.

November
Charlotte (L) - UNCG got down early, but played a pretty solid second half. In the end though, the 49ers really didn't do much to let UNCG back into the game.
Webber International (W) - Landon Clement went off for 26 points, but UNCG showed glimpses that point guard play could be a problem. Still, it was the Spartans only win before the calendar flipped to 2009.
Central Arkansas (L) - A loss to a transitional D1 school signaled trouble ahead. Turnovers and poor free throw shooting caused UNCG problems.
NC State (L) - Too much inside toughness for UNCG to really threaten the Wolfpack. Kendall Toney still loves playing NC State, though (they're on the schedule next year Kendall).

Oh, the horror

It has been a pretty brutal start to the year for the SoCon. Let's review what has happened after the first week or so of the season. Right now Real Time RPI has the SoCon at 21st and Ken Pomroy has it at 23rd.

North Division:

Chattanooga (0-2) - The Mocs have a very tough early season schedule and it has showed so far. They have been blown out by Tennessee and Missouri and have to play national runner-up Memphis next.

Western Carolina (0-1) - Beaten by 26 @ #2 UConn.

Samford (1-1) - Lost by 18 to Belmont, beat Spring Hill by 20.

Elon (1-1) - Destroyed by West Virginia and destroyed Southern Virginia.

App State (1-1) - This may be a tough team to gauge. They lost on the road to a UNCW team that was supposed to be down, and won at home against a good Charlotte team in double overtime.

UNCG (1-1) - We've gone over this.

South Division:

Davidson (2-1) - Blew out Guilford and James Madison and then lost a close game at Oklahoma. Stephen Curry is averaging a meager 35.3 points per game.

College of Charleston (2-1) - The Cougars finished 3rd in their own tournament beating SIU-E and TCU and losing to Temple.

Wofford (0-2) - Lost by 3 @ Dayton and 53 @ Clemson.

Ga Southern (2-2) - They went 1-1 in Durham and 1-1 since then.

Furman (1-1) - They beat Emory and lost @ Charleston Southern.

The Citadel (1-1) - Beat Grace Bible and were hammered by VCU.

Totals (12-15) with a lot of wins against non-D1 teams. A quick glance says that the best wins were Houston (GSU), Charlotte (ASU), James Madison (DC) and TCU (CofC).

If at first you don't succeed ... try, try, try, try, try, try again

Charlotte 77- UNCG 59

- News & Record
- Charlotte Observer
- UNCG
- Charlotte

Early in the second half, a Charlotte player missed a point blank shot. However, in what was a microcosm for the entire game, 49ers players proceeded to rebound and shoot the ball 6 more times before finally converting. The Spartans got Charlotte to play the kind of ugly game that it needed to have a chance. They just couldn't grab the ball, figuratively and literally.


It was a disappointing, yet not unexpected result. UNCG had lost too much to simply go down to Charlotte and knock off a good team. But it wasn't all bad. Landon had 13 points and Mikko had 12. The guys did quite a few nice things. And let's not forget, this is a Charlotte team that should go to the NCAA tournament. Lamont Mack (18 pts, 10 rebs) is a big time player. However, some of this game was them not playing well either, but I'll get to that ...<>


The Good
- Landon Clement - The Blue-White game was not an aberration. He stepped up and took his shots with confidence and made quite a few of them (3-6 from deep). After a bad shot that resulted in an air ball, he was harassed by the student section badly for the rest of the game. But still made a few more shots. It was obvious the crowd was getting to him, though.
- Montel Smith - He looked the part of the starting PG that UNCG desperately needs. His stat line wasn't all that special (2 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast) but it was the fact that he got the ball down the court and got the team in an offense. No one else that ran the point looked nearly as good.
- Defense - UNCG held Charlotte to 41% shooting and 4-18 from 3 point range. The match up zone (not sure if it was 2-3 or 1-3-1) that the Spartans used for much of the game was pretty effective. All-in-all it was a good defensive effort. However, Charlotte missed a ton of wide-open shots. I've not seen a team miss that many shots with no one around them. So, I don't think you can attribute all of Charlotte's offensive problems to UNCG defense.
- Rebounding - I know, UNCG got beat on the boards 37-28. Let me point out again that Charlotte got 6 of those on one trip down the floor. Other than that, I thought Ben Stywall did a respectable job. As the first post-Hines game, it wasn't too bad.

The Bad
- Post play - Except for a few nice second half plays from Bone, the UNCG big men looked massively overwhelmed. And it seemed like anyone that checked into the game in the 4 or 5 spots got whistled for a foul immediately. That's got to get better quick.
- PG play - 7 assists/23 turnovers.
- The Score - UNCG lost by 18. It felt like 30 watching from home. Other than a 5 minute run in the second half, this game wasn't really competitive.

The Ugly
- Intentional foul - That was a bad and dangerous play made by Eargle. He's got to let that play go and not compound one mistake with another one. I agreed with his frustration. Something should have been called on that play. But UNCG needed him on the court.
- Shot selection - Landon and Mikko are going to score 9-15 points every game. They let their shots come within the offense. Everyone else forced too many shots. UNCG shot themselves out of their run by taking two bad 3 pointers.

All-in-all I think that this game will provide some film that the guys will use to get better on Monday.

Go Spartans !!!

UNCG (0-0) @ Charlotte (0-0)

When: Friday, Nov. 14 8:00 pm
Where: Halton Arena (9,000)
TV: None

Charlotte Athletics
Charlotte Forum

Spartan Notes:
- The Spartans return 2 starters from a team (19-13) that finished 3rd in the North division of the SoCon.
- UNCG was picked to finish 4th in the North division by both the coaches and media. No Spartan player was single out for any individual or all-conference honors.
- The graduation losses were pretty significant. The starting back court and Kyle Hines are now gone.
- As opposed to playing any exhibition games, UNCG opted to play closed door scrimmages against NC A&T and South Carolina (according to the N&R) or Winthrop (according to the athletics website).
- Landon Clement scored 19 points in the annual Blue-White game. Freshman Damien Eargle scored 14 and Mikko Koivisto scored 16 in the game (2 15-minute halves).

49er Notes:
- The Charlotte 49ers were picked to finish 5th by the A-10 media and coaches.
- Senior Forward Lamont Mack was tabbed 2nd team all-conference.
- The 49ers return 4 starters from last year's squad (20-14) that finished 4th in the A-10.
- Charlotte beat Pfeiffer 122-85 in an exhibition game last week. 4 of the 5 starters scored in double figures, but reserve Ian Andersen led the way with 24. The 49ers shot a ridiculous 57% (16-28) from 3 point range. They out rebounded Pfeiffer 46-39.
- During an exhibition trip to Canada, Charlotte scored over 100 points in 3 of 4 games.

My Thoughts:
This is an interesting game b/c I feel like these two programs should be playing often in several different sports (i.e. baseball). However, this may be a bad year to open with the 49ers in basketball. I really feel like as the season goes on, UNCG is going to get better. Maybe a lot better. As for the first game, though, it may be ugly. Having 3 new starters, one likely to be a freshman, is not a recipe for winning in a hostile environment.

I'm expecting this game to be a high number of possessions game. I'm also expecting UNCG to shoot a huge number of 3 pointers. In order for the Spartans to be successful, they are going to have to turn this game into an ugly "turnover fest" and hit a high percentage of their 3's. They're also going to need to play solid perimeter defense. Keeping close with the 49ers on the boards is almost a must.

While all of those are some big "if's", the major thing that needs to happen in this game or very early in the season is that players are going to need to step up. Kyle Hines is gone, but there are still plenty of solid players with experience on the roster. When everyone figures out their roles, I think this team will surprise people. Hopefully it happens Friday night.

Go Spartans !!!

UPDATE:
- Game preview from UNCGSpartans.com. From the game notes it appears UNCG will use a very odd starting lineup of Landon, Kendall, Ben, Eargle and Pete Brown. I'm very surprised not to see Oliver or Mikko starting. Guess the other 5 have shown Coach Dement something extra in practice.