2017-18 Game Notes

Furman Game Information
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Wofford Game Information
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CHARLESTON, S.C. –The Citadel basketball team travels to the upstate of South Carolina this week for the first two road games of the 2017-18 Southern Conference (SoCon) schedule. The Bulldogs will play at Furman at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 4 before heading to Wofford for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, Jan. 6. Both games will be available via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

Thursday will mark the 208th meeting between The Citadel and Furman. The Paladins own a 121-86 all-time record over the Bulldogs, including a 68-29 mark in Greenville. The Paladins have won three in a row in the series with the last Citadel victory coming on Jan. 16, 2016 when the Bulldogs claimed an 89-86 win at home. The last road win in the series for the Bulldogs came on Feb. 19, 2015 in the form of a 62-56 overtime win.

Furman enters Thursday's game with a 10-4 record, including 6-1 at home and 1-0 in SoCon play after defeating VMI 87-57 on the road on Saturday, Dec. 30. The Paladins opened the year 2-0 with wins over Bob Jones and Elon and went on a five-game winning streak from Saturday, Dec. 2 through Sunday, Dec. 17. During that span, Furman defeated Tennessee Tech, UNC Asheville, South Carolina State and Montreat – all at home – and UNC Wilmington on the road.

Furman is second to The Citadel in the league in scoring offense, averaging 80.3 points per game while limiting opponents to 68.6 points per outing. The Paladins have shot 45.7% (401-of-878) from the field entering Thursday, including 35.7% (148-of-415) from three-point range. Furman is second only to The Citadel in turnover margin, boasting a +3.79 margin compared to a +4.92 by the Bulldogs.

Furman has been led in scoring by Devin Sibley's 15.6 points per game, fourth-best in the league. Sibley, who has started all 14 games, has shot 49.1% (82-of-167) from the field and leads the Paladins with 29 made three-pointers on the season. From three-point range, he has shot at a .414 clip (29-of-70). Under the basket, he averages 4.4 rebounds per game. Three other Paladins are currently averaging double digit points per game, including John Davis with 12.6 points per contest, Daniel Fowler with 11.5 and Matt Rafferty with 11.4. Rafferty leads the team in field goal percentage, hitting on 64.6% (64-of-99) of his attempts from the field, and rebounding with an average of 8.0 per contest. Fowler leads the squad with 2.9 assists per game (40 total). The Paladins have featured the same starting five in every game so far this season, including Sibley, Davis, Fowler, Rafferty and Andrew Brown.

Wofford owns an all-time record of 55-48 over The Citadel dating back to the 1920-21 season. The Bulldogs controlled the early going of the series, claiming 16 of the first 19 games. In the last 10 meetings, the Terriers hold an 8-2 record over the Bulldogs, including winning four of the last five. In Spartanburg, Wofford holds a 27-18 mark with The Citadel's last win on the road coming last season, on Jan. 2, 2017 with a 104-103 overtime victory. Last season's win in Spartanburg broke a skid of nine losses to the Terriers on their home floor that dated back to the 2006-07 campaign.

Wofford enters this week's games 8-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play. The Terriers boast victories over two Atlantic Coast Conference teams in Georgia Tech (63-60, 12/6/17) and at No. 5 North Carolina (79-75, 12/20/17), but fell 71-67 at UNCG to open SoCon play on Saturday, Dec. 39, snapping a five-game winning streak that dated back to an 87-81 win at Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Wofford averages 76.4 points per game while having allowed opponents to score 70.7 points per contest. The Terriers have been efficient from the field, shooting 48.2% (352-of-731) from the field to date, which leads the SoCon, but their opponents have also been shooting 46.2% (319-of-691) from the field. The Terriers average 10.8 three-pointers per game and are shooting 43.9% (140-of-319) from three-point range.

Wofford has been led by Fletcher Magee's 24.1 points per game. Magee, who also averages 32.9 minutes per contest, shoots 55.1% (109-of-198) from the field and 53.9% (62-of-115) from beyond the three-point arc. He has not missed any of his 33 free throws so far this season and has 11 steals. The only other Terrier currently in double digit scoring is Cameron Jackson, who enters the weekend averaging 12.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest. Jackson, who has missed one game this season, has been shooting 56.8% (63-of-111) overall and leads the team with 25 steals in 24.5 minutes per game. The next closest in scoring is Nathan Hoover, averaging 9.8 points per game. Magee is the only player to have started every game while Jackson has started 12. Storm Murphy and Hoover have each started nine games and Matthew Pegram has started eight contests for Wofford.


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