Paladins overcome turnovers, rip USC Upstate

Alex Hunter had 22 points, six rebounds and four assists in Furman's
91-63 win over USC Upstate Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Over the previous four seasons, the Furman men's basketball team had at least 20 turnovers in a game just two times - a 10-point loss at UNC Greensboro on Jan. 12, 2019 and a six-point home loss to UNC Asheville on Nov. 22, 2016. On Saturday, it happened again with a very different result.

Mike Bothwell and Alex Hunter combined for 46 points as Furman whipped USC Upstate, 91-63, at Timmons Arena. The Paladins (2-0) overcame 20 turnovers by doing a whole lot of other things very well. Their defense forced 21 turnovers and limited the Spartans (0-2) to 37.9 percent shooting. Meanwhile, Furman shot 53.8 percent from the floor and made 27-of-34 (79.4 percent) free throws.

"I think we had 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes. Fortunately, our saving grace we were really sitting down and making it really hard for them to score," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "We could've been down by a really big margin had we not been defending. Once we settled in and started valuing the ball more, we had 10 turnovers over the last 30 minutes. That was much better.

"I'm proud of our defensive effort and we got a lot sharper offensively in the second half. This team can shoot the ball, but the best thing right now is they're driving the ball. We're taking great threes and I'm hoping we can keep that balance ... but we can't turn it over 20 times and expect to play well."

The teams combined for six points over the first six-plus minutes of game time Saturday. It was 7-7 with 12:02 left in the first half when Clay Mounce's jumper started a 14-0 run over the next 4:12 as the Paladins took a commanding 21-7 lead. Upstate never got within 11 the rest of the way.

Hunter helped seal the win when he hit a 3-pointer and four throws over a stretch of 22 seconds to push Furman's lead to 78-59 with 4:09 left. A couple of minutes earlier, the senior point guard helped with something that can't be found in a boxscore. It came after an unhappy Richey called timeout once Upstate cut the lead to 69-55.

"That was one of Alex Hunter's best games of his career. He played aggressive, shot the ball great ... and I loved his temperament and how he handled the full-court pressure," Richey said. "But the best thing he did was when I took that last timeout, he got the team together before I could get to them. I didn't even step in (the huddle). I trusted him and I knew he knew what we needed to do. I let him fix it and we go from a 14-point margin to a 28-point margin. That's a proud moment as a coach."

Hunter was 6-of-8 from the floor, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers, and 6-of-6 from the foul line to finish with 22 points. He also had six rebounds and four assists. Two games into this season, the Paladins have used an aggressive, driving approach on offense that has led to more free throws and more open shots from the perimeter.

"This whole summer we've been talking about playing with force, getting to the rim and not settling for shots like we have in the past," Hunter said. "I think it's starting to translate. We've done it a lot in drills, practice and live scrimmages. We're looking to work inside-out with paint touches. We want kick-out threes, not just settling for threes."

Bothwell led the Paladins with a game-high 24 points. He was 7-of-12 from the floor and made 9-of-9 free throws. The junior also had five assists and four steals.

Coming off a career-high seven assists in Wednesday's opener, Jalen Slawson picked up where he left off Saturday. He was the other Paladin in double figures with 10 points, to go along with three assists, two blocked shots and two steals.

The passing ability of Furman's big men was on display to end the first half and start the second. Slawson hit Mounce for a dunk that sent the Paladins into halftime with a 43-25 lead. On the first possession of the second half, Noah Gurley made a perfect bounce pass to Hunter for a layup to give Furman its first 20-point lead of the game.

"They're both doing great with their decision making from the high post. ... It's gotten to a point where we've been able to let those guys go in transition just because of the job they're doing," Richey said. "Slawson's been doing this all fall. In terms of just creating offense and action via the dribble on the perimeter and through space. We knew his comfort in the offense was really going to show up and take form."

Mounce finished with nine points and five rebounds, as did freshman Garrett Hien. After making the first 11 shots of his collegiate career, Hien missed for the first time late Saturday and then promptly got the offensive rebound and scored on a putback.

Furman is next scheduled to host Southern Wesleyan on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Greenville News: Furman basketball handles its first game in pandemic era

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/sports/college/furman/2020/11/26/furman-basketball-handles-its-first-game-pandemic-era/6422065002/

 

Freshmen could be pivotal for Furman women

Furman women's basketball coach Jackie Carson expects
freshmen to make an impact this season. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman women's basketball coach Jackie Carson said this offseason has been one like no other. Preparing for the season during a pandemic has made for a very different looking practice. When the 2020-21 season begins next week, the Paladins could look quite different as well.

While this year's team features a pair of seniors who will be four-year starters, freshmen make up half of the roster. The eight new Paladins hail from as far away as Greece and from as nearby as Greenville High. Carson said during a typical summer, her team would have the opportunity to build body strength, take a class and mesh together as a team. Not having those opportunities has been a challenge.

"Thinking back over the last six months of being on Zooms (meetings) with this group, not even realizing until they got here that half of them had never met in person," Carson said. "Some had never met me or my staff (in person). We literally recruited them via Zoom, so when they arrived in August it was the first time they'd ever been on campus.

"It's been a lot of getting to know each other and trying to recognize everyone's strengths. We didn't have that summer to not only gel as a team - knowing half your team is brand new, but we also didn't have that summer of team bonding. And bonding looks a lot different right now at six feet apart with masks on."

While the challenges have been different, Carson is excited about watching the newcomers contribute. Following the graduation of Le'Jzae Davidson (14.2 points per game) and Taylor Petty (8.8 ppg), and the transfer departures of Milica Manojlovic (7.2 ppg, 5.0 assists per game) and Lindsey Taylor (6.6 ppg), some freshmen will likely have to step up quickly.

"Our freshmen class is pretty special and they're going to be an immediate impact class," Carson said. "I think people are going to be very surprised by them. They've been phenomenal so far."

Carson said her four seniors this year provide great leadership. That group includes returning starters Tierra Hodges (11.9 ppg, 10.4 rebounds per game) and Celena Taborn (8.7 ppg).

Hodges is one of 25 players, and the only one from the Southern Conference, named to the preseason watch list for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award. Hodges, who led the SoCon in rebounding last season, is a preseason All-SoCon pick. She enters this season ranked 10th in school history with 655 career rebounds.

Taborn overcame injuries to shatter her own single-season school record for field goal percentage last season, making 67.1 percent of her shots. That topped her previous record of 64.2 percent set as a sophomore. Taborn, who's tied with Carson for ninth in school history in career blocked shots (99), is the only Paladin ever to shoot above 60 percent for her career at 63.1.

"Tierra is a special young lady. She's a tremendous leader, both vocally and by her actions on the court. If you thought she was good last year, wait until you see her now. She really took the offseason serious and improved her game," Carson said.

"Last year was really hard for Celena, injury-wise. So much to the point where a lot of people told her, 'you probably need to retire.' She was like, 'I can do it. I can push through.' This (year) is probably the best that we could see of her."

Furman is set to open the season at Clemson on Wednesday at 2 p.m. before hosting Presbyterian on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. For college basketball teams this season though, "fluid" will be the keyword when it comes to the schedule. Carson said that can be used as a motivational tool.

"We don't who our opponent could be day-to-day or week-to-week. We could add a game on two days notice, or lose a game with no notice," Carson said. "So for us, it's been focusing on what our principles are and what our program is all about. We might not know who we're going to play, but we do know what Furman women's basketball is all about.

"It's helped us focus on what makes our program go. We haven't talked about our core values ever as much as we have talked about them this year."

Greenville News: Here's how Furman is developing into SoCon's top program

This is the first in what will hopefully be quite a few Furman stories I'll be writing for The Greenville News moving forward. Rest assured, this will not impact the Furman Sports Report. I'll link to those News' stories here, but space on those is limited. When you have your own blog, space is not an issue. Therefore, there will be plenty of other stories for the FSR - once we actually have some games to write about. Thanks as always for reading!

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/sports/college/furman/2020/11/13/heres-how-furman-developing-into-socons-top-basketball-program/6233525002/

Srinivasan racks up during trophy season

Furman's Natalie Srinivasan finished this women's golf season
as the nation's No. 1-ranked player. Photo courtesy of Furman

While the Furman women's golf spring season lasted all of three weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Natalie Srinivasan's trophy season has gone on now for three months. The senior and former Dorman High standout has racked up plenty of hardware since the Paladins' season came to abrupt end following the second tournament of the spring in early March.

In what turned out to be her final collegiate tournament, Srinivasan finished one shot back in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at Hilton Head Island. The runner-up finish was a rare one considering that Srinivasan won half of Furman's six other tournaments in the full 2019-20 season. Her victories were highlighted by a dominant performance in the other spring tournament, the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Fla. in February. After shooting a 68 in round two, Srinivasan fired a 67 in the final round to finish at 10-under for a four-stroke win over teammate and fellow Spartanburg native, Anna Morgan.

"This was a very solid start to the spring," Furman coach Jeff Hull said afterwards. "Natalie established herself as one of the best players in the country with a solid win."

Hull's thought was proven right a month later. Srinivasan finished as the No. 1-ranked women's collegiate golfer in the country by Golfstat, which an adjusted scoring average of 70.51. She had a Southern Conference-best 70.78 stroke average over 18 rounds this season, and finished with a 72.6 stroke average over 118 rounds in her career. In the storied history of Furman women's golf, no Paladin has ever had a lower single-season average or career average.

Then the accolades came rolling in:

• April 15 - Srinivasan receives the Winston Babb Memorial Award, which is given by the Furman chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa to the woman in each class who's demonstrated the most outstanding qualities of leadership.
• April 21 - Srinivasan is the seventh Furman women's golfer to earn first team All-America honors and the first since 1998.
• April 24 - Srinivasan becomes Furman's first female athlete to earn a national player of the year honor with the PING WGCA Player of the Year award, which has gone to the top women's golfer in the country each year since 1987. Srinivasan is the the fifth Paladin to earn a national player of the year, joining Frank Selvy (men's basketball in 1954), Brad Faxon (men's golf in 1982), Jeff Blankenship (football in 1988) and Louis Ivory (football in 2000).
• May 8 - Srinivasan earns the Golfweek ANNIKA award, which is named in honor of Annika Sorenstam and has been presented annually to the nation's top female collegiate golfer since 2014. Votes of current players, coaches and media determine the winner, who receives an exemption to compete in the 2021 Evian Championship on the LPGA Tour.
• May 15 - Srinivasan collects the inaugural Juli Inkster Senior award. This goes to the highest-ranked women's collegiate golfer among seniors per Golfstat and Golfweek Sagarin ratings. As the award winner, Srinivasan receives a sponsor exemption to compete at the next Cambia Portland Classic and a two-day mentorship retreat with Inkster.
• June 17 - Srinivasan receives SoCon Female Athlete of the Year honors. She's the ninth Paladin to earn the award and first golfer since Caroline Peek in 1994.
• June 24 - Srinivasan is one of 62 Paladins named to the SoCon's Spring Academic All-Conference team. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in health sciences and a 3.90 grade point average.

"The awards have been a nice little distraction from everything going on and not being able to finish the semester," Srinivasan said. "Annika is such a great role model and is basically the Tiger Woods of women's golf. The ANNIKA award is like the Heisman trophy for women's golf and for my name to be on her award is just crazy. I never dreamed I'd be a finalist, let alone win the thing."

The SoCon's top honor is extra meaningful for Srinivasan because it encompasses more than just her athletic ability. While being the best golfer in the country certainly was a huge factor, so were her academics and contributions to the community. Srinivasan has done volunteer work with Prisma Children's Hospital and the LPGA/USGA Girls Golf Association.

There could be quite a debate as to what Srinivasan's biggest accomplishment at Furman has been. Is it rewriting a record book filled with names like Beth Daniel, Betsy King and Dottie Pepper, or posting 3.9 GPA in a school as academically prestigious as Furman? Srinivasan credited her success in both to her strict focus on both, and added that her high school experience was an excellent primer.

"Dorman has some of the best teachers. I had a great experience there and it really helped me prepare," Srinivasan said. "Furman is tough and they expect a lot out of you, but it wasn't something that I had never experienced before or wasn't ready for.

"Basically, golf and school are the only two things I did (at Furman). ... Once I would get done with class, I normally would pack my lunch and head over to golf and get started. When the work was done there, you'd eat dinner and hunker down and settle in for school. ... I knew it was going to take a lot of commitment and discipline to succeed at both. I was able to kind of learn how from my older teammates who were incredibly amazing role models for me."

Out of all the first-place finishes and awards, Srinivasan said her biggest memory from her Furman golf career probably goes back three years. While she posted the fourth-highest stroke average on the team as a freshman that season, she topped every other player in the conference in winning the 2017 SoCon Championship.

She followed up that medalist showing at the SoCon, with a final round 68 for a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Regional in Lubbock, Texas.

"I believe our team was ranked as high as No. 2 that year in the spring. We had an amazing team. A senior that year, Taylor Totland, really taught me a lot and pushed me," Srinivasan said. "As a freshman, you don't really think about winning conference. You just play and see what happens. That was really important to my confidence."

The pandemic this year robbed her of a final chance at another SoCon title and possibly an NCAA championship. It also wiped out this year's Augusta National Women's Amateur, which Srinivasan finished 17th at in last year's inaugural event.

Srinivasan has kept everything in a healthy perspective. As a golfer, she competes in one of the few sports that has been able to return within the confines of social distancing concerns. She's now focused on her pro career.

"I'm looking to start the week of July 20 with an LPGA event I'm trying to get into. Annika's (Sorenstam) been very gracious to try to get me into some events as has Juli (Inkster)," Srinivasan said. "I'm looking to get into those, but those are just bonuses. If I don't, I'll play on the Symettra (previously known as LPGA Futures Tour) when I can play. Their schedule is already a little cut and limited. Hopefully events play, but you just never know with what's going on."

Starkes catch caps series win for Paladins

Jordan Starkes' catch to rob Campbell of a home run in Furman's 8-2 win
Sunday made SportsCenter's top 10 plays. Photo courtesy of Furman

One of the many wonderful things about baseball is there's always tomorrow. Furman played about as rotten a game as you can play in all phases in an 13-3 loss to Campbell on Friday. On Saturday, the Paladins got up off the deck with a season-high offensive performance in a 14-6 win. Furman wrapped up the series in style with an 8-2 victory.

Sunday's win not only got the Paladins (8-8) back to .500 this season, it also gave them the series win over a Campbell program that has made the NCAA Tournament as Big South champions each of the past two seasons.

"It's probably the most proud I've ever been of a team responding. That was a low moment for us on Friday. That's as bad as we can play," Furman coach Brett Harker said after Sunday's game. "We went in that locker room (Friday) and talked about lots of things. I said, 'this is where we're at and this is what we're going to do to fix it.' Almost to a T - like drawing up a play on a football field, the guys executed everything that we talked about the last two days."

There were plenty of highlight reel plays and stellar performances by the Paladins, but none stood out more than a catch made by centerfielder Jordan Starkes in the eighth inning. According to ESPN, only one other play in the sports world was better Sunday. With Furman up 6-2 and one out in the top of the eighth, Starkes made an incredible leaping catch to his left and over the eight-foot wall in left-centerfield to rob Campbell's Collin Wolf of a two-run home run. The play made SportsCenter's top 10 plays on Sunday as the No. 2 selection.

The play should've resulted in a double play as the Campbell runner on first was already on second base as the ball came back to the infield. The Paladins tossed it to first, but it was ruled that the runner somehow tagged up on the catch and made it to second standing up. That didn't take away from the awesomeness of the catch, which also turned out to be a key one. The Camels went on to load the bases that inning before reliever Matt Lazzaro got a strikeout to escape the jam with no run scoring.

"It's got to be one of the top two or three plays I've seen in person," Harker said. "How the rest of that inning unfolded, it's a completely different ballgame if he doesn't make that catch.
"That kid has just made plays, had good at-bats and really stepped up for us. It feels like he's a junior or senior already and he's only a sophomore."

Starkes' catch ended up overshadowing another big play in the outfield Sunday. Furman led 4-2 in the top of the fifth when Campbell had a man on second and one out. The Camels' Waldy Arias him a fly ball to medium right field toward the line. Paladins rightfielder David Webel raced to his left to make the catch. Webel spun and fired a one-hop rocket to cut down the runner trying to advance to third, ending the inning with a 9-5 double play.

Outside of one error, Furman played flawless defense behind Lazzaro and starter Rob Hughes who also stood tall Sunday. Hughes didn't allow a baserunner over the first three innings and had six strikeouts that first time through the Campbell lineup. Hughes (2-1) allowed two runs on one hit in seven innings. The sophomore righthander from Rock Hill had three walks and seven strikeouts and threw 107 pitches. The Camels (6-9) got just one more hit in the final two innings off Lazzaro, who had one walk and two strikeouts.

"That might be the best I've seen (Saturday starter John Michael) Bertrand yesterday and Rob today. Those early strikeouts were impressive," Harker said. "I wanted to use Lazzaro today, but I didn't want him to go three innings. Rob being able to go the seventh and get through it quickly was big for us. ... He had swing-and-miss stuff today."

Offensively, Furman put up a crooked number four times Sunday. Banks Griffith had a two-run single in the second before Blake Brady blasted a two-run homer the next inning. It was the first home run in the Furman career of the Georgia Highlands transfer who played high school baseball at J.L. Mann. Logan Taplett had a two-run single in the fifth and MJ Sasapan capped the scoring with a two-run single in the eighth.

Taplett went 3-for-4, while Webel and Sasapan had two hits apiece.

Furman returns to action Tuesday against Quinnipiac at Latham Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. It's the lone midweek game this week before the Paladins host College of Charleston this weekend.

"Tuesday's the biggest game of the season for us," Harker said. "Are we going to continue to grow and keep that energy rolling into the weekend, or are we going to be complacent with where we're at? That's my challenge to these boys."

Paladins can't solve Wofford's riddle again

Mike Bothwell had 18 points and seven rebounds in Furman's 77-68 loss to
Wofford Saturday. Photo courtesy of the Southern Conference/Todd Drexler

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Coming down the stretch of the Southern Conference basketball regular season, there were many scenarios to decide who would finish where among a dangerous group of four teams in the middle of the standings. Wofford lost seven consecutive games to claim the last spot among those four, finishing seventh in the league.

What a nightmare that turned out to be for Furman, which finished second. After Wofford snapped its losing streak by extending Citadel's skid to 19 in Friday's "play in" portion of the SoCon Tournament, a third game between the rivals was set for Saturday. Given how the first two meetings went - and how the Paladins swept each team that finished fourth through sixth, this didn't feel like an ideal No. 2 vs. 7 matchup for Furman.

It wasn't.

The Paladins followed up their poorest shooting half of the year in the first half (28 percent) by allowing the most points they have in any half (54) in the second half. It all added up to a 77-68 loss to the Terriers and a quick exit from Asheville. Furman still hasn't defeated Wofford outside of Greenville in nine years.

"Give Wofford credit. I thought they played really well after dealing with a ton of adversity down the stretch of the regular season," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "They were the more physical team. They beat us on the boards by 16 and it's hard to win games in the tournament like that. ... We missed a lot of shots tonight and only got two (offensive rebounds).
"Obviously, they've got a lot of tradition and those guys have won at a high level. They didn't have the year they're used to this year, but historically they've been really good. It's just one of those things we've got to get through and I've got to do better."

The Paladins (25-7) came into the tournament confident having won 11 of their last 12 games and with a new school record for regular season and SoCon wins. They also had the confidence of knowing they had at least one win over every other team in the league. But only one of those wins required a game-winning shot in the final seconds and a rally from an 11-point deficit in the second half - the 67-66 win over Wofford at The Well.

In both regular season games against the Terriers, Furman had a putrid offensive showing in the first half and that trend continued Saturday. After an 18-point opening half in Spartanburg and a 26-point first half in Greenville, the Paladins put up 20 in the first half in Asheville. Furman, which led the league in field goal percentage (47.3) in SoCon play this season, was 7-of-25 from the floor in the first half, including 1-of-11 on 3-pointers with three airballs.

"I wish I could answer why. I'm a little perplexed by it myself. I thought our team was loose this week and our practice prep was great," Richey said. "We hit every shot in practice drills and played with a ton of energy. Guys seemed ready to roll ... but we came out and looked a little timid. You could see it by the ball movement."

Despite the futile offensive numbers, Furman was closer at the half than in either of the first two meetings. The stingy defense by the Paladins down the stretch of the season showed up in the first half as they trailed 23-20 at the break.

While there was no scoring over the final 2:40 of the first half, a bad omen came in the final 15 seconds when Furman was called for two fouls - including Jalen Slawson's third foul with 2.1 seconds left.

Jordan Lyons was called for a foul 27 seconds into the second half. One minute and 13 seconds later, Clay Mounce was called for an offensive foul. Twelve seconds later, Noah Gurley was called for a foul. Seven seconds later, Gurley was called for another and headed to the bench with three. Slawson came in for Gurley.

At the 16:16 mark, Mounce was called for a foul. Eleven seconds later, Slawson was called for his fourth foul. After video review showed that Slawson grabbed and pulled the leg of Wofford's Storm Murphy, who was diving for a ball, the foul was changed to a flagrant. Murphy made both free throws and Ryan Larson had a steal and a layup to push Wofford's lead to 38-27.

After the 6-0 head start on fouls to start the second half, the Terriers were called for three fouls in 32 seconds - all drawn by Mike Bothwell. Eleven seconds later, Gurley was called for his fourth foul guarding 28 feet from the basket.

Despite the foul chaos, Furman came back as Mounce, Bothwell and Lyons hit consecutive 3-pointers. Lyons' shot gave the Paladins their first lead of the night and Bothwell's jumper made it an 11-0 run and pushed the lead to 43-40 with 11:24 left.

After Lyons' three-point play cut Wofford's lead to 46-45, the Terriers hit five consecutive shots including four 3-pointers to take a 60-48 lead. Three of those threes came from Trevor Stumpe, who was averaging 7.1 points per game this season, but scored 18 Saturday.

"We just had to decide as a group that there were a lot of things not going our way, but we had to try to win anyway," Richey said. "We've got guys in foul trouble, but it doesn't matter. We've got to go try to figure this out and control what we can control.
"We made a run and got some stops. We got up three with about 11 (minutes) to go and I remember we got three pretty good looks and missed them all. Give Stumpe credit. He got cooking and we lost him a few times. That was when the game was in the balance."

Bothwell's layup with 3:04 left got the lead down to six, but Furman didn't score again until there were 23 seconds left.

"We had another fight and clawed back in again, but just couldn't get over it. It's frustrating," Richey said. "We didn't play our best. We weren't physical enough, but this team didn't quit."

Furman didn't have much luck dealing with Wofford post player Chevez Goodwin in the regular season. With every big man in foul trouble Saturday, that continued. Goodwin had 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting with nine rebounds (five offensive) in 27 minutes. The Terriers outrebounded Furman 40-24.

"It's certainly tough playing with foul trouble. You want to be aggressive. That's our gameplan, to go pressure the ball," said Mounce, who had 13 points and three steals before fouling out. "Playing with fouls, you have to pull off your pressure a little bit. It can get in your head a little bit and get frustrated at the refs, but you've just got to keep playing."

Playing his first major minutes of a SoCon Tournament, Bothwell put Furman on his back for much of the second half. The sophomore finished with 18 points and seven rebounds. Lyons scored 15. Alex Hunter had five of Furman's six assists. It was the fewest assists in a game since the Paladins had five in a loss to ETSU at the SoCon semifinals two years ago.

"We were not as clean as we need to be offensively. Six assists really isn't us ... but I love this team," Richey said. "We're going to be back here and we're going to have a great night in Asheville coming soon with this program.
"We will lose Lyons unfortunately, but we will have everybody else back and should have plenty of motivation to get back here and get over the hump."