ROCK HILL, SC— With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, Winthrop men's basketball wraps-up its home schedule this week beginning with Coastal Carolina Thursday night.

GAME SNAPSHOT 
Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016
Winthrop (18-7, 10-4 BSC) vs. Coastal Carolina (16-9, 10-5 BSC)
Game Time: 7 p.m. EST / Site: Rock Hill, SC (Winthrop Coliseum)
Live Video:  Big South Network (Mike Pacheco-pxp/Bobby Stevens-color) Television: none  Audio: 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 6:30 a.m. with Dave Friedman-PxP/Karl Lyles-Color)
Live Stats / Live Video  / Live Audio





Winthrop Probable Starters
G    1      Bjorn Broman (6.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg)
G    5      Keon Johnson (20.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
F    12     Xavier Cooks (14.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg)
F    44     Jimmy Gavin (17.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
C    25     Zach Price (6.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg)

SERIES HISTORY
This series has a long history and in fact the two teams have squared off against each more than any other member of the Big South Conference. This will be the second meeting this season and the 82^nd meeting all-time. It will be the last regular season meeting with Coastal Carolina as a member of the Big South Conference as it heads to the Sun Belt Conference next season. It could even be the final meeting while both are Big South members should they not meet in the Big South Tournament in a few weeks. Coastal won the first meeting this season 82-63 as the Eagles scored their second lowest point total of the year. The Chanticleers now lead the all-time series 42-39 in all games and 31-26 in regular season meetings. Winthrop and Coastal have met five times in the Big South Conference Title game with the Eagles winning the first three times and Coastal having won the last two.

THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
These two teams met back on Jan. 2 as the Eagles opened the new year with their second-lowest scoring total of the season. The Eagles shot just 39 percent from the floor in the first half while Coastal shot 53 percent and raced out to a 41-27 lead at the half. The Chanticleers even pushed the lead to 24 points in the second half before the Eagles cut it below 20 by the end. Jimmy Gavin led three players in double-figures for Winthrop as Xavier Cooks finished with 12 and Keon Johnson added 10. As a team the Eagles were 3-for-22 behind the arc and 8-for-20 at the free throw line (both season-lows). Coastal was led by Elijah Wilson's 17 points as Badou Diagne finished with 15 and Jaylen Shaw added 10.

THE MATCHUP
Winthrop and Coastal have faced each other in key games throughout their years in the Big South Conference and in the Chanticleers final season it's only fitting they once again square off in a contest that have implications on who could finish as the regular season champion. Since falling at Coastal, the Eagles have been on a tear having won 9-of-11 games, including nine of the last 10. In that time Winthrop has continued to lead the conference in scoring and is outscoring opponents by 10.4 points per game (83.0 to 72.6). During that stretch the Eagles are shooting 51 percent from the floor and 43 percent behind the arc while averaging 9.5 threes per contest. Winthrop's 83.3 ppg average leads the league and ranks 14^th nationally while Coastal is third in scoring at 75.4. The Chanticleers rank first in the league in scoring defense allowing just 66.6 ppg. Coastal is also tops in the league in field goal percentage defense while the Eagles, despite being last in points allowed, are third in field goal percentage defense. The Eagles have won two straight since falling on the road at Liberty on Feb. 4 while Coastal enters the game fresh off a win over Gardner-Webb at home, 78-71. Coastal has won four straight on the road since falling at Longwood on Jan. 9 and the Eagles have won five straight and 12-of-13 at home against league foes.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
This game features a number of players enjoying good seasons as both teams have 2-3 of the best players in the league. Winthrop's Keon Johnson continues to shine as he leads the league in scoring at 20.0 ppg and is coming off his 5^th 30-point game of the season as he drained a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer for 32 points and an 86-84 victory at Radford. He's quickly climbed the all-time scoring list at Winthrop and is enjoying one of the finest seasons in the history of the program. In league games only Johnson is averaging 20.7 ppg, but had just 10 in the first meeting. Jimmy Gavin led Winthrop with 19 in the first meeting and the last five games he's averaging 19.0 ppg while shooting 49 percent from the field and 43 percent behind the arc. Elijah Wilson led Coastal in the first meeting with 17 points and continues to be the leading scorer for the team at 14.1 ppg. He's enjoyed success against the Eagles as he's averaging 15.2 ppg in six career games against the Eagles and shooting 44 percent from the field and 70 percent at the line (21-for-30). Wilson scored 19 points in his last road game in the win at Radford. Shivaughn Wiggins along with Winthrop's Johnson were named Co-Big South Conference Players of the Week. Wiggins is coming off a career-high 30 points and has scored in double-figures in seven straight games with three of them scoring 23 or more points.  

LAST TIME OUT
Winthrop pulled off an 86-84 victory on the road at Radford for a second consecutive win and moving into a tie for first place in the league standings in the process. Keon Johnson took the ball below his own free throw line and dribbled down court into the three-point arc and let a 15-foot jumper go in front of his own bench as it fell through for a victory in which the Eagles trailed by as much as nine points in the second half. Johnson finished the game with 32 points as the Eagles shot 60 percent from the floor. The game-winning basket came after Radford failed to score with a chance to take the lead. Bjorn Broman had given Winthrop an 84-82 lead with 1:40 to play and Cameron Jones tied the game with 54 seconds remaining. Zach Price turned in a solid performance as he was 6-for-6 from the field and finished with 14 points while Jimmy Gavin and Xavier Cooks added 13 points each.

THE COACHES
Pat Kelsey is in his fourth season at the helm of the Winthrop men's basketball program. He holds a record of 71-50 in four seasons with appearances in the Big South championship game the past two seasons. The Eagles are 38-26 in Big South games under Kelsey. He's currently ranked 15^th nationally for career wins for head coaches 40 years of age and under. During his tenure the team has a couple of the program's notable victories with wins at Clemson and Auburn and has made back-to-back trips to the Big South Conference Tournament Final. Cliff Ellis is in his ninth season at Coastal Carolina and 41^st overall. Ellis is 174-107 all-time at Coastal (96-55 in BSC) and 786-452 as a collegiate coach. He's 708-444 all-time as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level. He's the only coach in NCAA Division I history to win 150 games with four different D1 programs.

MILESTONES
Junior Keon Johnson continues to climb the all-time scoring list as he became the 13^th player in the history of the program to reach 1,200 career points. He now has 1,262 and is 11^th all-time and is 29 points away from cracking the Top 10 and 34 points from ninth. In his career he's averaging 14.2 ppg and if he were to maintain that average for the remainder of his career (estimation of at least 35 games to play) he would finish with over 1,700 points, which only one player in school history have achieved.  He is the third player to reach 1,000 career points in Pat Kelsey's four years (Keon Moore/A. Smith). Johnson moved into the Top 10 for free throws made and three-pointers made. He's currently made 319 free throws, which is third all-time and second most by a Winthrop player at the D1 level.  He is among the top free throw shooters in the history of the program as he's currently shooting .837 in his career, which is tied for 4^th all-time. He's currently 8th all-time in made threes with 181. Duby Okeke is averaging 2.5 blocks per game, which leads the Big South and ranks in the Top 15 in the nation. In 22 games he's blocked 57 shots and the program record for blocks in a season is 66 by Josh Grant in 2002-03. Okeke moved into 5^th all-time with 103 career blocks and Xavier Cooks has 84 (ranked 10^th all-time). Billy Houston is the all-time leader in career blocks with 139.  Okeke has a career-high 57 blocks this year, which ranks 2nd best for a single-season.