Led by Two Career-High Scoring Efforts, Men's Basketball Posts D1-Era Record Field Goal Percentage in 20-Point Win Over Coker

Saturday, December 30

Spartanburg, S.C.

4:00 p.m.

University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics

5-8,0-0Big South

Coker

6-6,2-2SAC

Coker

USC Upstate

Photo by: Cora Brendle

12/30/2023 9:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Showing its resilience and shaking off some post-Holiday rust, USC Upstate men's basketball controlled the paint and took advantage of a strong shooting performance as it raced away with a victory in its final game of the 2023 calendar year as it downed Coker 96-76 Saturday afternoon at the G.B. Hodge Center.

Overcoming a tightly-contested first half that saw the Cobras hit the free throw line 19 times, the Spartans used their second-largest scoring half of the year, scoring 52 points while shooting greater than 60 percent from the field and three to generate the final margin. Upstate finished the night with three Spartans scoring 15 or more points, the first time accomplishing the feat this season, with a pair of Spartans posting career-high scoring totals.

Reaching double-figures for the first time in his career, sophomore forward Jordyn Surratt led all scorers with 20 points, finishing the game shooting 7-of-11 from the field while adding a game-high seven rebounds. Joining him with a career-high, graduate student guard Nick Alves poured in a career-best 18 points, shooting 7-of-10 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Redshirt junior guard Trae Broadnax rounded out the group of double-figure scorers with 16 points.

Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 96; Coker 76
Records: USC Upstate (5-8; 0-0 Big South); Coker (6-5; 2-2 SAC)
Location: G.B. Hodge Center | Spartanburg, S.C.

How It Happened
First Half

After seeing Coker open the scoring, Jordyn Surratt provided the Spartans' answer as his driving layup broke the scoring for Upstate. The layup set up his strong start to the game as he hit the first four field goals for the Spartans, including a pair of dunks to deliver a lead out of the under-16 media stoppage.
Setting up a half that saw three lead changes and eight ties, Coker hit a three-pointer heading into the under-12 media timeout, tying the game at 12. Out of the break, the Cobras slithered just ahead of the under-eight stoppage, building their largest lead with a four-point advantage after hitting a put-back attempt out of the break.
Retaking the lead for the final time, Upstate countered the Cobras' largest lead with a 10-1 scoring run bookended by Nick Alves. He opened the run with a three to pull the Spartans within one before a layup delivered a five-point advantage following a Trae Broadnax three to deliver the lead.
Over the final four minutes of the half, the Spartans remained a step ahead of Coker, taking a six-point lead into the locker room. Alves continued to push Upstate to its largest lead of the half, giving the Spartans a pair of six-point advantages, a mark the Spartans reached three times in the final two minutes.

Second Half

Adding to the final field goal of the first half, Upstate spanned the break with a 6-0 scoring run, the team's second-longest scoring run to that point. Ahmir Langlais opened the half with a hook shot before Surratt threw down a slam on an assist from Langlais to reach double-figures on the afternoon.
Following the Spartans' run to open the half, both sides traded field goals as Upstate held its lead in the eight-to-10-point range. Upstate answered the Cobras' second bucket by embarking on a 7-0 scoring run and pushing the team's scoring stretch to 13-4 to open the second half and growing the lead to 15 for the first time.
Seeing the lead grow to 15, Coker cut the Spartans' advantage in half with its longest scoring run of the game, stringing together eight straight points. Upstate, however, answered with a 6-0 scoring stretch before extending the stretch to 22-6 and growing a 23-point lead at the under-eight media timeout.
Closing out the game, Upstate and Coker went back-and-forth with one another as the Spartans outscored the Cobras by three over the final eight minutes. Coming off the bench, Thomas Sheida led the Spartans' scoring with five points, including one of the team's two three-pointers to close the game.

Notable

Led by career-high scoring efforts from Jordyn Surratt (20 points) and Nick Alves (18 points), Upstate saw three players score 15 or more points in the same game for the first time this season. With Surratt and Alves surpassing 15 points on the afternoon, they are the sixth and seventh Spartans with a 15-plus point scoring game, giving Upstate seven or more players with at least one 15-plus point game for the third straight season.
Scoring 96 points against Coker, Upstate secured its second game scoring 95 or more points this season, also doing so with a 106-point effort against Carolina University. The 2023-24 season is the first to feature two games scoring 95 or more points since doing so during the 2017-18 season (106 points vs. Lipscomb [1/29/18] & 100 points vs. North Florida [2/15/18]).
Shooting 61.7 percent (37-of-60) from the field Saturday afternoon, Upstate posted a Division I era (2007-pres.) single-game record for field-goal percentage with the program's fifth 60-plus percent shooting effort in the D1 era. With two 60-plus percent shooting efforts in 2023-24, the season marks the first season in the D1 era to feature two such efforts.
Hitting six threes against the Cobras, Upstate improved its streak of consecutive games with at least one made three-pointer to 885 games, a streak dating back to the 1994-95 season. The streak includes each of the Spartans' 518 games at the NCAA Division I level (2007-pres.).

Up Next for the Spartans
With the final game of 2023 and the team's non-conference schedule complete, Upstate begins Big South Conference play in its return to the court in the New Year. The Spartans head north for the first of two Ingles I-26 Rivalry Series meetings with UNC Asheville with a 7 p.m. ET tip-off on Jan. 3.

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