"Find a Way" Furman finally back on home court

Ben VanderWal had four points and four rebounds in overtime to
help Furman beat The Citadel, 67-63. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman will return to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena court for the first time in nearly a month Monday night when it hosts rival Wofford at 7 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but was postponed due to the winter storm forecast.

It will be the Paladins' first game at their primary home away from home this season since a 68-64 win over S.C. State on Dec. 14. Furman's four-game road trip that began Dec. 21 with a 77-63 win at Harvard wrapped up last Wednesday with a 67-63 overtime victory at The Citadel. The Paladins (14-2, 2-1 Southern Conference) have earned the moniker of "Find a Way" Furman from Coach Bob Richey this season. Of all the ways found to a win this season, the one in Charleston may have taken the most unlikely path.

After seeing a 13-point lead early in the second half turn into an eight-point deficit with eight minutes left in regulation, the Paladins rallied to take the lead late before going to overtime. In the extra session, Furman made just 1-of-7 shots, but pulled out the win by making 6-of-6 free throws. Four of those six free throws were provided by Ben VanderWal, who was shooting 54.2 percent from the foul line entering the game. That lone field goal was a huge three-pointer by Garrett Hien, who had hit 25.6 percent of his threes this season prior to that one.

"What a win. We had a lot of things going against us. There were some interesting calls to say the least," Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "We just couldn't get some shots to go down for guys, who had been hitting shots. We're a little bit of a tired group. We've had eight of our last 11 games on the road all over the country. I knew this was going to be a hard one. This is Citadel. ... It's always hard to win here.

"The story is this team again is that they found a way to win the game. It doesn't matter what it is. Winners are winners. Ben knocks down those free throws. We needed every single one of them and he's been working on it so hard. Then Garrett man, just the confidence to bang that three to go up five was incredible."

While it was a close game, it's not one that should make a lot of highlight reels. It was a rough night for everyone on the floor - the Paladins, Bulldogs and officials. The teams combined for 36 fouls, 35 turnovers and 43 made field goals.

Just over eight minutes into the game, Furman led 15-13. For the remaining 11:43 of the first half, the Paladins outscored Citadel 15-6 to take a 30-19 lead into halftime. During that stretch, Furman held the Bulldogs to 2-of-9 shooting from the floor and forced seven turnovers.

That lead increased to 13 on VanderWal's putback one minute into the second half. Over the next 6:02, that Citadel team that had 19 points over the game's first 21 minutes went on a 23-2 run to take a 42-35 lead. Furman worked to cut the lead to one before the Bulldogs responded and took a 51-43 lead with 8:16 remaining.

"We played really good defense those last 10 minutes of the first half, but we just came out with no intensity (in the second half). They came out and hit us and before long, we were down," Richey said. "At the timeout, I was just like, 'look, we got to do something. We got to change something.' We went to the 1-3-1 zone. I really couldn't tell you the last time we played it. ... So I think it called them a little bit by surprise. We had some guys out there did a great job in it.

"I told them 'there's eight minutes to go and we can win this game, but if we we quit playing defense, we're done.' ... It just ended up taking 13 minutes."

From the 8:49 to 1:37 mark of the second half, Citadel went 0-for-8 from the floor with five turnovers. Furman went on a 13-2 run during that stretch to take a 56-53 lead. Bulldogs' big man Sola Adebisi took over the final 100 seconds of regulation. He hit three consecutive shots for Citadel including a putback, a game-tying three-pointer with 1:10 left and a game-tying layup with 43 seconds left. With 27 seconds remaining in regulation, Adebisi blocked Nick Anderson's three-point try.

After the Bulldogs missed two close shots in the final 10 seconds, Furman had one last chance in regulation but VanderWal's jumper at the buzzer rattled in and out no good.

"It felt good out of my hands, but we got out of here with a win so I don't care either way," VanderWal said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "They made some big shots, but we just kept fighting."

For nearly the first three minutes of overtime, VanderWal's four free throws were the lone points. After Citadel's Brody Fox cut the lead to two with 2:04 left, Hien answered on a three-pointer with 1:10 left to make push the lead to 65-60. With Furman clinging to a two-point lead and 10 seconds remaining, PJay Smith knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the win.

While the Paladins did what they needed to do to pull out the win, they were greatly assisted by Citadel's continued struggles at the foul line. The Bulldogs made 1-of-9 free throws in overtime and were 15-of-32 from the line for the game. Out of 355 Division I programs, Citadel ranks 355th in free throw percentage as it's made 58.2 percent this season.

Anderson finished with a game-high 23 points to lead Furman. He also had three assists and three steals. Cooper Bowser had 13 points and 14 rebounds. while Smith had 13 points, four steals and three assists. Five of Bowser's rebounds came in overtime. VanderWal finished with eight points and nine rebounds, including four of each in overtime.

Cam Glover scored 20 points to lead Citadel (5-9, 0-3), while Adebisi had 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Fox finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. He also drew 10 fouls, but made just 4-of-12 free throws.

Wofford (8-8, 2-1) enters Monday's game coming off a 77-69 win over Western Carolina last Wednesday. Monday's game will begin a three-game homestand for Furman this week. The Paladins host ETSU Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Chattanooga Saturday at 5 p.m. Following this week's action, Furman will have a stretch of three out of four games on the road.

Hot-shooting UNCG rolls past Furman

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.

Paladins hammer Catamounts in SoCon opener

Nick Anderson scored 20 points in Furman's 90-61 win
at Western Carolina. Photo courtesy of Furman

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - An 11-day break over Christmas had no ill effects on the Furman basketball team when it returned to the court at Western Carolina on New Year's Day. Less than three-and-a-half minutes into the game, all five starters had scored to give the Paladins an 11-0 lead. The Catamounts never got closer than nine the rest of the way as Furman rolled to its sixth consecutive win, 90-61, in the Southern Conference opener.

Nick Anderson scored 20 points and Charles Johnston had 17 off the bench to lead six Paladins in double figures. The victory gives Furman (13-1, 1-0) its best start to a season since the 1931-32 team went 13-1 on its way to a 15-1 season record. It was the Paladins' 70th road win since the 2016-17 began. That's the third-highest total in the country over that span.

"We haven't been really pleased with our return from Christmas break in a couple of years, so we spent some time as a staff this offseason kind of visiting what we wanted those plans to be. I thought we executed really well," Richey said. "I thought the staff was good, the team took it well and man, we really worked. ... We came back on the 26th and I thought our group just had a really good week of preparing the right way to start league play.

"We had not won up here in three years, so we needed to make sure we came up with the right mindset. ... Six deflections by the first media (timeout) and an 11-0 lead is a pretty good recipe for making sure our mindset was correct."

Furman actually missed its first three shots before Anderson got a steal and found PJay Smith for a pretty, left-handed layup at the 18:44 mark. Then Garrett Hien made a layup. Then Cooper Bowser's block led to a pair of free throws for Bowser. Then Ben VanderWal had a putback. Then Smith found Anderson for a three and Western called timeout at the 16:31 mark.

Coming out of the timeout, a layup by Hien pushed the lead to 13 before the Catamounts (4-8, 0-1) got on the board with a pair of free throws at the 15:39 mark. One minute later, Western made its first field goal. The Catamounts second made field goal didn't come until the 10:31 mark. By that point, Furman led 20-4, had held Western to 1-for-11 shooting and had forced five turnovers.

Smith, who entered shooting 50.6 percent from three, made just 1-of-7 Wednesday. That one came on a running bank shot to beat the first-half buzzer, giving Furman its biggest lead to that point at 43-23. The Catamounts had cut the advantage to 25-15 with 7:30 left before the Paladins ended the half on an 18-8 run.

"We've had some weird little three-minute stretches (to close out the first half), like at Florida Gulf Coast and Harvard," Richey said. "We talked about that at the under-four media (timeout). We had to show some growth there and be really good. At one point we were up 11, 12 or 13 with about eight minutes to go and I thought if we could hold that margin and be up around 15, that would be a pretty good half. Then we ended up being up 20."

Western's Bernard Pelote opened the second-half scoring with a jumper, but Bowser answered 13 seconds later with a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 45-25. That 20-point lead never lessened. Furman took its biggest lead of the game when Johnston's layup made it 66-36 with 9:56 left.

Johnston's 17-point effort came in 16 minutes of action off the bench. It's the most Johnston has played since logging 17 minutes against Tulane on Nov. 15 as the Paladins have played it safe with his lingering knee injury. Johnston, who made 3-of-4 three-pointers, also grabbed a season-high seven rebounds.

"I think some of the things we've done to protect (Johnston) and get him ready for league play have worked. Our trainer, Justin Gaines, is elite. Our doctors, specifically Scott Watson in this situation, have done a great job," Richey said. "Chuck looks fresh out there and that boy can shoot 'em. ... A lot of shooters in this league are 4s, but he's a 5. So now those 5s have to guard our guards. ... Because our guards are playing so well, now he's open for pops. It makes it hard to guard."

When the Paladins returned home from Harvard, Johnston said he got a shot in his knee and then took a few days to rest it. He said Wednesday was the best he's felt since first suffering the injury.

"Being able to run around out there and not having something nagging me in the back of my mind, I just felt a lot more free," Johnston said. "I was able to move around a little bit better on defense, which I was happy about. Hopefully it can stay this way." 

After limiting Western to 30.4 percent (7-of-23) shooting in the first half, Furman held the Catamounts to 36.4 percent (12-of-33) in the second half for a full-game total of 33.9 percent. The Paladins enjoyed a 13-0 edge in points off turnovers as they forced 13 and had a season-low four, including just one in the second half. That one came when VanderWal fought for a rebound and had it knocked away after putting two hands on the ball for just a second.

Furman had 29 bench points, all from Johnston and Eddrin Bronson as Bronson finished with 12 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and no turnovers. Bowser and Hien also scored 12 points, while Smith had 10 points, three assists and no turnovers. The lone Paladin scorer to not reach double figures was VanderWal, who finished with seven points and six rebounds.

"PJay's feeling a little under the weather right now, but he still had 10 points and played a great game. But I think it (scoring 90) just shows the depth of our team," Anderson said. "We come out there as a very connected group. Nobody cares who's taking the shots. Whoever's hot gets the ball. ... When things are clicking, we're a pretty scary team to guard so we've just got to keep it going."

Pelote had 17 points (on 7-of-19 shooting) and 12 rebounds to lead the Catamounts, while Brandon Morgan added 14 points and four assists. Western leading scorer Cord Stansberry, who entered averaging 11.2 points per game, was held to nine points on 1-of-7 shooting.

Furman's second four-game road trip this season continues Saturday with the third game of it. The Paladins take on UNC Greensboro (8-6, 1-0) at 4 p.m. The Spartans opened SoCon play Wednesday with a thrilling 68-66 win at Wofford thanks to a game-winning three-pointer with nine seconds left.

After historic start, Paladins set for SoCon play

PJay Smith has led Furman to a 12-1 start
this season. Photo courtesy of Furman

Coming off its winningest non-conference portion of a schedule ever, the Furman men's basketball team is set to open 2025 and Southern Conference play Wednesday at Western Carolina at 1 p.m. The Paladins are taking a five-game winning streak, a No. 7 ranking in the Mid-Major poll and a 12-1 overall record into Cullowhee. That's the most wins Furman has posted in non-conference play since joining the SoCon 88 years ago.

It's the fifth time that the Paladins have had a 12-1 start to a season and the second since 1978-79. The 2018-19 team started 12-0 before suffering back-to-back losses to close out December that season. Furman has enjoyed success this season by playing as a team in all aspects of the game. Eleven different Paladins have scored in double figures in a game at least once this season.

"All I want them to continue to do is go out there and play with a chip on the shoulder that got us to where we are right now. ... Go out there and continue to be a connected team that cares about one another and doesn't care who gets the glory, but just goes out and finds a way to win games," Furman coach Bob Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show after the Paladins' 77-63 win at Harvard on Dec. 21.

"This team needs to be celebrated. We lost nearly one million in NIL money off last year's team and everybody counted us out. This group has abided in the values that we built all this on ... and it's just continued to be 'find a way' Furman."

While teamwork has been a huge key this season, it's helped that PJay Smith has been an absolute stud. Smith has persevered through a couple of different injuries to have a SoCon Player of the Year type of season thus far. In the SoCon, Smith ranks second in scoring (17.3 points per game), fifth in field goal percentage (51.6), fifth in assists (3.7 per game), sixth in steals (1.64 per game), first in three-point percentage (50.6) and first in three-pointers made (41-of-81) and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.95).

Smith's latest effort may have been his best of the season and led to his third SoCon Player of the Week honor. In the win at Harvard, Smith had 25 points (on 8-of-11 shooting), seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. He also held Harvard leading scorer Robert Hinton to four points on 2-of-9 shooting. Smith did all that in his first game back after dislocating his shoulder in Furman's win over South Carolina State just one week earlier.

"I've coached some tough guys - Matt Rafferty, Alex Hunter, Andrew Brown. Guys that are just as tough as they get and (Smith) is right on that list," Richey said afterwards. "Early in the week, it didn't look like he was going to be able to play in this game ... but he made it known pretty quickly that he was going to play today. ... He wanted to be in the game and man, was he in it.

"There's going to be a lot of talk about PJay scoring 25 points, but the bigger story is that he held their best player - who's 6-foot-5, so he's giving up height - to four points."

On the other end of the floor from those offensive numbers, Smith would likely be considered the best defender on a team that's thrived on defense. Furman ranks second in the SoCon in scoring defense (63.8 points per game allowed) and field goal percentage defense (39.8), and second in the country in three-point percentage defense (25.3).

Furman has been particularly stingy defensively while closing out games. Here's a list of some opponents' field goal shooting numbers to end games:

• Nov. 20: Oglethorpe - 1-for-11 over the final 5:56
• Nov. 23: at Charleston Southern - 2-for-11 over the final 9:03
• Nov. 26: Seattle (in Las Vegas) - 0-for-7 over the final 4:29
• Dec. 4: at Florida Gulf Coast - 3-for-9 over the final 9:32
• Dec. 7: Princeton - 2-for-12 over the final 9:50
• Dec. 21: at Harvard - 2-for-12 over the final 7:07

Western Carolina enters Wednesday's game with a record of 4-7, but 4-1 at home, under new coach Tim Craft. This is Craft's first season at Western after serving as head coach at Gardner-Webb for the previous 11 years.

Paladins rally past Princeton in Mid-Major clash

Furman's Garrett Hien blocks a shot during the Paladins'
69-63 win over Princeton. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman playing the majority of this season's home games in an arena that's hosted NCAA Tournament games only added to the aura of its matchup against Princeton last Saturday. Playing in front of some NBA scouts on press row at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the two Mid-Major powers put on a show that felt like a No. 12 vs. No. 13 seed March matchup to go to the Sweet 16.

The Paladins raced out to a big lead in the first half only to have the Tigers take command in the second half. For the second consecutive game though, Furman's defense held an opponent to no more than three made field goals over the final nine-plus minutes. PJay Smith scored a game-high 23 points and the Paladins survived without him for the final 1:50 to earn a 69-63 victory.

The four-point win for Furman (9-1) comes a year after a heartbreaking one-point loss at Princeton. On that day, the Tigers rallied from an 11-point deficit with four minutes to play and got three offensive rebounds on its final possession before hitting a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.  

"That's a heck of a win in what's been a great series with them. That's two classic games. I don't care what level you're at," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "You got down to the last five minutes, it comes down to who gets the most stops and I thought that was us today.

"They scored three baskets in the final 11 minutes. For us to be able to do that good a job on their talent. The have the returning Ivy League Player of the Year (Xaivian Lee), who had a handful of scouts here today and was coming off a triple-double. I thought our team did a phenomenal job on him."

Playing in front of 3,227 fans at The Well for the first time in 22 days seemed to energize the Paladins following their long, tiring road trip. Garrett Hien and Nick Anderson helped Furman race out to leads of 7-0 and 14-2. Smith then got heated up and his three-pointer staked the Paladins to a 22-9 at the 9:42 mark of the first half. Princeton (7-4) got the first half lead down to three with three minutes remaining, but Hien's putback at the buzzer gave Furman a 37-29 lead at the break.

Hien's tip-in gave him 10 points in a scintillating first-half performance. That featured a phenomenal dunk on one end and a tremendous blocked shot on the other 50 seconds later that got the home crowd roaring.

"I love Garrett to death. He's one of the most unique guys I've ever coached. His care is as high as anybody I've ever coached," Richey said. "He plays with a lot of emotion and sometimes can get emotional, but he kind of needs that. He needs to go out there and play with a certain spirit."

Smith pushed the lead to 11 on a three-pointer to open the second half before the Tigers quickly turned the tide. Princeton went on an 18-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 47-42 lead. Anderson hit a three to cut the lead to two before Princeton's CJ Happy answered with a three. Following a Furman turnover and foul, Peyton Seals hit both free throws to give the Tigers their biggest lead at 52-45 with 11:27 remaining.

That's when Furman really turned up the defense as Princeton only made three more field goals following Happy's three with 11:46 left. A steal by Anderson led to a Tom House three-pointer that got the Paladins final rally going. The lead was sliced to two 18 seconds later when Smith hit a pair of free throws after he made a steal.

Princeton leading scorer Xaivian Lee answered with a layup to push the lead to 54-50 with 9:51 remaining. After that bucket, a Princeton team that made 1-of-13 field goals over the first eight minutes of the game made 2-of-12 over the final nine minutes.

"We got off to a great start, but it really started on the defensive end," said Ben VanderWal, who was key part of that defensive performance. "This team has a lot of unselfish guys who are just focused on winning. Whatever it takes to win the game, no matter what lineup is out there or what the situation is like.

"So when you get in these types of games, you don't really tense up. You almost loosen up because you believe in your connection. You believe in your guys."

A putback by Tyrese Hughey was followed by a steal and a layup by Smith to tie the game 54-54 with 8:46 left. Smith's layup with 7:10 remaining gave Furman a two-point lead it never relinquished. That started a little two-minute flurry by Smith in which he had two rebounds, a jumper, a steal and then an assist on VanderWal's layup that gave Furman a 62-56 lead with 5:18 remaining.

Points were hard to come by for both teams the rest of the way and then Furman had to overcome the loss of its point guard when Smith was whistled for his fourth foul with 2:12 left and his fifth foul 22 seconds later. On a day when he was enjoying a truly epic performance, Smith fouled out on a loose ball collision.

"It was frustrating. I was in a bad spot at the wrong time (on the fifth foul). I was flipping out a little bit, but one of our younger guys - Eddrin Bronson - told me 'we're going to take care of the rest,' " Smith said. "I just had faith in my team and they went out there and executed. ... It's not about me. It's about all of us. At any time, anybody can step up and close out a game."

In addition to his huge offensive night, Smith was also tasked with guarding Lee. Lee, who declared for the NBA Draft last April before deciding to return to Princeton for his junior year this season, made a pair of free throws after Smith's fourth foul to cut the lead to 62-60.

Furman's lone field goal over the last five minutes came when VanderWal made a layup and was fouled with 1:12 left to push the lead to 64-60. While VanderWal missed that free throw, Furman made 5-of-7 at the foul line over the final 51 seconds to preserve the win.

"You have to withstand adversity. We're up two (when Smith fouls out) and at that point, it's about the team. That's what it's always been with this group," Richey said. "I think in this new day (of college athletics), you're going to have a lot of people wearing the same jersey but very few teams. I think our group has bought into being a team."

In addition to his game-high 23 points, Smith finished with eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. Hien had 10 points and seven rebounds, while Nick Anderson scored nine on three threes. VanderWal had seven points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, while Charles Johnston and House also finished with seven points.

After being held to two points on 1-of-5 shooting and no rebounds in the first half, Lee finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead Princeton.

Following a well-deserved week-long break from basketball, Furman returns to action at The Well on Saturday when it hosts South Carolina State (5-6) at noon.

Road weary Paladins find spark, rally past FGCU

Ben VanderWal had 10 points and energized Furman as it rallied for a 76-73
win at Florida Gulf Coast Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

The last leg of a 12-day, four-game road trip that took the Furman basketball team across the country came in Fort Myers, Fla. Wednesday at Florida Gulf Coast. For much of the first half and into the second, the Paladins looked a little tired. The defensive intensity that powered Furman to a 7-0 start before suffering its first loss the previous time out at No. 1-ranked Kansas was lacking.

The Paladins trailed by 10 points with 9:40 remaining when Furman coach Bob Richey tried to up that intensity by switching to a full-court press. The deficit grew to 13 just seven seconds later, but the press turned out to be the spark the Paladins needed. Furman went on a 20-4 run over the next eight minutes and held on for a stunning 76-73 victory.

"You've got to find a way to win games like this and our guys just kept hanging in there. Even when the score was close, we just weren't playing well. We had only eight deflections by halftime," Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "It just felt like we were stuck in the mud. I called timeout with 10 minutes to go and started pressing because we didn't have any answers in terms of getting our guys to fly around and play our style of basketball.

"Of course, they bang a three in the corner right at the start of it. The staff asked me if we should stay in it and I said, 'yeah, it's our only shot.' Then all of sudden we got some turnovers and sped the tempo up. ... We did what we had to do to get our fourth road win, which matches our road win total from all of last year."

While the Paladins (8-1) may have been a step slow in the first half, it was still a back-and-forth battle for much it. Tyrese Hughey's putback with 3:37 left gave Furman a 32-31 lead, but the Eagles (3-6) responded with a 13-1 run to close out the half. For the second consecutive game, Furman's opponent made a buzzer-beating shot to put the Paladins in an 11-point halftime hole. Zavian McLean nailed a three-pointer as time expired to stake the Eagles to a 44-33 lead at the break.

Furman's deficit ranged from four to 13 throughout the second half until the rally. FGCU beat the Paladins' first press when Rory Stewart hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 65-52 with 9:33 remaining. The Eagles made only three shots and had five turnovers the rest of the way.

A key sequence in the wild comeback came on a 7-0 scoring flurry in a span of 24 seconds. After Charles Johnston hit a layup with 5:19 remaining, PJay Smith had a layup 11 seconds later. On FGCU's next possession, Nick Anderson went "Michael Jordan against Karl Malone in the title-clinching sequence of the 1998 NBA Finals" with a steal from behind. That led to a 3-pointer by Smith that cut the lead to 67-66 with 4:55 left.

On Furman's next trip, Johnston hit a pair of free throws to give the Paladins their first lead since Hughey's putback late in the first half. Garrett Hien's turnaround jumper in the paint with 2:50 left gave Furman a 70-69 lead that it never relinquished.

Anderson hit two free throws with 19 seconds left and Smith added a pair with 3.6 seconds left to push the lead to 76-73. Furman held on as Jevin Muniz, who hit a buzzer-beating game-winning shot in the Eagles' 80-78 win at Florida Atlantic in their last game, saw his 35-foot three at the buzzer come up short.

Smith finished with a team-high 18 points to lead the Paladins. Anderson had 10 points, four assists, two steals and one turnover, while Ben VanderWal had 10 points, three assists and three huge blocked shots. VanderWal is the 11th different Paladin to score in double figures in a game this season. Hien finished with eight points and seven rebounds, while Johnston also scored eight.

"I thought Chuck (Johnston) had a great game. He really came on strong for us. Garrett played like an absolute winner. He competed all night long. Ben VanderWal was a complete stud. He made all the winning plays," Richey said. "Our team, when we finally start flying you could feel the energy shift. PJay and Nick show up and hit some big shots and big free throws down the stretch."

Furman returns to action Saturday at noon when it hosts Princeton in a matchup of elite mid-major programs at The Well.

Second-half surge helps Kansas roll over Paladins

The national anthem is played prior to Furman's 86-51
loss to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse Saturday.

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Furman entered Saturday's game at Kansas ranked seventh in the country in field goal percentage defense (35.4) and ninth in scoring defense (58 points per game allowed). Five of the Paladins' first seven opponents were held below 37 percent shooting and three failed to get to 50 points.

The No. 1-ranked Jayhawks were a bird of an entirely different feather. Kansas shot 60.9 percent from the floor, including 64.5 percent in the second half, to hand Furman its first loss, 86-51, before 15,300 at historic Allen Fieldhouse. After none of the Paladins' previous three opponents made more than 17 field goals in a game, the Jayhawks (7-0) made 20-of-31 - in the second half alone.

Furman has been particularly strong guarding the perimeter this season and that really didn't change Saturday. Kansas made no three-pointers in the first half and finished 4-of-17 from three. The Jayhawks didn't need much from the outside since they made an astounding 35-of-47 two-pointers and enjoyed a 62-14 advantage on points in the paint. Meanwhile, Furman was held to 29.8 percent shooting, including 26.9 percent (7-of-26) in the second half.

"They're currently the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. I think their size definitely bothered us. Their physicality on the perimeter definitely bothered us. But I also thought we got a lot of looks. ... I'll be interested in watching film to see how many open ones we missed. I thought we had some quality possessions where we missed," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "The worst thing we did today was get back. Our transition defense was really poor. We've been fairly good in transition defense a lot of the year, but we haven't been playing Kansas.

"I thought there were some positives. We're going to learn a lot from this game. I'm sure we won't see another team like this unless we make the Final Four."

In addition to being a battle of two of the remaining 19 undefeated Division I teams entering Saturday, it was also a matchup of two of the top 20 winningest active coaches percentage-wise. Kansas coach Bill Self ranked third at 76.7 percent (816-248), while Richey ranked 18th at 69.7 percent (163-71). In the first half, their proficiency for pushing the right buttons was on display.

A soft Furman pass was easily intercepted by Kansas' K.J. Adams, who turned it into an layup on the other end. That pushed the Jayhawks lead to 10-5 with 16:36 left in the first half when Richey called timeout. Coming out of that timeout, PJay Smith knocked down a three-pointer. A few minutes later, Tom House drove for a layup to give Furman (7-1) its second lead of the game at 16-14.

The Jayhawks led 27-18 with eight minutes left in the half when the Paladins went on an 8-0 run over the next 97 seconds. Eddrin Bronson hit a pair of threes sandwiched around a Cooper Bowser layup as Furman cut the lead to one with 6:23 left when Self called timeout. After that break, the Paladins went 1-for-11 from the floor with two turnovers the rest of the half. The biggest blow came when Flory Bidunga's putback just before the halftime buzzer gave Kansas its first double-digit lead at 39-28.

"That was a big play. It's funny when you watch before half plays - whether you're up or down - how it just gives you some juice headed into the locker room," Richey said. "Now you're down 11 and you've got to have a really good start to the half and we didn't."

Nick Anderson opened the second half with a three-pointer for Furman and a minute later, a dunk by Bowser cut the lead to 41-33. But it was all Kansas after that. After a missed layup by Adams with 18:43 left, the Jayhawks' next missed shot came at the 9:49 mark. Ten consecutive made field goals helped Kansas stretch its lead to 25 and Furman never got the lead under 22 the rest of the way.

"You've got to keep it within 10 to keep some game pressure on them. Once it gets to 15-plus, everything kind of relaxes. Everybody loosens up and the crowd gets into it. On the other side, you tighten up. I thought we had a little bit of that today," Richey said. "In games like this, the reality of it is that you need to play really well and hope they play C or less. They were A-plus today. They were really good."

After scoring 10 points off the bench to help Furman secure a victory over Seattle in Las Vegas last Tuesday, Bronson scored a career-high 14 Saturday to lead the Paladins. While it was by no means the outcome Furman was seeking, Bronson believes there are things to build on off of the experience.

"Playing in Allen Fieldhouse is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For me personally, my teammates put a lot of faith and trust in me so I'm glad I was able to go out there, play hard and knock down some shots," Bronson said. "There were a lot of details we can go over tonight that will help us be ready when we play teams in our conference."

Garrett Hien was Bronson's only teammate in double figures with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Smith, Furman's leading scorer, was held to six points on 2-of-10 shooting but he did have five assists and no turnovers.

"Eddrin's a freshman. He's going to make some mistakes, but he's very talented. It's taken him awhile to get his body and endurance back from injury, but you could see that talent tonight. ... For the rest of his life, he's going to be able to say 'I went to Kansas and led Furman in scoring.' He's got a bright future." Richey said. "Garrett was a bright spot tonight as well. ... I thought he played with some good aggression tonight and we're going to need him to continue to do that."

Adams, who's better known for being one of the best defensive players in the country, scored a career-high 22 points to lead Kansas. Adams, who was averaging 8.5 points per game entering Saturday, made 10-of-12 field goals and had six rebounds, three assists, one block, one steal, one turnover and no fouls.

Furman will wrap up this long four-game road trip at Florida Gulf Coast Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Eagles (3-5) enter Wednesday's game coming off a pair of close victories against Sunshine State rivals. Florida Gulf Coast defeated Florida International, 60-59, on Sunday, Nov. 24, and had a buzzer-beating, 80-78 win at at Florida Atlantic on Saturday.

"We're going to try to rest up. I mean, we're exhausted. We've been on the road since Friday (Nov. 22). But this is part of it," Richey said Saturday. "We've already won three road games. I'm not sure how many road games we won last year, but it wasn't many more. So we've got another opportunity against a good team. They've had a hard schedule. I'm sure it will be a big-time atmosphere and we've got to be ready to play."