Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Wofford uses dominant effort to thump Paladins

Charles Johnston had 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench in
Furman's 81-62 loss to Wofford Monday. Photo courtesy of Furman

While Greenville got it worse than Spartanburg over the weekend, the winter storm didn't wreak nearly as much havoc as Wofford did to Furman Monday night at The Well. In a game that was postponed two days by the weather forecast, there was a thought that an exhausted Paladin squad could benefit following their long road trip. However, it appeared more like the Terriers spent the extra time sharpening their ankle-biting incisors as they gnawed Furman to a pulp in an 81-62 win.

It's the most lopsided Wofford win in the rivalry since a 74-49 decision in Spartanburg 10 years ago. That season, Furman finished in last place in the Southern Conference before making a run to the Tournament championship. From a student perspective, the thought could be that 'I waited two extra days to see my team get blown out and all I got was this lousy Who-fford t-shirt.' *

Rivalries tend to elicit more emotion from players, so who really knows how much fuel the classless shirt added to Monday's game. Wofford definitely came out with more fire than the Paladins did though. The Terriers (9-8, 3-1) led 8-0 just over two minutes in and 13-4 at the first media timeout. By the 11:41 mark, Wofford was up 20-9 and never led by fewer than 11 the rest of the way.

"Obviously, give Wofford a lot of credit. I thought they were the aggressor early and ... their energy was good off the bat. They saw the ball go in a lot early," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "Unfortunately, we came out on our heels. Typically in games like this, when you do that, it's hard to change that energy.

"I was proud of our effort in the second half. We scored more than twice the points we scored in the first half, but it was just too late. ... It was very similar to the game in Greensboro. They hit a ton of threes and we couldn't buy one. You're not beating people doing that."

Wofford's Justin Bailey, a USC Upstate transfer who led Blue Ridge High to the Class 3A state championship in 2022, celebrated his return to Greenville with a pair of threes to open the scoring. Reigning SoCon Player of the Week Kyler Filewich made a layup at the 17:56 mark to push the lead to 8-0.

After Garrett Hien's putback cut Wofford's lead to 13-9, the Terriers reeled off a 9-0 run over a less than three-minute span to take a commanding lead that was never challenged. From the 14:28 mark to the final seconds of the first half, Furman went 2-of-23 from the floor. As the final horn of the first half sounded, Charles Johnston's three-pointer bounced three times on the rim before falling through to end Furman's streak of 14 consecutive missed shots and cut the lead to 40-20 at the half.

"We didn't come into this game with the right mindset. We weren't ready to fight tonight and that can't happen. That's ultimately on us," Ben VanderWal said. "This is a tough league. If we come out and play the way we played tonight, it's going to be hard to win games.

"We've played with toughness at points this year. We didn't win the gams we've won playing soft. But in our last two losses, we've been out-toughed. ... We weren't able to punch back tonight and that can't happen." 

While Wofford cooled down to a 42.9 shooting percentage by halftime, the Terriers got 11 offensive rebounds off their 22 missed shots in the opening half. Meanwhile, Furman made 7-of-35 shots (20 percent) in the first half, including just 2-of-17 three-pointers (11.8). While the outside shooting was abysmal, the inside wasn't much better. The Paladins were 2-of-11 on layups and dunks in the first half.

Furman (14-3, 2-2) clearly played harder in the second half, but it was too little much too late. They still had a rough go of it defensively. Wofford shot 53.3 percent in the second half and hit 8-of-13 three-pointers. The Terriers missed 14 shots after halftime, but grabbed nine offensive rebounds. That math will never work for a team trying to rally from a 20-point halftime deficit.

"You can't make runs unless you can string stops together," Richey said. "Once that team (Wofford) gets to feeling good, they're really good and they felt great all night. We did nothing to change that.

"If teams can just go in and tell their guys to just push us around, put their hands on us and just start yelling and talking; if that stuff is going to rattle us, then you're going to get the outcome that you got tonight. You've just got to be able to go play your game."

For the game, Wofford scored 19 points off its 20 offensive rebounds, while Furman had just 12 points off its 18 offensive boards. Dillon Bailey finished with a game-high 19 points to lead the Terriers, while Corey Tripp had 16 points and six rebounds. Filewich added a stat line of nine points, 12 rebounds, six assists, one steal, no turnovers and no fouls.

Johnston finished with 14 points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench to lead Furman. The only other Paladin in double figures was Nick Anderson, who had 12 points and three steals. Anderson made 2-of-3 three-pointers, which is easily the fewest amount he's attempted since the Jacksonville game on Nov. 11.

Furman will have to get things turned around quickly as always physical East Tennessee State visits the Well on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game. The Bucs (10-7, 3-1), who are coming off a 70-52 win over The Citadel on Saturday, are led by guard Quimari Peterson. Peterson leads the SoCon in scoring, averaging 18.2 points per game.

"We gave up 20 offensive rebounds, which is ridiculous, but we kept battling. These last few games, we've gotten a little adversity and clearly not playing as well," Richey said. "A lot of times, seasons come down to how you deal with adversity. This is something we've got to respond to and figure it out. ... Adversity can make you better if you let it.

"Our mentality has to change. ... We've got to come to the arena ready to fight on Wednesday. That's the reality of what this is. That's a decision. ... Who's going to be the more aggressive team? Who's going to come out and play hard? Who's going to exert more energy on defense? That's what wins games. We've got to understand that we can't compromise there." 

*Note: I understand marketing is not an easy task and I applaud Furman's efforts to create more buzz within any athletic program. Perhaps the next t-shirt giveaway could be something more Furman-like though, such as "Go Paladins" or "Beat Wofford." Or, if you want to have fun with a specific season like this one, something like "Find a Way Furman" with a graphic of a math riddle that Will Hunting would find challenging. Just a thought.

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