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| Furman freshman Alex Wilkins had 23 points, seven assists and five rebounds in the Paladins' 90-79 win over Queens Sunday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
There was a time not too far in the past that holiday basketball tournament organizers didn't exactly have Furman on speed dial. Those days seem long gone now. For the fourth consecutive season, the Paladins will compete in an ESPN tournament over the Thanksgiving holiday. Furman will kick off a busy turkey day in the sports world with the only morning start time. Tip-off against Richmond Thursday is set for 11 a.m. in the four-team Imagination Bracket of the Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational. The Invitational is being held at the State Farm Field House at ESPN's Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resort.
Thursday's game will be televised by ESPN2. It's the first game of a doubleheader as Charlotte and Illinois State will square off in the second game. The winners of Thursday's games meet in Friday's championship game at 3 p.m. on ESPN2, while the consolation game will precede it at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
This year's trip to the land of Mickey Mouse follows previous Thanksgiving excursions to Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach and Charleston for the Paladins. While these trips are fun destinations against quality opponents, exposure may still be the most important part.
"This isn't ESPN+ or ESPNU. It's ESPN2. This is national exposure that you just can't turn down," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "For what we're trying to build here, we need as much exposure as we can get. ... We want to be something that allows the university to be seen at a national level.
"We got families all coming down there with us, so it should be a fun Thanksgiving time together which is going to be special."
Richmond (5-0) is undefeated this season and is coming off a 33-point win over VMI and a 35-point win over Gardner-Webb last week. The Spiders' lowest scoring output this year came in an 84-56 win over Southern Virginia in the season opener. Richmond is ranked No. 104 in the last Pomeroy ratings - the highest among the four teams competing in this bracket, but we all remember what happened the last time Furman faced a team from Virginia in Orlando.
"Richmond is really good. ... (Coach) Chris (Mooney) does a great job," Richey said. "There's a lot of similar beliefs offensively (with Furman) and just kind of how they play, We're going to have our hands full and we will have to guard really, really well."
Recapping Queens
The Paladins enter Thursday's game having earned their biggest boost of confidence this season with a 90-79 win over Queens on Sunday. It marked the first win over a Division I program for Furman (3-3) this season and also gave the Paladins their first two-game winning streak.
A Furman team that has struggled with turnovers and shooting the three all year turned both around against Queens. The Paladins had 20 assists and only four turnovers in the victory, and made a season-high 12 threes out of 33 attempts for a 36.4 percent shooting average. Freshman sensation Alex Wilkins led five Paladins in double figures with 23 points, seven assists, five rebounds, just two turnovers and only one foul.
"It's a lot more fun when all of a sudden it looks like we can take care of the ball a little bit, make a couple of shots, play defense and win the battle on the boards. That was good Furman basketball," Richey said. "There's some things that we have to continue to try to clean up, but Alex has a chance to be special. ... He's not done getting better. His ceiling is so high."
After Wilkins scored the first seven points of the night for Furman, six other Paladins accounted for each of the team's next six buckets. That helped Furman lead by as many as 12 points with 12:44 left in the first half.
Queens (3-4) got the lead down to three before Wilkins responded with a simply astounding 85 seconds of basketball. It started on a driving reverse layup with 7:01 left. Then he grabbed a defensive rebound and was just a few feet away from midcourt when he fed Cooper Bowser down low for a dunk. Wilkins then drew an offensive foul for one of just four turnovers committed by the Royals.
On the ensuing Furman possession, Ben Vander Wal found Wilkins in the corner off a three forcing a Queens timeout. After the Royals scored out of the timeout, Wilkins answered with a coast-to-coast drive for a layup that he hit as he fell to the ground. That pushed Furman's lead to 31-21 with 5:36 left in the half and the Paladins never led by less than eight the rest of the way.
"The best part about him is his creativity. That's what makes him fun to watch - the speed at which he can play with and the vision that he can have," Richey said. "But it's just like a good car that can go fast. You want to be able to stop that thing a little bit and he's really had to learn how to stop well."
Following its best half of basketball this season, Furman took a 45-32 lead into halftime. The Paladins quickly squashed any hopes of a rally by Queens as they pushed the lead to 20 less than four minutes into the second half.
Cooper Bowser had yet another incredibly efficient night as he finished with 17 points on 6-of-7 field goal shooting, which was basically all a dunkfest. Bowser's shooting 77.8 percent from the floor this season but just barely doesn't have enough shots to qualify in the national ranking as he's 28-of-36. Charles Johnston continued to dominate inside as well as he had 14 points and 13 rebounds for his fifth double-double. He also had four assists and no turnovers.
Eddrin Bronson scored 15 points off the bench, while Asa Thomas had 12 points. The only starter not in double figures was Vander Wal. All he did was easily lead the team in plus-minus as Furman outscored the Royals by 23 points during his 30 minutes on the court. Vander Wal, who had missed the previous game for precautionary reasons and played this one with his left hand and wrist taped up like a prize fighter, had six points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, one steal and no turnovers.
"Things haven't necessarily gone our way to start this season, but I'm so proud of this group and how we've been resilient. We've responded to those early season adversities," Vander Wal said. "Today was quite a good step in the right direction."
Recapping Ohio Christian
Following a tough trip to Northern Iowa in which Furman made just 4-of-30 three-pointers in a 16-point loss, Furman looked to get on track against NAIA member Ohio Christian last Wednesday. They did, by a final score of 79-44, but certainly not as quickly as anyone would've hoped. Nine-and-a-half minutes into the game, Furman trailed 12-11, was 0-for-6 on threes and had seven turnovers.
That goose egg on made threes remained until Wilkins knocked down Furman's first on its 14th attempt with just over three minutes left in the first half. Tom House gave the Paladins two made threes on one at the buzzer to push their lead to 32-23 at the break.
Furman hit six of its first seven second-half shots, including 5-of-6 three-pointers, to put together a 22-3 run that broke the game open. The Paladins grabbed 19 offensive rebounds to help build a 53-23 advantage on the glass. That also helped Furman enjoy a 46-12 edge on points in the paint.
Making his first start in place of Vander Wal was Thomas, who took full advantage of that opportunity. The Clemson transfer finished with career highs in points (22), rebounds (7) and assists (3). Johnston had 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Wilkins scored 10 points also for the Paladins.
"It's been a great transition to Furman. I've really enjoyed it with my teammates and coaches," Thomas said. "Tonight was a good representation of how we want to play, especially the second half. ... It just felt nice to hit some shots, then everyone started hitting some shots in the second half and played some great team basketball."
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