Battle Of The Spartans: Upstate Opens Home Slate Tuesday Against UNCG
11/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2009
Game Notes | ASun.TV | Live Audio | Gametracker
Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate returns home after playing the first three games of the season away from the friendly confines of the G.B. Hodge Center when UNC Greensboro comes to Spartanburg for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off Tuesday in a battle of Spartan mascots. The game is the first of 12 homes games for the Spartans in the final season in the "old" Hodge Center prior to renovations which will be completed prior to the start of the 2010-11 season.
"Last year we didn't have much balance in the schedule having to play so many games on the road to start the season, and it was really hard on that team," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "To be able to have a game here early in the season is a good thing and we are excited about that."
Upstate looks to pick up its first win of the season. After taking a 76-49 loss to open the season at Nebraska, the Spartans rebounded with a pair of close games at Indiana and Winthrop. Against Indiana, Upstate cut a 20-point second half deficit to eight as the Hoosiers held on for a 69-61 victory. At Winthrop last Saturday, the Spartans opened a 13-point lead with less than five minutes to play, but Winthrop rallied to close the game on a 21-5 run to steal the victory. With UNCG coming to town with an identical 0-3 record on the year, one of the teams will earn its first victory of the season. For Upstate, a win would be huge in building momentum towards two early A-Sun games, one next Monday against Stetson and the second in mid-December against Florida Gulf Coast. UNCG, like Upstate, has played a marquee non-conference schedule to open the season. The Spartans lost at Duke and Virginia Tech, then took a loss at home to Clemson. Tuesday night's game may very well go a long way in setting a tone for both teams during their conference schedules.
"This is a game, along with the Winthrop game, that will give us a pretty good idea of where we stand against teams in our conference," said Payne. "These games are against opponents that are more on the level of our league so it will give us an idea of what we need to be doing. They aren't these elite teams on the DI level or teams from the NAIA or DIII. These games give us more of a barometer of where we stand as a team early in the season, and I think the same is true for Greensboro. I think both teams are hungry for a win. I am sure Greensboro thinks this a game they can win and we have to get over the fact that we lost a game that we should have won at Winthrop and didn't. That may give Greensboro an edge. But both teams obviously know they need to get a `w'."
Upstate will again utilize its deep bench to battle UNC Greensboro. The Spartans go 10 deep with 10 of the 11 active players averaging 10 or minutes a game. That depth, in part, has led to Upstate playing well on the defensive side of the ball, something Payne has noted early in the season.
"We are in a situation where we are trying to play a lot of people and we have enough depth to do that," said Payne. "That is one of the strengths that we have. I think we are further along, defensively, this year than we were last year and the depth we are using has a lot to do with that."
Looking Back At Winthrop
It wasn't pretty offensively for either team and, in the end, it was heartbreaking as Upstate let a 13-point lead slip away and took a 49-46 loss at Winthrop Saturday afternoon in the Winthrop Coliseum. After taking a 3-0 lead early in the game, Upstate failed to score for nearly 7:30. Despite the scoring drought, the Spartans managed to fight its way back into an 18-14 lead at halftime. Upstate gained control of the game midway through the second half, vaulting out to a 13-point lead on two occasions and seemingly on its way to its first win of the season. However, Winthrop closed out the last 5:45 with a 21-5 run to take the win. A desperation three-pointer from Gideon Gamble as the shot clock wound down gave Winthrop a 46-44 lead with 53 seconds to play and the Eagles held on for the win. Upstate placed two players in double figures as Mezie Uzochukwu narrowly missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Nick Schneiders added 13 points and eight boards.
Scouting UNCG
UNC Greensboro enters Tuesday night's game at USC Upstate with an 0-3 record, though the Spartans have played a marquee schedule, losing at Duke to open the season and taking losses at Virginia Tech and at home against Clemson.
UNCG plays an eight-man rotation for most of the game. Eight players average more than 13 minutes per game, while four players average less than seven minutes per outing. Three Spartans play more than 30 minutes a game on the season.
UNCG, like Upstate, scores in the 50's, averaging 58.3 points per game. The Spartans give up 81.3 points per contest, a difference of 23 points to the bad. UNCG has struggled from the field, shooting 38.5 percent from the floor, though the Spartans are respectable from the arc, hitting 31.4 percent from three-point range and hitting 11-of-35 on the year. UNCG allows opponents to shoot 50.5 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from the three-point arc.
In hustle stats, UNCG gets out-rebounded by five per game, grabbing 33.7 per game and allowing 38.7 per contest. The Spartans have dished out 28 assists, turned the ball over 60 times, blocked 10 shots and come up with 19 steals on the year.
Individually, Ben Stywall leads the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game. He is the only Spartan to average in double figures. He also tops the club with 7.3 rebounds per game and with six steals. Kyle Randall is second on the team in scoring at 8.7 ppg, while Brandon Evans and Mikko Koivisto each score at an 8.3 ppg clip. Randall tops the Spartans with seven assists on the year.
Mike Dement is in his ninth season at the helm of the UNCG program, though he has spent two different stints at the school. He is in his fifth season after returning to UNCG in 2005. He was previously the head coach for the Spartans from 1991-95. He owns a 107-129 record at the school. He is in his 23rd year as a head coach with a 314-319 career record. In addition to his two stints at UNCG, Dement was the head coach at Cornell from 1986-91 and Southern Methodist from 1995-2004.
Uzochukwu Doubles In Back-To-Back Games
Mezie Uzochukwu has asserted himself as a go-to player on the offensive end of the court early in the season. His development has provided the Spartans a second solid scoring option behind Nick Schneiders. While the offense runs through Schneiders, Uzochukwu tops the club in scoring with 11.0 points per game. He has reached double figures in each of the last two games, finishing with 14 at Indiana on Nov. 16 and 13 at Winthrop last Saturday.
Schneiders Closes In On Blocked Shots Record
Barring something unforeseen, Upstate's 7-3 center Nick Schneiders should break the Upstate all-time blocked shots record prior to the start of exams in early December. He currently has 127 blocked shots, nine shy of the all-time mark of 136 held by Kevin Harrington. He averaged over two blocked shots per game last season and has blocked 10 shots in the first three games of this season. If he maintains his 3.3 blocked shots per game average, he could break the record at home against Stetson on Nov. 30 in the Spartans' A-Sun opener.
Looking For Help Outside
While Upstate is getting solid offensive production inside with Nick Schneiders and Mezie Uzochukwu, the Spartans are looking for help on the perimeter. Three of the top four scorers on the team play inside with Uzochukwu leading the way with 11.0 points per game. He is followed by Schneiders at 9.0 ppg. Josh Chavis, the Spartans' point guard, ranks third at 7.3 ppg, while Pat Posey, a small forward, ranks fourth at 5.3 ppg. Uzochukwu, Schneiders and Posey account for nearly 50 percent of the scoring for Upstate.
Offensive Futility
To say that the first half of the game at Winthrop was ugly from an offensive perspective is an understatement, and that goes for both teams. With 4:28 to play in the half, the Spartans had scored just 10 points. The Eagles weren't much better, scoring 14 points to that point. Neither team shot above 22 percent in the half as Upstate rallied to outscore Winthrop 8-0 the rest of the half to open an 18-14 lead at the intermission.
Schneiders Leads The Way
Nick Schneiders is the main shot blocking threat for Upstate, no ifs, ands or buts about it. He leads Upstate, and the A-Sun, with 10 blocks on the year, averaging 3.3 per game. Chalmers Rogers ranks second on the team with three blocked shots, swatting two at Winthrop, while Caleb Palkert has one on the year.
Spartans Get Defensive
Last season, Upstate was one of the top defensive teams in the A-Sun, topping the league in scoring defense while allowing opponents to score 68.5 points per game. The Spartans also led the conference with 4.2 blocked shots per game and were third in field goal percentage defense while limiting opponents to just 42.0 percent shooting from the field. This season, Upstate is turning in another solid defensive effort in the early going. The Spartans currently top the A-Sun with 4.7 blocked shots per game, rank second in scoring defense while allowing opponents to score 64.7 points per contest and rank second with 8.0 steals per outing.
Schneiders, Spartans Rank Among A-Sun Leaders
Nick Schneiders leads a group of seven Spartans who are ranked among the A-Sun leaders in several statistical categories. Schneiders' name appears seven times among league leaders, topping the conference with 3.3 blocked shots per game. He ranks 28th in scoring (9.0 ppg), seventh in rebounding (7.0 rpg), fourth in defensive rebounds per game (5.0 drpg), 13th in offensive rebounds per game (2.0 orpg), 10th in field goal percentage (55.0%) and 28th in minutes played (25.0 mpg). In addition to Schneiders, Josh Chavis, Carter Cook, De'Marion Gordon, Pat Posey, Chalmers Rogers and Mezie Uzochukwu each rank among the league leaders in different statistical categories.
