ROCK HILL, SC—It's only a couple of weeks into the 2015-16 season, but Big South Conference action has begun and Winthrop men's basketball will open up on the road at Charleston Southern, Wednesday night at The Buc Dome.

GAME SNAPSHOT 
Winthrop (4-1) at Charleston Southern (2-4)
Game Time: 7:30 p.m. EST / Site: The Buc Dome (Buccaneer Field House)
Live Video: BSN (Big South Network) / Audio: 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 7 p.m. with Dave Friedman/Mike Pacheco)
Live Stats / Live Video / Live Audio

SERIES HISTORY
This is one of the longest running series for the Eagles as they meet Charleston Southern for the 64^th time. Winthrop leads the all-time series 38-25 and holds a 32-24 mark in regular season meetings. The two teams first met on Jan. 8, 1987 at Charleston Southern as the Eagles fell 58-49. Last year Winthrop and CSU only met once with the Eagles prevailing 77-55 at home. Winthrop has lost five straight games at The Buc Dome and is 13-15 all-time at Charleston Southern.

GAVIN INKS NAME INTO RECORD BOOK, HONORED BY BIG SOUTH
Graduate senior Jimmy Gavin was named the Big South Conference Men's Basketball Choice Hotels Player of the Week after he averaged 30 points per game last week in two games at USC Upstate and North Carolina. He started his week with 22 points in the win over the Spartans, which included 10 straight second half points to help the Eagles overcome a nine-point second half deficit. His 38 points at North Carolina State were the most by an opposing player since 1979 and were the third highest point total in the history of PNC Arena. He also tied for the sixth most points in a single-game in the program's history.  

BIG SOUTH OPENERS
Winthrop is 2-1 under head coach Pat Kelsey in Big South Conference openers and 13-17 all-time. The Eagles are 7-9 when opening league play on the road, but have won the last three (twice at Presbyterian College and the other VMI). The most points the Eagles have ever scored in a league-opening game is 108 on Jan. 2007 in a 108-76 win over VMI. In the last six league openers for the Eagles, five of them have been decided by seven or fewer points and two have gone to overtime.

THE MATCHUP
Winthrop is looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season and match its best start since 2013-14 when it started 5-1. Winthrop opened the season 4-0 before falling at North Carolina State on Nov. 27, 87-79. Gavin continues to lead the team in scoring at 21.8 ppg, which also leads the Big South. Gavin leads a trio of guards that have the ability to score behind the arc as well as getting to the rim. Gavin ranks 12^th in the league shooting 74 percent at the foul line, while Keon Johnson is second with 85 percent and Bjorn Broman is 6^th at 81 percent. The Eagles lead the league in scoring at 89.2 per game, which is almost 10 more points per game than the next team, which is Coastal Carolina at 79.8. Charleston Southern enters the game fresh off an 82-58 loss to Akron on the road. The Buccaneers are 2-0 at home this season with wins over Johnson & Wales and East Tennessee State. The other three losses for CSU have come at Wichita State, Stanford and Arkansas.
 
BACK-TO-BACK 30 POINT GAMES
For the first time since 1980 the Eagles had someone score 30 points in consecutive games as Keon Johnson posted 32 points at USC Upstate and then Gavin scored 38 at North Carolina State. The last time that happened was when Charles Brunson scored 30 points in three straight games in 1980. However, it was the first time it's ever been accomplished by two different players in the program's history.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Gavin is coming off a 38 point performance against the Wolfpack and will look to become the first player since Brunson to score 30 in back-to-back games. He is averaging 3.2 three-pointers per game (2^nd in the Big South), shooting 49 percent behind the arc (3^rd in the Big South) and shooting 56 percent from the field (6^th in the league). Johnson has scored 47 points in the last two games and ranks fourth in the Big South in scoring at 17.0 ppg. In three career games Johnson has 10 points. He's 5^th in the league in three-pointers per game at 2.8 and shooting 45 percent behind the arc (4^th in the BSC). Sophomore Xavier Cooks will be looking to get back on track after just 12 points in the previous two games. Cooks is 5^th in the league in shooting percentage (.563) and 4^th in the league in rebounding at 7.4 per game. Armel Potter leads the Bucs in scoring at 14.2 ppg as he shoots 40 percent from the field, 44 percent behind the arc and 71 percent at the foul line as well as leading the team in steals. The freshman guard has five double-figure games this season with a career-high 20 at Arkansas. Junior Patrick Wallace is the only other Buccaneer averaging double-figures at 10.5 and is coming off 14 points in the loss at Akron. He's posted four double-figure games.

THE COACHES
Pat Kelsey is in his fourth season at the helm of the Winthrop men's basketball program. He holds a record of 57-44 in the first three seasons with appearances in the Big South championship game the past two seasons. Barclay Radebaugh, a former Winthrop men's basketball assistant, is in his 11^th season at Charleston Southern and 12^th overall as a head coach. The two-time Big South Coach of the Year (2012, 2015) holds a 141-170 mark in his time at Charleston Southern and is 162-178 in his 12 seasons.  

MILESTONES
Johnson reached 800 career points exactly after scoring 12 against Jacksonville State. He's on pace to surpass 1,000 career points this season. He now has 125 three-pointers made are tied for 12^th all-time and needs 15 more to crack the Top 10. Duby Okeke and Cooks are neck-and-neck in career blocks as Okeke has 63 and Cooks has 53. They are both on pace to rack the program's career Top 10 list as Eddie Gay and Heson Groves sit at 10^th with 76.