Bubble teams from across the country were keeping a very watchful eye on the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, N.C. as UNC Greensboro got out to a lead that it seemed determined to keep against 20th-ranked Wofford. The Terriers were in win or lose, but the Spartans are a bubble team themselves, leaving the likes of Ohio State, Clemson, Georgetown and a score of others sweating.
Then Wofford took over.
Greensboro led by five with under 6 minutes to play, but the Terriers outscored them 15-3 over the final 4 minutes to claim a 70-58 Southern Conference title game victory and the league’s automatic bid.
The Terriers struggled to shoot from distance, making just 7 of 23 (30.4 percent), but Greensboro was just 3 of 16 (18.8 percent). Fletcher Magee and Nathan Hoover both scored 20 points to power the Wofford offense while Cameron Jackson had a monster game of 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Francis Alonso scored 21 and Isaiah Miller 19 for the Spartans, who will now have six days to await their fate on Selection Sunday as a team on the fringes of a soft bubble. Wofford, meanwhile, will have nearly a week to dream of the high seed it seems destined to get.
CONFERENCE: Southern
COACH: Mike Young
RECORD: 29-4, 18-0 SoCon
RATINGS:
- KENPOM: 20
- NET: 14
PROJECTED SEED: It’s not often you write a post like this and get to this section to write “seven,” but that’s where the Terriers are projected in the latest NBC Sports bracket thanks to an absolutely dominant regular season whose losses all came at the hands of Power 5 programs. Wofford is going to be favored in its first-round matchup.
NAMES YOU NEED TO KNOW: Wofford has a backcourt with names you need to know not only because they’re good players, but because they’re great names, like a couple of detectives from an ‘80s cop movie. Fletcher Magee and Storm Murphy – can’t you just picture their names adorning the cheesy movie poster? But I digress. Magee is averaging 20.5 points while shooting 45/43.2/90.9 while Murphy leads the team in assists at 3.2 while shooting a team-best 48.9 percent from distance. Cameron Jackson – a solid ‘80s action hero name himself – is averaging 14.6 points and 7.5 rebounds with a field goal percentage of 58 as the Terriers’ highest-usage player.
BIG WINS, BAD LOSSES: The Terriers beat South Carolina (KenPom 73) in November for their best non-conference win while three wins against East Tennessee State (71) and UNC Greensboro (80) both make for a strong resume. In the loss ledger, none come anywhere close to “bad.” Wofford’s only losses this year were in the season-opener to North Carolina (5), Oklahoma (36), Kansas (17) and Mississippi State (24), the last of which came Dec. 19 and was the last time the Terriers lost.
STATS YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Terriers are dangerous in the tournament first and foremost because they’re very good. Look at the rankings. Look at the record. What should absolutely terrify whatever high-majors they run into though is the 41.9 percent they shoot as a team from 3-point range, which is second in the country. Wofford gets 40.4 percent of its points via 3s (14th nationally). The Terriers can fill it up.
HOW DO I KNOW YOU?: As a top-25 team, the Terriers are no strangers to even casual college basketball fans. Before Wofford cracked the polls though, there was this wild sequence earlier this season that generated some buzz courtesy of Storm Murphy, who cans game winners by day and sends criminals to the can by night (still working on that movie concept):
FINAL THOUGHT: Wofford is only a Cinderella by a narrow definition. The Terriers would have been in the field of 68 regardless of whether they beat Greensboro on Monday night. Mike Young has taken the Terriers to four NCAA tournaments in his previous 16 years at the helm, but doesn’t have a tourney win on the resume yet. That seems very likely to change in about a week-and-a-half.
