furman/citadel
furman/citadel
Paladins, Bulldogs starved for conference victory
Posted Monday, January 19, 2004 - 12:07 am
By Ann Green
STAFF WRITER
After losing to the three hottest teams in the Southern Conference by a combined 10 points, Furman finally gets a shot tonight at a squad with a league record as dismal as its own.
Furman (8-7, 0-4) and host The Citadel (4-11, 0-4) are hungry for a SoCon win as they wallow at the bottom of the South Division.
The Paladins lost by their widest margin in league play (73-65) in the SoCo opener at UNC Greensboro in early December. Since then, Furman has shown more promise despite its early losses, falling to East Tennessee State by a point and to the College of Charleston by five points.
Leading by eight points twice in the second half, the Paladins let a home game with Georgia Southern slip through their fingers by four points over the weekend.
The loss to Georgia Southern was particularly galling for the Paladins, who stumbled in the battle of the rebound and the loose ball and with their free throw shooting.
"This is the time where you get your character tested, when things are not going well," Furman coach Larry Davis said after the game. "We've got a lot of people patting us on the back, telling us how good we are going to be. But we've got to ignore all that, not wait until next year, not wait until four or five more games into this season. We've got to get a conference win, take a huge step forward and become the kind of team that we can be now."
One troubling trait of late for Furman: getting into a deep hole early, particularly in its two most recent SoCon matchups. Furman fell behind the College of Charleston, 21-2, in the early going, then appeared headed in the same direction vs. Georgia Southern. The Eagles led 11-2 in the first 5 minutes before Furman rallied.
Even against Division II Erskine last Tuesday, Furman made the first basket, then took six minutes to become fully invested in the game.
"We've got to do a better job of coming out of the gate and set the tone for the guys coming off the bench," Davis said. "But the first four or five minutes of a game won't win or lose the game for you as long as you're within reason."
He noted, "The second half (against Georgia Southern) we made a great start. At this point, it's a matter of taking care of the ball at critical times."
As the Paladins go on the road tonight, their Bulldog opponents have had double-digit losses in all of their SoCon games this season. Over the weekend, they lost to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga by 24 points, to Georgia Southern (28 points), to Davidson (24 points) and to Appalachian State (10 points) in The Citadel's league opener in early December.
