Well, now, THAT was impressive.
Yes, I know that Furman is not a good basketball team, currently sitting in eleventh place in the SoCon standings, and with injuries and what not, this team is probably even less than that. But it doesn't change this simple fact.
Furman had lost nine games prior to tonight in SoCon play. Those losses came by an average of 10.1 points per game, and only one was by more than fourteen points. That includes a four point loss at College of Charleston and an eight point loss at home against Davidson.
On a schedule that included a home date with Clemson, a trip to Wake Forest, a trip to Mercer, a trip to Loyola-Illinois, a trip to Auburn and a road game against SMU, the Paladins had not lost by more than 27 points.
Until tonight.
Yes, that was a beatdown of massive proportions. Gee McGhee scored 16 points to lead Mocs. Eric Robertson contributed a noisy 14 points. He looked very good tonight. Farad Cobb scored twelve and had six assists. Rico White scored nine and had five assists. Z Mason struggled from floor, scoring just five points, but added nine rebounds.
Drazen Zlovaric broke his nose during the game, but scored six points in just ten minutes. Casey Jones was welcomed back to the line-up (which a huge smile) and scored four points.
No one played more than 22 minutes. That means that the Mocs should not be suffering from tired legs when they go on the road to take on Wofford on Saturday evening.
Yesterday, in the preview, it was mentioned that Furman was one of the teams that struggled the most with turnovers in the whole SoCon. It showed tonight. The Paladins committed twenty turnovers. Stephen Croone was responsible for eight of those. The Mocs completely manhandled them in the turnover department, and then won the battle of the boards by sixteen, collecting just over 39% of the offensive rebounding opportunities. Not as good as they did against Samford, but still very impressive.
This team continues to grow up right before our eyes. This team is just getting better and better. They have really come to play in these four home games. The real question is how the Mocs will perform on the road. With five SoCon games left and three of them on the road, whether or not the Mocs will get the bye could well come down to how they perform on the road. Saturday night's game against Wofford will be unbelievably big. If the Mocs beat Wofford, then it is time to really start talking about the Mocs in the bye race.
In the mean time, the Mocs should feel good about themselves as they drive out to Spartanburg. They just played their best game of the year....for the fourth straight game.
GO MOCS!
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