The men are off to a railroad center on the Tennessee River while the women come off a week’s rest to play at home on Sunday afternoon.
The basketball wars are fully operational.
Furman (6-8, 0-1) seeks its first Southern Conference win of the season on Saturday at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn., to take on the Chattanooga Mocs at 7 p.m.
The game is to be locally televised on The CW (62), as well as on ESPN+. The dulcet tones of Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy can be heard on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, on 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, or via the Audacy app.
The Paladins and Mocs will meet for the 98th time and seventh since the beginning of the 2021-22 SoCon season. Chattanooga owns a 57-40 lead in the all-time series, but Furman has won three straight meetings and 11 of the last 14.
After Chattanooga downed the Paladins on a buzzer-beating shot in the 2022 SoCon Tournament finals, Furman swept last year’s regular-season series from the Mocs prior to claiming its first league tournament title since 1980 with an 88-79 triumph over Chattanooga in the finals rematch in Asheville, N.C.
The injury-riddled Paladins are coming off 79-68 loss at UNC Greensboro on Wednesday night. With Furman missing its top three scorers due to injury, UNCG shot 50 percent from the arc and held the Paladins to a season-low .324 shooting. Juniors Carter Whitt and PJay Smith Jr. paced the Paladins with 23 and 19 points, respectively. Whitt connected on 12-of-13 trips to the foul line to net his career-high.
The absence of Marcus Foster (19.8 ppg), J.P. Pegues (18.4) and Alex Williams (14.6) meant Furman was forced to use its 11th different starting lineup this season and play the UNCG game with just seven available scholarship players.
The Paladins have not had their full allotment of players available for an entire game this season.
Chattanooga (8-6, 0-1) opened the SoCon season with a 89-74 setback at Samford on Wednesday night. Guards Trey Bonham and Honor Huff lead the Mocs, averaging 16.8 points per game each.
Following a trip to Chattanooga on Saturday, Furman returns home to host The Citadel on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
The Furman women (9-6, 0-0) don’t begin SoCon play until next Thursday at Western Carolina.
Pierre Curtis’s Paladins could use one more refresher. The first three SoCon games are away from Timmons Arena.
Sunday afternoon find Furman facing a nearby school that also wears purple but calls its teams Valkyries, which must liven up the broadcasts. Converse (5-6) visits for a 2 p.m. game and will have played at Pembroke (N.C.) 24 hours earlier.
The Paladins are coming off victories over South Carolina State (67-43) and North Carolina Central (73-63).
The Furman scoring race is a tight one. Five players – Jada Session (13.7 ppg), Sydney Ryan (11.9), Niveya Henley (11.0), Kate Johnson (10.9) and Tate Walters (10.0) – average in double figures. Session averages 9.2 rebounds and Walters 4.4 assists. They lead those categories by wide margins.
Yet another Sydney – Furman has Ryan and James – leads the Valkyries. Sydney Wilson averages 14.5 points and 8.1 rebounds.
Keep those cards, letters and donations coming. The sports seasons are back at full speed. In the fall, I’m up all night on weekends. In winter, I’m up late most nights.
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Nightrider's Lament 