GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Kaiden Rice became the 35th member of The Citadel's 1,000-point club on Monday evening, but the Bulldogs dropped an 87-73 game to preseason SoCon favorite UNCG inside Greensboro Coliseum to close their two-game road swing.
 
Game Information
Final Score: UNCG 87, The Citadel 73
Record: The Citadel (8-3, 1-3 SoCon), UNCG (9-5, 4-2 SoCon)
Location: Greensboro, N.C. (Greensboro Coliseum)
Series: UNCG leads 31-9
 
How It Happened

• A trio of three-pointers by Kaiden Rice in the first two minutes of the game spurred The Citadel to a hot start, taking a 12-6 lead after Hayden Brown's three-point play at the 17:11 mark to jump on the Spartans early. Rice's third three-pointer made the senior the 35th member of The Citadel's 1,000-point club with 18:12 on the clock.
• UNCG fired back and reclaimed the lead on the strength of a 10-0 run, with Khyre Thompson and A.J. McGinnis knocking down triples to key the stretch. The Spartans made the most of the offensive boards during the early run, getting a pair of second-chance baskets to kick-start their offense.
• Despite losing the lead, The Citadel did not allow UNCG to stretch the lead any further than six points for the remainder of the first half. Both sides battled nearly evenly down the stretch into the locker room as the Spartans held a narrow 43-40 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
• The Spartans came out of the locker room with a big run, scoring 11 of the first 15 points of the second half to build their first double-digit lead of the night. Five different UNCG players scored during the run, capped by Keyshaun Langley's driving layup a 54-44 lead with 17:29 on the clock.
• Brent Davis' three-pointer and a basket from Brown allowed The Citadel to cut the deficit in half with just over 12 minutes remaining, and Fletcher Abee's three-point play three minutes later closed the gap even further as the Bulldogs cut the deficit to 64-60 on the hard-fought play.
• UNCG answered with nine straight points to piece its double-digit lead back together, led by a pair of baskets from the Preseason SoCon Player of the Year, Isaiah Miller.
• Over the final five minutes, The Citadel cut UNCG's lead back to single digits just once, but the Spartans quickly responded with six straight points to put the game out of reach.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Kaiden Rice joined The Citadel's 1,000-point club on Monday evening, becoming the fourth player to do so under Head Coach Duggar Baucom. Rice joins Matt Frierson, Zane Najdawi and Brian White as players that have topped the 1,000-point mark since the 2015-16 campaign. Following Monday's game, Rice has 1,003 career points after netting 12 against UNCG.
• Hayden Brown tallied a team-best 14 points and six rebounds, joining Rice as the team leader in that category.
• Derek Webster enjoyed his best game of the season, establishing new season-bests in points (8), rebounds (4) and minutes played (21).
• Rudy Fitzgibbons III knocked down a pair of three-pointers and finished with 11 points, his second time scoring in double digits over The Citadel's last three games.
• For the second straight game, Brady Spence finished with eight points off the bench, just one off his season high of nine against Carver and Longwood.
• The Citadel got 33 points from its bench on Monday evening, its most in a game since scoring 41 against Carver on Dec. 9.

 
Up Next
The Citadel will face a packed week following Monday's game. First, the Bulldogs will return home to McAlister Field House on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. for a clash against Mercer before going back out on the road for the third time in four games to face Samford next Saturday at 3 p.m. With the conclusion of that road trip, the 'Dogs will have played four games over the last seven days, with three coming on the road.