Furman men’s basketball earned an at-large bid to the National Invitation Tournament and will travel to face the No. 2-seeded North Texas Mean Green on Wednesday in Denton.
Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. EDT at UNT Coliseum and the first-round matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+. The winner advances to face either Saint Louis or No. 3 seed Arkansas State on March 22 or 23 with third-round action set for March 25-26. Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse will play host to the NIT semifinals on April 1 and the championship game on April 3.

The Paladins enter the NIT at 25-9 overall and have won six of their last seven games. After finishing the regular season on a four-game winning streak, Furman toppled Samford in the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship quarterfinals and eliminated Chattanooga in a semifinal overtime thriller before dropping a 92-85 decision to Wofford in the SoCon finals in Asheville, N.C., on Monday night.

Wins over Missouri Valley Conference member Belmont, American Athletic Conference foe Tulane, Ivy League power Princeton, three victories over Samford and a postseason triumph over SoCon regular season champion Chattanooga highlight the Paladins’ resume. Furman’s 25 wins are tied for second most in program history behind the Paladins’ school-record 28 victories in 2023.

The at-large selection marks Furman’s third trip to the NIT and first since 2019. In 1990, Furman received an NIT bid following its SoCon regular-season title and dropped an 86-67 verdict in opening round play at West Virginia. The 2019 Paladins earned a first-round home game versus Wichita State, but the Shockers edged the Paladins, 76-70, at Timmons Arena.
Senior PJay Smith Jr. leads the Paladins averaging 18.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. The first team All-SoCon choice and Lou Henson Award (Mid-Major Player of the Year) finalist ranks among the national leaders, shooting .421 behind the arc. Graduate student Nick Anderson, a first-year transfer from Barry University, has contributed 14.7 points per game and was a third-team All-SoCon choice.

SoCon foes Chattanooga and Samford also made the field. The Mocs visit Middle Tennessee on Tuesday. The Bulldogs visit George Mason on Wednesday.
Furman football showed off the fruits of its offseason labors on Saturday at the Purple-White Practice at Paladin Stadium.

“I think we’re significantly better than we were in the fall,” head coach Clay Hendrix said to radio voice Dan Scott. “We’ll find that out in the fall. You talk about last year, and you own it, you learn from it and you move on.

“We’re doing the right things. … It was a fun day.”

The practice did not mark the end of practice. Furman has four more days of workouts.

“I think we have a lot of potential at every position,” offensive coordinator Justin Roper opined to Scott. “We’re really excited about the pieces we’re putting together.

“I think this is the deepest line we’ve had since I’ve been here. We have six or seven guys who have played in games that are returning. We’ve added a couple new guys, and we’ll have some freshmen coming in. That brings competition … and we’re only going to get better over time.”

Approximately 250 high-school juniors attended the Paladins’ Junior Day program.
Music by DJ Nate, inflatables in the end zone and concessions on the main concourse made the activity appealing to fans and youngsters, along with autograph sessions afterwards with coaches and players.
Furman’s spring practice roster features 79 players in uniform. An additional 10 players did not take part due to ongoing injury rehabilitation.

The Paladins project to return 42 lettermen, including 14 players considered starters at the end of the 2024 season. A total of 29 Paladins own starting experience. A young team completed the campaign with a 3-8 record after putting up 10 victories in each of the two previous seasons.
No. 50 Furman upset No. 34 Yale, 4-2, Sunday at Mickel Tennis Center.
The women’s tennis squad (11-2, 2-0 SoCon) extended its winning streak to six matches, while Yale fell to 9-4.

Furman won two doubles matches to get on the board first. Senior Jess Dawson and sophomore Macy Hitchcock blanked Angela Huang and Julia Werdiger, 6-0, at flight two, and seniors Alexa Griffith and Marissa Pennings blew past Mirabelle Brettkelly and Erin Ha, 6-2, at number three for the point. The flight one contest was unfinished, with Yale’s Shyla Aggarwal and Orly Ogilvy leading seniors Ellie Schulson and Sara Snyder, who rank 78th nationally, 4-3.

In singles action, Snyder downed 89th-ranked Ogilvy, 6-3, 6-4, at flight one to give the Paladins a 2-0 advantage, but Aggarwal beat Dawson, 6-4, 6-3, soon after to into the lead. Pennings hung on for a 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 victory over Werdiger at flight three to give Furman a 3-1 margin before Brettkelly eked past Schulson, 6-1, 6-7(1), 7-6(6), at number four to bring the Bulldogs within a point. Hitchcock clinched the match for Furman with a 6-4, 6-3 decision over Ha at number five.
The flight six contest was unfinished. Huang won set one, 6-0, but senior Grace Thomas rebounded for a 6-3 victory in set two. The two were deadlocked at 1-all in set three when the match was called.
The Paladins continue their home stand when they face Brown on March 24 at 3 p.m. at Mickel Tennis Center.

South Carolina State handed the Furman men’s tennis team a 6-1 loss Saturday afternoon at the Hardeep Judge Tennis Center in Orangeburg.
Furman drops to 5-9 on the season while South Carolina State improves to 6-3 overall.
The Bulldogs captured the doubles point following wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Mikalai Bankou and Novak Novakovic topped Cole Burnam and Connor Laymon at the top spot, 6-4, while the No. 3 contest saw Iliyas Maratuly and Ivan Pauliuchenka defeat Theophile Joly and Matt Kandel, 6-2. In the No. 2 match, Nicolas Dispas and Nico Snyder won their team-best ninth contest of the season with a 6-4 triumph over Aissa Benchakroun and Julius Augunas.
South Carolina State clinched the victory after winning five of the six singles matches at Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.
Playing at No. 1, Bankou won in three sets over Joly, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8, and Novakovic earned a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Dispas at No. 2. In the No. 3 match, Benchakroun registered a 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(3) victory versus Walker Allen, while Augunas recorded a 6-2, 6-2 win over Laymon at No. 4. Maratuly defeated Burnam at the No. 6 position, 6-4, 6-3.
Snyder picked up the Paladins’ singles point when he defeated Gabriel Johnson in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1. The win was the freshman’s second victory of the year.
Furman starts a four-match homestand next weekend, March 21-22, hosting Jacksonville State and UAB

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Jordyn Behar paced Arizona State with eight points while Lydia Oldknow scored a game high six goals to lead the Sun Devils to an 18-11 victory over the Furman lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon at Sun Devil Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium.
Furman drops to 5-2 on the season and returns to Paladin Stadium for the first of back-to-back home games next Saturday, hosting Queens (N.C.) at 2 p.m. With the win, Arizona State improves to 7-2 overall.
The Paladins had three different players record a hat trick led by Anna Roser’s four goals. Paige Harman and Lily Toole both contributed three. Roser paced the Furman offense with five points after dishing out an assist. Five different players registered a caused turnover, and Skylar Hilmer won a team-best five draws.
Paladin goalies Sailor Henderson and Madigan Brewer combined for six saves.
Behar finished with eight points for the Sun Devils on two goals and six assists to lead all players. Arizona State played three different goalies with Katie Vahle registering five saves.
Soccer midfielder Christian Newman has been selected as one of 21 fall male athletes in all three NCAA divisions to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
Newman, a native of Myrtle Beach, is currently enrolled in Furman’s Masters in Community Health program with plans to use the $10,000 scholarship to continue his education by attending medical school. His selection marks the second straight year that a Furman men’s soccer player has received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship after former Paladin Callum Allison received the same award last year.
As a senior, Newman received the Furman Hall of Leaders Award For Excellence in Service & Leadership. The Hall of Leaders is a select group of seniors who have demonstrated outstanding involvement with campus life and extracurricular activities and who, through their service, have exemplified a four-year commitment of the enhancement of the Furman campus.
Newman, a product of Socastee High School, played in 26 matches in his four-year career and registered two starts. On the pitch, Newman recorded an assist in Furman’s 1-1 draw versus College of Charleston in 2023.

If I had two nickels to rub together right now, I’d load the truck on Tuesday morning and set out for Denton, Texas. I’m familiar with the area. I’ve probably driven past the UNT Coliseum a hundred times. It’s where I-35 East (through Dallas) and I-35 West (Fort Worth) regroup for Oklahoma. I have many friends, most of whom play guitars and one of whom builds them, who live nearby.
If the timing was right, I might not come back.
However, my trip to the Southern Conference Tournament was taxing. I’m not ready for Texas. I’d have to stop at lots of rest areas.
North Texas is the Mean Green. Mean Joe Greene once played football there. The school, once North Texas State, was once famous for beauty queens. On the night I had emergency surgery, North Texas played Texas State in a bowl game. High on ketamine, the game seemed to take at least five hours, and that was just the fourth quarter.

Just as was the case for the season, I’ll tune in the Paladins on ESPN+ and be damn glad to get it.
For the second season in a row, Presbyterian is playing in the College Basketball Insider tournament in spite of its 14-18 record. That’s a record that may never be broken.
I feel as if the world has passed me, not to mention my abdomen, by. As much as it took a physical toll on me, I wouldn’t have missed Asheville for the Final Four. Chattanooga and Samford are also in the NIT field.
Most of my books are available at Amazon and other online bookseller sites. The most recent, The Latter Days, is a baseball novel, which you may enjoy in part because, well, the Paladins no longer play it. If you’d like to sample my fiction, Longer Songs is a collection of short stories derived from songs I’ve written.
Thanks for putting up with me.