By MONTE DUTTON

Maybe it’s the gray uniforms. Maybe it’s the coaching staff dressed casually at home.

Or maybe, just maybe, Furman has regained its health, wealth and Southern Conference men’s basketball groove. That’s how it looked in Saturday’s 82-73 conquest of East Tennessee State at Timmons Arena with 2,279 of the faithful there to witness.

Alex Williams and J.P. Pegues, a week ago the two who were missing, dropped 20 points apiece as the Paladins canned 23/26 free throws. It got a bit sloppy, but the outcome was never seriously in doubt. The Buccaneers trailed by 21 points (69-48) with 11:40 to play on Williams’ three-point play and never got closer than seven.

“It shows you’re confident when you knock down almost all your free throws,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said.

“We really got into our offense, started passing to one another even more, finding each other, getting great shots,” Tyrese Hughey said. “Coach Richey believes in us, and we believe in each other. It gives us all confidence.”

East Tennessee State (9-8, 1-3 SoCon) spent 31 seconds out of 40 minutes in the lead and lost its third straight game. Furman (8-9, 2-2) regained even footing in the league after opening with two losses.

Richey was obviously excited.

“I’m really proud offensively. We were moving the ball all of a sudden,” he said. “It’s amazing from what we saw a week ago.”

Carter Whitt wasn’t the leading scorer but turned in a sterling effort. The junior from Raleigh, N.C., scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds, divvied out five assists and scooped up four steals. Garrett Hien scored 10 on 4/6 from the floor and 2/3 from deep. Hien and Ben Vander Wal each passed out three assists. Hughey had eight points, two blocks and two assists.

“There’s a certain creativity to Carter’s game that you’ve got to let flow,” Richey said.

“The offense, you know, get the ball moving,” Whitt said. “That’s what Furman’s always been and what we’ve been about. It’s everybody touching it, moving it, like, playing. It’s fun.”

Marcus Foster, absent due a knee injury since Dec. 4, took part in practice on Friday and is close to a return. After a trip to Virginia Military on Wednesday, Furman returns to Timmons Arena for games against the current SoCon powerhouses, Western Carolina (15-2, 4-0) and Samford (15-2, 4-0), on Jan. 20 and 24, respectively. They play in Cullowhee on Tuesday night.

The teams that have defeated Furman, UNC Greensboro and Chattanooga, played on Saturday night, with the Spartans winning, 70-54.

The chief mathematical difference the teams was Furman’s free-throw accuracy. The Paladins hit 16 more – ETSU was 7/11 – but the other shooting numbers were about the same. In fact, most everything else was about the same.

Furman shot .441. ETSU shot .439. Furman hit .350 of its triples. ETSU shot .320 from out there. The Paladins won the boards, 40-36. Both forced 10 turnovers.

The game’s leading scorer was East Tennessee’s Jaden Seymour, who scored 23 points and hit half his six three-point tries. The game’s leading rebounder was the Bucs’ Jadyn Parker with nine. Quimari Parker scored 16, Ebby Asamoah 11 and Parker 10.

“That’s the leadership that we really want to develop,” Richey said. “I thought we were really good offensively. Defense? At times we struggled and continue to allow access to the paint and rim too easily, but I will say we were much better in the second half.

“Confidence is in one another understanding. The more connected we are, the more it builds our confidence because we don’t have the feeling that we’ve got to do it all. We can depend on one another. … The group within these walls has been fighting, and all of a sudden, we feel way different than we did seven days ago.”

The Paladin victory evened the all-time series between the schools at 34-34 and marked Furman’s sixth straight win over the Bucs at Timmons.

Take a look at the stats here.

Blue, Green, Purple & Red cannot solely be funded by advertising. There’s not enough room.

Thanks so much for the recent contributions. My goal is to provide unique coverage of local sports. I’m aware that folks appreciate what I do, particularly the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

I used to list an address to send a check (DHK Sports, P.O. Box 768, Clinton, S.C. 29325). I finally got it through my thick head that not that many people write checks nowadays. For example, me. A more convenient means might be sending a reasonable contribution to DHK Sports on Venmo. It’s keep it going, and by that I mean in business and also on the road.

Support the advertisers, and help keep the site – the game stories, the blogs, the photos – alive by making, if you choose, a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Another way I can make a living is if you purchase my books at MonteDutton.net. They’re quite entertaining in spite of the fellow who wrote them. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions. The latest, The Latter Days, is about baseball. I’m closing in on a 10^th novel.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.