SoCon Thursday Preview

A daily preview of each SoCon game.

Thursday Thought

The number one seed can be wrapped up if Davidson wins today. Chattanooga, Western Carolina, Elon and Wofford are fighting for the second through fifth seeed and all battle each other. That's a critical match-up for those two teams. Should be a very interesting day.

Georgia Southern at Furman

The Paladins are a dangerous club right now. Yes, they have been blown away a couple of time. Adonis Rwabigwi and Kendrec Ferrara are two bigs. Charlie Reddick has been playing better lately. Of course, the most interesting match-up will be Furman's Stephen Croone against Georgia Southern's Jelani Hewitt and Tre Bussey. That guard match-up is tremendous. These two teams hooked up  earlier this year, and the Eagles won in overtime at home. Should be an interesting match-up. The Paladins are playing better basketball. Furman comes up with the very slight upset. Paladins 71, Eagles 70.

Chattanooga at Western Carolina

The Catamounts have been tremendous in the SoCon at home. The Mocs have lost their last three SoCon road games. So this is a very tough match-up for the Mocs. The Mocs and Catamounts played in Chattanooga not that long ago, and the Mocs looked pretty good that day. Western Carolina did not shoot the ball well that day. The Mocs also outrebounded the Catamounts. Z Mason against Tawaski King is one big match-up. Of course, Trey Sumler is the Catamounts star and James Sinclair is very good as well. The Mocs energy willl be key in this one. They will need to continue to bring that energy and enthusiasm and not play like they played against Georgia Southern. The Catamounts need to play like they have at home all year. This will be a war, but the Catamounts pull it out. Catamounts 77, Mocs 73.

UNCG at Davidson

The Spartans are currently in sixth in the SoCon and they need to come up with wins in order to secure that spot. Davidson just needs to come up with a win in this one to lock down the number one seed. UNCG has a great opportunity here. Kayel Locke, Kyle Cain and RJ White need to be playing big and need to control DeMon Brooks. All of those four players have struggled with foul trouble at times this year. The team that stays out of foul trouble the best will likely win this. The Wildcats offense has been so efficient. They are likely to score plenty of points against the Spartans, and Brian Sullivan has been hot. The question is if the Spartans are going to be able to keep up. I'll bet against it. Wildcats 80, Spartans 71.

Wofford at Elon

The Terriers have only beaten one SoCon team that is getting a bye so far. So there are some questions about if they really are the second best team in the SoCon. This is a prove it game for Wofford- in every way. Can they win at Elon? Karl Cochran and Spencer Collins need to have big games. Lee Skinner will need to control Lucas Troutman. I'm not sure how Skinner will be able to match up with him. Tanner Samson and Sebastian Koch are good three point shooters. The Phoenix will come up with a very tight home win thanks to Koch, Samson and Jack Isenbarger. Phoenix 66, Terriers 64.

Appalachian State at Samford

The Mountaineers have Jay Canty and Tommy Spagnolo. Each have been playing OK, and are quite capable of playing very well. They are dangerous in Asheville. That being said, they have not been playing particularly good basketball. The Bulldogs need Tim Williams to step up in a big way. They have been losing lately, but those were road games. They have been a better home team. Raijon Kelly is a streaky player too, and has been playing better at home as well. The Bulldogs at home are the better team than the Mountaineers. They inch closer to possibly locking down the six seed in this one, despite the loss to The Citadel on Monday. Bulldogs 76, Mountaineers 70.