Upstate Tests North Greenville at Home Friday Evening
12/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate men's basketball team hosts the North Greenville Crusaders Friday evening at 7 p.m. in non-conference action from the Hodge Center.
Upstate (1-9) returns to Spartanburg after spending the last two games on the road at Clemson and East Carolina. Last Friday against East Carolina, the Spartans fell 82-71 despite a career-high 18 points from Mike Cunningham. Cunningham set new career-highs against East Carolina in points, field goals made, and three-point field goals made and attempts. Deion Holmes compiled his eighth game this season with at least 10 points after scoring 15, while Michael Buchanan picked up his third straight double-digit scoring effort with a season-best 14 points. Marvin Smith grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Jacob Schulte is one of seven players this season to rank inside the top 10 for the A-Sun in their respective categories, as he leads the league in field goal percentage and is third in blocks. Holmes sits fourth in free throw percentage and sixth in scoring, while Jure Span is fifth in three-point shooting and tenth in assists. Buchanan is fourth in blocks followed by Smith who is fifth in rebounding. Tristan Thomas ranks sixth in steals and Josh Cuthbertson is seventh in assists.
North Greenville currently sits at 3-4 this season with wins over Columbia International, Belmont Abbey and Georgia Southwestern. The Crusaders are under the direction of 14th-year head coach Chad Lister. North Greenville is led by Justin Dotson who is averaging a team-leading 18.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season.
Upstate is facing the Crusaders for the eighth time in program history Friday and holds a 7-0 lead in the all-time series. All of the previous seven meetings have taken place in Spartanburg with the Spartans winning 94-61 in the last contest on Dec. 31, 2013. Prior to that matchup, the two teams had not faced each other since the 2004-05 season. The series began back on Dec. 5, 1995 as Upstate won by a score of 88-61.
Fans can follow the action on www.upstatespartans.com via live stats and audio streaming. Updates will also be posted on the Upstate men's basketball Twitter page (@UPSTMBB).
The Spartans begin a three-game road trip Monday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. as they face Navy for the second time this season.
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