Live Stats
Live Audio
Live Video
Follow @WUGameDay
ROCK HILL, SC— The Winthrop men's basketball team hosts Presbyterian College, Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Winthrop Coliseum.
The Eagles are looking for their first league win of the season as they're 0-3 in the Big South for the first time since the 1997-98 season. They are also in the midst of a four-game losing streak.
Winthrop (6-9, 0-3 BSC) opened up league play against with the top two scoring teams in the league as well as the 5th best scoring offense in the Big South as well. Its first three league opponents are a combined 8-1 so far.
In the team's first three league games, the Eagles have trailed by an average of 4.7 points at the half, but have dropped all three games by double-figures.
Offensively the Eagles are averaging just 59.3 points while allowing opponents to score at a clip of 73.7 points per game and shoot 45 percent from the field.
Gideon Gamble (R-Sr.) has stepped in the three league games with an average of 14.3 points on 46 percent shooting and is 7-for-11 behind the arc in those games. Sophomore
Larry Brown has also increased his scoring in league games at 9.7 points and shooting 59 percent.
As a team the Eagles are shooting 41 percent from the floor in league play and 37 percent behind the arc. So far in three league games, Winthrop has allowed 29 threes (9.7 per game).
Injuries have played a role in the Eagles' offense as sophomore
Derrick Henry's scoring average is down from 15.2 to 12.3 since injuring his knee. Henry continues to battle through the injury and works hard to regain his form. Winthrop has been without junior
Christian Farmer the past five games after he scored a career-high 15 points to help Winthrop defeat Auburn on the road.
Another key in the recent struggles for the Eagles has been defense. Following the win at Auburn, Winthrop ranked 25th nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense and 58th in defensive scoring average. Winthrop has gone from holding opponents to 28 percent to 32 percent since then on three-point field goal percentage defense and the Eagles are now ranked 97th in scoring defense (62.9)
Winthrop takes on a 3-14 Presbyterian College team that has lost three straight and is 0-3 in the Big South as well. The Eagles have a 12-11 advantage in the all-time series and have won eight of the last 10 meetings, but the games have been anything but easy for either side. The last four meetings have been one possession ball games and in all the meetings in the series 12 of them have been decided by five or fewer points.
The Blue Hose are led by senior guard Khalid Mutakabbir, who is averaging 14.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 46 percent from the floor.
Redshirt sophomore Jordan Downing is averaging 12.7 points while junior Josh Clyburn is chipping in with 10.8 points and 6.0 rebounds and is shooting 53 percent from the floor.
Mutakabbir is coming off an 18-point performance at Campbell while Downing had 13 points. He had just three points in the season-opener and has been in double-figures in every game since.
While Winthrop is ranked 12th in the league in offense (60.3), the Blue Hose are ranked 11th at 60.7 per game.
On the season, Winthrop and Presbyterian College don't have any common opponents prior to this meeting.