ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's basketball starts a two-game road swing in Jacksonville, AL Wednesday evening when it faces Jacksonville State at 8 p.m.
The Eagles are 3-2 and coming off a 68-47 victory over Savannah State that ended a two-game skid after opening the season 2-0. After facing Jacksonville State on Wednesday, the Eagles will have a quick turnaround as they head to College Park, MD to take on 21
st-ranked Maryland on Saturday at 2 p.m. This will be the first ever meeting between Winthrop and Jacksonville State.
Winthrop is 1-1 on the road this year with a 77-74 win at Clemson and a last second one-point loss at Savannah State. This game will mark the second of four games in a nine-day span.
After losing at Savannah State in the final seconds on Nov. 20, the Eagles avenged the loss as sophomore
Jarad Scott led a balanced scoring attack with a career-high 15 points as he knocked down three of the team's nine triples.
Winthrop's leading scorer
Keon Moore had scored double-figures in 15 straight games, but finished with just six points but the rest of the team picked up the slack. The senior guard still leads the team at 18.6 ppg and is ranked 5
th nationally in threes per game (4.0). Sophomore
Keon Johnson scored 13 points off the bench as he helped spark a big first half run that saw the Eagles go from a four-point deficit early to a 13 point lead. Johnson is third on the team at 7.2 ppg and is also averaging 2.0 assists. Freshman
Joseph Lopez turned in his best offensive performance as he scored a career-best 12 points.
Moore will look to bounce back and regain his form that saw him lead the Eagles in scoring the first four games of the season in which he had three games of 20 or more points. Senior
Andre Smith had reached double-figures in the first four games of the season but finished with eight against the Tigers. Smith had six assists and now has 14 in the last two games to just two turnovers.
Winthrop has been one of the top three-point shooting teams early in the season as it is averaging 9.0 three-point field goals on the year (25
th nationally). The team is averaging 8.0 on the road as it will face a Jacksonville State squad that is ranked 37
th nationally in three-point field goal defense by holding opponents to just 27 percent shooting.
Looking for their second road win of the season, the Eagles will face a Jacksonville State team that has won four straight and two in a row at home. In the three home games this season, the Gamecocks are averaging 81 ppg. Winthrop is allowing 66.5 ppg on the road as opponents are shooting 49 percent, but the Eagles have forced an average of 19 turnovers per game and holding opponents to 29 percent behind the arc.
Jacksonville State is led by senior guard Dario Rackley's 12.2 ppg while senior guard Avery Moore is second on the team with 11.1 per game. Rackley has led the team in scoring in three games, including a season-high 26 points in the win at Alabama A&M. Moore, the team's top three-point threat with 19 made on the year, has led the team in scoring twice as he had a team-high 15 in the team's last game, an 81-49 win over Fort Valley State.
Redshirt junior Jeremy Watson and senior Jamal Hunter are the strength of the Gamecocks in the post. Watson averages 7.4 ppg and 6.7 rpg while Hunter is averaging 5.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg. Watson posted 15 points and 14 rebounds in Jacksonville State's win over Savannah State on Nov. 28.
