Surprising no one, an International flavor agreed with Furman in its men’s basketball icebreaker at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Monday night.
That’s Columbia International. The Rams succumbed to the Paladins by a score of 104-46.
Not much could be ascertained, other than most everyone for Furman (1-0) looked marvelous. The Paladins once led by 64 points. Tom House, a Florida State transfer, scored 21 points in 17 minutes.
“We came out, and I thought we played the right way early,” said head coach Bob Richey to Dan Scott on the postgame radio show. “I thought our energy was good. Defensively, we were flying around and doing a really good job in the paint.

“It was nice to see Tom (House) come out and play with the competency he showed. Everybody except one scored.”
Furman connected on 12 first-half three-pointers, shooting .635 from the floor and .619 behind the arc, leading 58-15 at the half. All 13 players who dressed saw playing time while helping the Paladins win their eighth consecutive season opener.
Redshirt freshman Tommy Humphries added 15 points on 6/8 shooting, and senior Tyrese Hughey collected his second career double-double with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Freshman Mason Smith and redshirt freshman Eddrin Bronson scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Furman limited CIU to just .286 shooting from the floor and 2/21 from behind the arc. Will Kelly paced the Rams with 10 points.
The Paladins got 57 points from their bench and outscored the Rams 52-22 in the paint and 28-6 on points off turnovers. The 58-point margin of victory was the largest for a Furman team since claiming a 118-52 win over South Carolina State on Dec. 21, 2020, at Timmons Arena.

Furman hits the road for the first time on Friday night when it travels to Nashville, Tenn., to face the Belmont Bruins. Friday’s tip-off is 7 p.m. EST and will be streamed live on ESPN+. The game can be heard on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, and via the Audacy app.
Take a look at the stats here.

Sydney Ryan scored 16 points, leading Furman to a 60-54, season-opening win Monday evening over South Carolina State at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center in Orangeburg.
Ryan, a junior forward, hit 6/9 field goals, 4/5 from 3-point range, to lead Furman (1-0), which also got 10 points from graduate guard Tate Walters and freshman guard Raina McGowens.
Ryan ranked fourth in the Southern Conference in three-point shooting (.386) a year ago, while Walters’ 10 points matched her scoring average. McGowens made her college debut after starring at Wren High School in Piedmont.

The Paladins, forced to play without their top two post players, junior Jada Session and Kate Johnson, got eight points apiece from Hanna Hansson in place of Session.
South Carolina State’s Angie Juste-Jean led all scorers with 23 points.
The win was Furman’s sixth straight over the Bulldogs.
Furman tips off its home campaign on Thursday when its plays host to Erskine in a 7 p.m. contest at North Greenville University’s Hayes Gymnasium, which will serve as the primary home court for the Paladins this season while Timmons Arena undergoes a $40 million renovation.

Furman’s Ryan Miller scored his first NFL touchdown, and it sent Monday night’s game between Miller’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs into overtime with 30 seconds remaining.
Baker Mayfield hit Miller in the back of the end zone from the one-yard line.
The Chiefs improved to 8-0 by winning, 30-24, in overtime.

Furman men’s basketball is to make at least two appearances on television as part of the Southern Conference’s Ingle’s Game of the Week package on Nexstar affiliates.
Pal Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc., Ingles Markets and the SoCon are partnering to broadcast 10 SoCon regular-season games, four regular-season women’s basketball games and another game to be named later in the league’s six-state footprint.

The Paladins host Wofford on noon Jan. 11, at the Well before visiting Chattanooga for a 5 p.m. tip-off on Jan. 18. Each game in the package will also air concurrently on ESPN+.
Nexstar affiliates are: ECBD (Charleston), WBTW (Myrtle Beach), WGHP (Greensboro/High Point), WJHL (Johnson City), WMYT (Charlotte), WWCW (Lynchburg/Roanoke) and WYCW (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville). Although not a Nexstar station, WMUB (Macon) will also air select contests.

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