By MONTE DUTTON

In my lifetime, dinner has shifted from midday to evening. What used to be dinner is now lunch. Dinner has replaced supper, and Thanksgiving dinner moved with its meal to late in the day.
Nobody talks about supper anymore, which is a shame, because Jesus had supper. The last one.
Like many contemporary utterances, this theology is amateur and simplistic.
It is almost impossible to go undefeated, anyway. Except in rare instances – as in once every half century or so – all but one proficient squad at each level of college basketball loses its final game.
Something can be said for getting it out of the way. Something can also be said for defeating the No. 1 team in the nation.

To dream the impossible dream, to beat the unbeatable foe … — “The Impossible Dream”

That song was written by Mitch Lee and Joseph Darion for Man of La Mancha. That man was Don Quixote, hence the term quixotic.
The unbeaten Furman Paladins take their shot at the top-ranked team in the country when they travel to Lawrence, Kan., on Saturday evening to face Kansas in the final game of the Terry’s Chocolate Vegas Showdown.
Great quantities of chocolate have been symbolically moved from Las Vegas, where Furman beat Seattle and Kansas beat Duke, to Lawrence.

The Paladins (7-0) and Jayhawks (6-0) tip off at 6 p.m. ET at Allen Fieldhouse, and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Fans can listen on The Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, and via the Audacy app.
Furman, No. 10 in the latest College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 and receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25, improved to 7-0 with a 61-56 victory over WAC member Seattle University on Tuesday night.

Sophomore Cooper Bowser posted his first career double double with 17 points and 12 rebounds to go with four assists and three blocked shots. Nick Anderson added 14 points and Eddrin Bronson had 10.

The defense keyed Furman’s victory by holding the Redhawks to .262 shooting, which marked the lowest shooting percentage by a Paladin opponent since Piedmont International hit on just .246 of its shots in a Dec. 1, 2015, contest at Timmons Arena. The Paladins, who rank seventh nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.354), first in three-point percentage defense (.210), and ninth in scoring defense (58.0 ppg), have held three of their first seven opponents under 30 percent from the field.
Prior to Furman’s win over Seattle, Kansas held off No. 11 Duke, 75-72, to remain unbeaten. Dajuan Harris Jr. tallied 14 points and nine assists to lead the Jayhawks.
Saturday’s fray marks the second meeting between Furman and Kansas. The Jayhawks claimed a 101-60 decision in the only previous meeting on Dec. 20, 1993, also at Allen Fieldhouse.
Following Saturday’s game, Furman concludes its four-game road trip with a 7 p.m. tip-off at Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 4. The Paladins return to Bon Secours Wellness Arena to host Princeton at noon on Saturday, Dec. 7.

The Furman women’s basketball team picked up its pace by taking two out of three games in Georgia State’s Thanksgiving Tournament, actually a round robin, at the Atlanta school’s Convocation Center.
After falling in the opener to Campbell on Tuesday, the Paladins defeated the host Panthers, 85-74, on Wednesday and Purdue Fort Wayne in overtime, 88-84, on Thursday afternoon.
The Paladins visit Elon on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Niveya Henley scored 22 points and delivered a go-ahead 3-pointer with 42 seconds remaining in overtime to give Furman an 85-82 lead en route to victory over Purdue Fort Wayne.

Henley’s winning points were made possible by teammate Sydney Ryan’s game-tying, buzzer beating 3-pointer that knotted the game at 77-77 at the end of regulation.
After UFW took a 77-74 lead on a pair of Lauren Ross free throws with five seconds remaining on the clock, and following a Furman timeout, Paladin freshman point guard Chantelle Stuart received a pass at the top of circle and used a skip pass into the corner to Ryan, who buried the trey under defensive pressure as time expired.
In overtime, Bella LaChance converted a three-point play to put Furman up, 82-80, with 3:24 to go.

The Paladins (6-3) maintained the two-point edge until Ross converted two free throws to tie it at 82-82 with a minute remaining.
On the ensuing possession Henley stroked the go-ahead trey off an LaChance assist to make it 85-82. Ross then misfired on a couple of 3-point attempts for UFW, and Ryan put the game in the win column with a pair of free throws for an 87-82 lead with 11 seconds to go.
Henley’s 22-point scoring effort featured 9/16 shooting from the field and 4/8 from 3-point range. The junior guard/forward also chipped in six rebounds and four assists.

Ryan followed with 18 points, which she combined with 10 rebounds for her third double double in successive days. The junior forward also drained 4/8 three-pointers, part of Furman’s solid 14/33 shooting effort (.424) from beyond the arc.

Tate Walters also scored 18 points, and Kate Johnson rounded out Furman’s double figure scoring effort with 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
The Paladins’ solid 3-point shooting and 50-30 rebounding advantage helped negate 25 turnovers that UFW converted into 29 points, as well as a 14-point edge at the free-throw line.

The Mastodons (3-5) were paced by Ross’s game-high 27-point scoring performance.
Furman maintained a lead for much of regulation and was up 55-44 midway through the third quarter before UFW closed the period with a 15-6 run to get within 61-59 on a Sydney Freeman layup in the closing minute.
Two Ross free throws gave the Mastodons their first lead of the game, 67-66, at the 5:43 mark of the fourth quarter, after which the lead changed hands five times before Ryan’s 3-pointer at the end of regulation forced overtime.

Take a look at the stats here.
Ryan poured in 24 points and claimed 12 rebounds to power Furman to a victory over host Georgia State.
The junior from Nashville, Tenn., connected on 8/16 field goal attempts and headlined a sizzling Paladin 3-point shooting performance by draining 5/9 treys. For the game Furman drained a season-best 13/26 shots from beyond the arc.
Tate Walters, from nearby Buford, Ga., followed Ryan with 16 points, and Henley, a junior, added 15. Senior forward Kate Johnson, who played her prep ball in the Atlanta suburb of Canton, rounded out the Paladins’ double-figure scoring effort with 10 points, which she combined with eight rebounds and four blocks.

Georgia State sliced Furman’s lead to 60-58 on a layup by Eden Johnson with just under a minute to play in the third quarter, but the Paladins quickly answered on the ensuing possession when freshman guard Walters fed Raina McGowens for a short jump shot, and Claire Coyle, another Paladin freshman, made it 64-58 by converting a fast-break layup.
Furman dominated Georgia State in rebounding, posting a 48-24 edge on the glass, including a 16-4 advantage on the offensive boards. The Paladins, who were credited with 20 assists on their 28 field goals, finished the contest shooting .452 percent from the field (28/62).

Take a look at the stats here.

“I guess that I’ve fought tougher men, but I really can’t remember when.” – Shel Silverstein, “A Boy Named Sue”
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