Upstate Starts Six-Game Road Trip at SMU Tuesday Night
12/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2007
Complete Upstate vs. SMU Game Notes in PDF Format 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - USC Upstate hits the road again Tuesday, traveling to Dallas, Tex., to battle the SMU Mustangs in Moody Coliseum. The game starts at 7:05 p.m. (CST). Upstate looks to get back on the winning track after falling to Bluefield, 93-77, Saturday. SMU has not played since Dec. 9, a 90-79 victory over Houston Baptist in Dallas. The Mustangs are 4-4 on the year. The game can be heard live in the Spartanburg area on ESPN 1400 AM and on the internet at www.upstatespartans.com and www.espn1400am.com. Live statistical updates are available online at www.upstatespartans.com using Gametracker. The game can also be viewed via the SMU website at www.smumustangs.com.
Recapping Bluefield
USC Upstate fell victim to a 14-2 Bluefield run in the first half and a pair of Spartan rallies in the second half were answered each time as Bluefield held on for a 93-77 victory over Upstate Saturday evening at the Hodge Center.
Upstate held a nine-point advantage in the first half, only to see it slip away. After tying the game midway through the half, Bluefield used the 14-2 run to open a 12-point lead and a desperation 80-foot heave at the buzzer fell through for the Rams as Bluefield held a 45-35 lead at halftime.
Upstate rallied twice in the second half, cutting double digit Bluefield leads to five and six points, but the Rams answered each time to push the lead back to double digits to take the win.
Luke Payne again led Upstate in scoring, finishing with 20 on the night. Mezie Uzochukwu added a career-high 13 points, while Gabor Boros added 11.
Spartans Hit The Road Again
USC Upstate begins its second major road trip of the season this week when the Spartans travel to Dallas, Tex., to take on SMU Tuesday. Following the game with the Mustangs, Upstate will travel to El Paso, Tex., to take part in the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament. Following a brief break for Christmas, the Spartans will hit the road again to play at Duquesne (Dec. 30) and Iowa State (Jan. 2). Upstate's six-game road swing will end with its first ever Atlantic Sun Conference game at East Tennessee State on Jan. 5 in Johnson City, Tenn. Upstate will return home on Thursday, Jan. 10, to take on A-Sun rival Gardner-Webb.
The second major road trip follows a lengthy road schedule to open the season as the Spartans played at Utah on Nov. 9 before heading to Fairbanks, Alaska, to play three games in the BP Top of the World Classic (Nov. 16-18). Upstate played three more road games (UNC Greensboro, Cincinnati and Wake Forest) before heading home for a win against Brevard on Dec. 6.
Spartans No. 46
According to the latest strength of schedule ranking by Jeff Sagarin, Upstate has the 46th toughest schedule out of 341 teams in Division I college basketball.
Home Sweet Home
Despite playing just 10 games at home this season, the Spartans will be happy to do so. Upstate has a solid home record, going 55-18 in six years under head coach Eddie Payne.
Payne Reaches Milestone
Senior guard Luke Payne notched his 1,000th-point at UNC Greensboro (Nov. 24). The Spartanburg High School graduate sank a three-pointer with a little over seven minutes to play in the game to give him 12 points in the contest and 1,000 for his career. He went on to finish with 15 points in the game.
Payne became the 17th player in the history of the storied program to reach the 1,000-point milestone. He currently has 1,051 points in his career and ranks 15th all-time in scoring, recently passing Carlos Bryson (16th) and Willie Murdaugh (17th) on the all-time scoring list.
In addition to his scoring prowess, Payne ranks among the program's all-time leaders in 13 other statistical categories.
Payne currently leads the Spartans in scoring at 14.8 points per game and is the lone Spartan to average in double figures this season.
Upstate Road Warriors
By season's end, USC Upstate will have played 30 games with two-thirds of the games being played away from the G.B. Hodge Center. In fact, the Spartans opened the season playing their first seven games away from the friendly confines of the Hodge Center before playing its home opener against Brevard on Dec. 6. Upstate will play 13 of its first 15 games on the road this season.
In all, Upstate will travel more than 12,000 miles away from Spartanburg, and nearly 24,000 miles round trip, this season to play 20 games away from home.
Shaking Up The Lineup
Head Coach Eddie Payne used his fifth different starting lineup Saturday against Bluefield. Choosing to go with a smaller lineup, Payne started Josh Chavis at the point, Luke Payne at the "2"-guard, Gabor Boros at the wing in his first start for the Spartans, Mezie Uzochukwu at power forward and Bobby Davis in the post.
Solid In The Starting Lineup
Bobby Davis (Jr., forward) and Mezie Uzochukwu (Fr., forward) are the only two Spartans to start all nine games this season. Luke Payne has started eight of the nine games, sitting out of the starting lineup but playing 30 minutes against IUPUI (Nov. 17) with a thigh bruise.
Josh Chavis has started the last five games at the point guard position for Upstate.
Shooting The 3-Ball
While USC Upstate has not shot the lights out from the field and scores at a 60.9 ppg clip, the Spartans have shown prowess from behind the three-point arc.
Upstate knocks down 34.8 percent of its shots from downtown and currently ranks sixth in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Playing No Gimmies
Upstate's ambitious schedule in 2007-08 certainly has no slouches on it. In fact, when you combine the win-loss records of the seven Division I opponents the Spartans have played so far this year, the opponents are a combined 39-23. Overall, the Spartans' opponents are 51-33 when adding in Division II Brevard and the NAIA's Bluefield.
When Upstate takes to the road for its six-game road swing starting at SMU Tuesday, the Spartans' opponents are a combined 28-21 on the year. That figure includes Buffalo and Wyoming, one of which will be Upstate's second opponent in the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament.
Byrd Flies To The Top
Jeremy Byrd collected six steals in the season-opening game at Utah, surpassing Terrance Gist (276) to move atop the all-time steals list at Upstate. Byrd now has 291 picks in his stellar four-year career with the Spartans.
Byrd, from Greenville, missed the three games prior to the Brevard contest and has not played in enough games to be considered among the A-Sun stat leaders. He currently averages 3.4 steals per game which would lead the league over a steal per game if he was eligible to be listed.
Hines Gives Schneiders Props
Reigning Southern Conference player of the year and UNC Greensboro standout Kyle Hines gave Upstate center Nick Schneiders praise on his blog. Hines was in the middle of recapping recent action when he talked of Schneider's thunderous dunk over him.
"USC Upstate had a 7-2 player on their team that I had to guard in the game," Hines blogged. "He was the tallest player I had played against. I faired well against him until one play in the second half, he dunked on me pretty bad. Coach (Mike) Dement showed the play like five times during our film session. I must admit it looked really bad on film. The coaches and rest of the team got a good laugh out of that one."
A-Sun Makes Some Noise
If the start if the season is any indication of how good the Atlantic Sun Conference is going to be this year, the league will be tough. Gardner-Webb, Mercer and Belmont pulled off impressive wins early in the season.
Gardner-Webb, behind the 15 points and eight rebounds from Aaron Linn, defeated then-No. 22 Kentucky, 84-68. Mercer claimed a 96-81 victory over then-No. 18 Southern Cal. In addition to the Kentucky and Southern Cal wins, Belmont claimed an 86-75 win over Cincinnati and an 85-83 win over Alabama.
The two wins over nationally-ranked opponents marked the first time in the 30-year history of the league that conference teams defeated more than one nationally-ranked opponent in the same week.
Payne Receives Honor
Despite playing the final two games, and part of the first, with a deep thigh bruise at the BP Top of the World Classic Nov. 16-18, starting guard Luke Payne played well enough to garner All-Tournament honors. He scored 43 points in three games, averaging 14.3 points and three rebounds per outing in the tournament. He scored 17 points against Akron and Oregon State and nine against IUPUI.
Greensboro Newbies Have Solid Pedigrees
When coaches bring in new recruits, they not only look for individual talent, they also look to see how well a player helps their former team and the how well the teams do in competition. Josh Chavis and Mezie Uzochukwu, both from Greensboro, N.C., come to Upstate after strong senior seasons.
Chavis, from Dudley HS, played in the North Carolina East-West All-Star game. He also spent the summer playing for the N.C. Gaters AAU team. He was the starting point guard on the team that won the AAU 19-Under National Championship.
Uzochukwu, from Northeast Guilford HS, also played in the North Carolina East-West All-Star game. He finished the game with a team-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds, leading the West squad to the 81-75 victory and earning MVP honors. He joined a prestigious club of East-West MVP winners, including recent honorees Kevin Swinton and William Graves, both of whom now play in the ACC.
Burrows Brings Experience To Sidelines
First-year assistant coach Bill Burrows is anything but new to the game. The veteran of the sideline has been a head coach on the high school level in North Carolina for nearly 30 years and was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech and Towson. He can tell stories of coaching greats such as Brad Daugherty and Brad Johnson, but his best quality may be his ability to tell stories that both entertain and educate.
Paul Makes Good
Former Spartan starting point guard C.J. Paul is now living the life around the NBA. No, he is not playing in the world's top league, he is serving as the personal assistant/manager for his younger brother, Chris, the former NBA Rookie of Year now in his third season with the New Orleans Hornets.
Scouting SMU
SMU enters Tuesday night's game with a 4-4 overall record, having won its last four contests. The Mustangs opened the season with four straight losses: 75-61 to Southern, 64-54 to Alabama State, 93-76 to Centenary and 82-57 to Dayton. However, SMU rebounded with wins over Paul Quinn (81-63), UT-San Antonio (62-56), TCU (71-65) and Houston Baptist (90-79) to improve to 4-4 on the year prior to taking 11 days off for final exams.
About The Team
SMU is a team led by three seniors in Paulius Ritter, Jon Killen and Derrick Roberts. Killen and Roberts are the captains of a young team that consists of nine freshmen, two of which are probable starters.
Killen leads the team in scoring at 13.0 ppg and assists with 31. He also pulls down 4.6 rpg and shoots the three-ball with 43.2 percent accuracy. Roberts averages 9.4 ppg, while Ritter scores at a 4.2 ppg clip.
Alex Malone, a freshman who has started three games this season, ranks second on the team in scoring at 10.5 ppg. Bamba Fall, a junior center from Senegal, ranks third on the team in scoring at 10.0 ppg and leads the team with 16 blocked shots.
SMU is solid from behind the three-point arc, shooting 33.5 percent. The Mustangs struggle, somewhat, from the field at 43.3 percent and are working on improving upon its 59.6 percent shooting from the charity stripe.
SMU scores 69 points per game and allows opponents to score 72.1 points per outing. The Mustangs are solid on defense, holding opponents to 42.9 percent shooting from the floor and forcing 108 turnovers in eight games this season. SMU has also blocked 35 shots, 22 more than their opponents.
About The Coach
Head Coach Matt Doherty is in his second season at the helm of the SMU program. He has tallied an 18-21 record at the Dallas school. He owns a 108-92 career record in his seventh season as a head coach. He was previosuly the head coach at Notre Dame (1999-00), North Carolina (2000-03) and Florida Atlantic (2005-06).
As a player, Doherty was a member of the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1981-84 and was a member of the 1982 national championship team.
