ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball looks to bounce back from its first conference loss as it hits the road to take on USC Upstate on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 4:30 p.m.

Game 18: Winthrop (11-6, 3-1 Big South) at USC Upstate (5-14, 0-4 Big South)
Date	Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, 4:30 p.m. (EST)
Location	Spartanburg, SC (Hodge Center / 833)
Live Stats	Presto Sports (click here)
Television/Stream	ESPN+ (click here) Brock Bowling (PxP) – Corey Hodges (Analyst)
Radio	94.3 FM/104.1 The Bridge / ESPN 730 | WGNC AM1450/101.1 FM (click here) / Dave Friedman (PxP) -  Mike Pacheco (Analyst) – Pregame 6:30 p.m.
Social Media	@Winthrop_MBB | @WUEagles | #ROCKtheHILL | #WinthropMBB #WinthropEverStand
Tickets	Click Here

 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Winthrop
G         0          Nych Smith (5-10, Sr., 16.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.7 apg)
G         3          Micheal Anumba (6-5, Fr., 7.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G         13        Bjorn Broman (6-0, Sr., 10.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.0 apg)
G         21        Kyle Zunic (6-2, So., 10.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.4 apg)
F          25        Josh Ferguson (6-8, Jr., 11.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.2 apg)

USC Upstate
G          3          Shabooty Phillips (6-1, Jr., 14.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G         4          Jaylon Wilson (6-1, Jr., 8.7 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 1.4 apg)
F          13        Spencer Franklin (6-8, Sr., 4.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.2 apg)
F          21        JaShaun Smith (6-5, Jr., 10.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.6 apg)
F          24        Damarion Geter (6-8, R-Sr., 5.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.3 apg)

 
THE SERIES
Series Record vs. USC Upstate: 9-8
Series Streak: W4
Record at Hodge Center: 5-4
Streak at Hodge Center: W2
Kelsey vs. USC Upstate: 3-0
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and USC Upstate meet for the 18^th time
• Eagles hold the slight edge in the all-time series 9-8 and have won four straight meetings and five of the last seven
• This is the first time the two teams meet in a Big South Conference matchup and will be the only regular season meeting of the 2018-19 season
• The last time these two teams met was Nov. 21, 2015 and the Eagles hung on for a 79-78 victory at the Hodge Center

THE GAME

• Winthrop is looking to bounce back from its first conference loss while the Spartans are in search of their first conference win
• Eagles coming off season-low in shooting percentage (27%)
• This season the Eagles have a winning record on the road at 5-4 and have won three of their last four road contests
• Winthrop leads the Big South in scoring (86.6), free throw percentage (.758), assists per game (15.9), and three-point field goals per game (12.4)
• The Eagles 12.4 threes per game ranks second nationally
• The game will feature two of the top seven scorers in the Big South Conference as Winthrop's Nych Smith ranks 6^th at 16.8 ppg and Upstate's Malik Moore is 7^th at 16.3 ppg 

WINTHROP       

• Head coach Pat Kelsey is in his seventh season with the Eagles (132-77)
• Looking for a third straight road win in conference play this season (wins at UNCA/Campbell)
• Sitting at 3-1 in the league for the second time in three seasons
• Over the last 20 league games away from home, the Eagles are 15-5
• Smith leads the Eagles in scoring (16.8) and assists per game (3.7) and has been in double-figures the last three games (20.0 ppg)
• Over the last five games Smith leads the team with 20.0 ppg in three games while Adam Pickett is second at 14.4 ppg
• On the season the Eagles have five players averaging double-figures but in the last five games only Smith and Pickett have averaged 10 or more
• Bjorn Broman has tied Robbie Waldrop for 8^th on the all-time list for three-pointers made with 195
• This year the Eagles average 32.1 ppg from their bench, but that is down a little on the road at 24.2

USC UPSTATE

• USC Upstate is led by first-year head coach Dave Dickerson, who is 5-14 at Upstate and 73-100 in his career
• Dickerson spent five seasons as the head coach of Tulane University
• Dickerson has been the coaching staff of two current members of the Big South in Radford and Gardner-Webb
• The Spartans are led by Moore's 16.3 ppg as he is 1-of-2 players scoring in double-figures
• The other is Deion Holmes at 13.6 and they are both 2-of-4 players with 26 or more threes made on the season
• Moore has led the team in scoring in 2-of-4 conference games and a total of 10 times on the year
• Three of the Spartans four league losses have been by seven points or less and two by five or fewer points
• Moore is also the leading rebounder on the team at 6.3 per game
• This year the Spartans are 4-3 at home

RECORD BOOK WATCH

• Bjorn Broman now has 195 career threes and is tied for 8^th all-time in program history as he became the 8^th player in program history with 180 made threes
• He is now five threes away from becoming the 7^th player in program history to hit 200 threes
• Broman is just outside the Top 10 all-time in career three-point field goal percentage at .366 (LaShawn Coulter is 10^th at .373)
• The Eagles are now through 17 games on the season and are currently averaging 12.4 threes per game, which no other team in program history have averaged 10 or more for a full season
• There have been five seasons in Big South Conference history that a team averaged 10 or more per game, which was accomplished by VMI all five times (Single-season record is 13.69 in 2008-09)
• As a team the Eagles averaged 89.4 ppg in non-conference action, which is the most by any team in program history (second best is 86.2 set by the 2017-18 team) 

WHERE DO THE EAGLES RANK IN THE BIG SOUTH?
Winthrop currently leads the Big South Conference in scoring (86.6 ppg), free throw percentage (.758), defensive rebounds (30.2), assists per game (15.9), and three-point field goals per game (12.4). Winthrop has led the Big South in scoring, scoring margin and three-point field goals per game the last two seasons. Nych Smith's 16.8 ppg ranks 6^th in the league while Josh Ferguson ranks third in rebounds per game (7.6). Austin Awad ranks 5^th in the league in threes per game at 2.4 and Bjorn Broman is 8^th at 2.2.

WINTHROP SPORTS SHOW AT ROCO
Every Thursday at The Roasting Company throughout the basketball season will be the Winthrop Sports Show at ROCO hosted by the voices of the Winthrop Eagles Dave Friedman and Mike Pacheco. The two will sit down weekly with head coaches Pat Kelsey and Lynette Woodard as well as other selected guests throughout the season. The show is from 6-6:30 p.m. and airs live on 94.3 FM & 104.1 The Bridge.

20 YEARS AGO
This season marks the 20^th anniversary of the first ever NCAA Tournament team in Winthrop history. The Eagles posted a 21-8 record on the year and 9-1 mark in league play on their way to the team's 2^nd Big South title and first ever birth to the NCAA Tournament. That year the team was 12 straight contests and defeated Radford in the championship game (86-74) at the Asheville Civic Center. The Eagles were a 16 seed and faced number one seed Auburn in Indianapolis, IN as the Eagles fell 80-41 to the 4^th-ranked Tigers. The Eagles were paced by a balanced offense with four players scoring in double-figures with Heson Groves leading the way with 11.9 ppg while Tyson Waterman averaged 11.5 ppg, Robbie Waldrop scored 11.4 per game and Roger Toxey averaged 11.0.