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| Furman's PJay Smith (0) had 24 points in the Paladins' 84-67 loss at UNC Greensboro. Photo courtesy of Furman |
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Furman got off to its best start in 93 years this season thanks primarily to a stingy defense, particularly along the perimeter. Going into Saturday's game at UNC Greensboro, the Paladins had allowed just 63.6 points per game and ranked second in the country in three-point defense. Their first 14 opponents made a combined total of 25.2 percent of three-pointers.
None of those numbers seemed to matter to the Spartans Saturday. UNCG shot 60 percent from the floor in the first half to take an 11-point lead into halftime. There had to be a thought that the Spartans couldn't possibly shoot that well again in the second half and they didn't ... technically. UNCG shot "only" 55.2 percent in the second half, but actually made one more field goal and two more threes to cruise to an 84-67 win.
The Spartans (9-6, 2-0 Southern Conference) made 31-of-54 (57.4 percent) field goals, including 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) three-pointers to snap Furman's six-game winning streak. It was a different story shooting-wise on the Paladins' end of the floor. Coming off a 90-point performance at Western Carolina three days earlier, Furman shot just 39.3 percent Saturday and made just 9-of-35 (25.7 percent) threes.
"Obviously, the difference was the three-point line. They shot 52 percent. We shot 25 percent. They got way more production on threes than we did and we shot 12 more than they did," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "When you lose the three-point line that badly in the way that we play, it's hard to win - especially on the road."
Everything seemed fine for the Paladins (13-2, 1-1) out of the gate. The only one who had a bit of a rough time shooting at Western was PJay Smith and he quickly put that performance in the rear view when he drained a pair of threes in the first 72 seconds Saturday. Smith's layup at the 18:03 mark gave Furman an early 8-4 lead. Little did anyone know then that those three field goals for Smith would be more than any other Paladin would make Saturday.
After leading 9-7 with 16:46 left, Furman was stuck on nine for the next four minutes while UNCG went on a 10-0 run that forced Richey to call a timeout. The only Paladin who remained in the game coming out of the timeout was Tom House and promptly hit a three to cut the lead to 17-12.
The offensive woes continued for Furman though. The Paladins only made three field goals over the next eight minutes as the Spartans took command with a 33-21 lead. All three of those made shots were layups or dunks and two of those came on putbacks. Davis Molnar's driving layup cut the lead to 38-31 with 1:55 left, but Furman got no closer the rest of the way.
"We hit those two (threes) to start the game and then we really went cold on a lot of wide open looks. Meanwhile, it felt like they didn't miss a shot all day," Richey said. "Give them credit. They played great. They were the aggressor on offense and on defense and, typically, that's who wins."
A three-point play by Smith sliced the lead to 52-42 with 14:43 left, but the Spartans responded with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes.
The biggest sign that it wasn't going to be one of those "find a way Furman" days came midway through the second half. After Cooper Bowser hit a pair of free throws to cap a 7-0 run that cut UNCG's lead to 63-51 with 9:29 left, the Spartans turned the ball over. Nick Anderson's three-pointer missed. Garrett Hien got the rebound, but his tip-in missed. Ben VanderWal got that rebound, but Anderson missed another three. Another offensive rebound gave Furman its fourth shot on the same possession, but Smith's three also missed.
"It just wasn't our day. We've got to look at it and see what we could've done better. I thought we had a good prep and good mindset, but unfortunately we weren't ready to play and that's on me," Richey said. "It just seemed like we were a half-step slow all day."
UNCG followed Furman's lengthy possession that with a 12-3 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 75-54 with five minutes remaining to essentially seal the win.
Smith was the lone Paladin in double figures with 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting. He had just one assist and three turnovers though as no other Furman player made more than two field goals. Coming off a 20-point effort at Western, Anderson struggled Saturday. The sharpshooter was 2-of-14 from the floor, including 1-of-12 on threes.
In addition to a bunch of missed shots, Furman's offense had too many mishandles. After a season-low four turnovers against the Catamounts, the Paladins had 13 on Saturday. It was an odd day for Furman big men. VanderWal grabbed nine rebounds, but was just 1-of-1 from the floor. Bowser drew five fouls and shot eight free throws, but was just 2-for-2 from the floor.
"I felt like we depended too much on the three-point line today. ... I didn't think we played inside-out enough and didn't get it in the paint," Richey said. "We like to use chase dribbles to get into the paint and get the next guy a three. We were coming off lot of those (chase dribbles) and shooting them. Those are tough shots, especially if you're not feeling good (shooting well)."
Kenyon Giles surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his career in style for the Spartans. He finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-6 on threes. Giles also had five rebounds, four assists, one steal, one turnover and no fouls. Ronald Polite added 18 points off the bench for UNCG.
Furman will wrap up its second four-game road trip of the season Wednesday when it takes on rival The Citadel in Charleston at 7 p.m.
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