ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball heads to league-leading Radford Thursday night in a clash of the first and second place teams in the Big South Conference.  
 

Game 27: Winthrop (17-9, 9-4 Big South) at Radford (18-8, 10-2 Big South)
Date	Thursday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. (EST)
Location	Radford, VA (Dedmon Center / 3,215)
Live Stats	Sidearm (click here)
Television/Stream	ESPN+ (click here) Rick Watson (PxP) – Ron Shelburne (Analyst)
Radio	94.3 FM/104.1 The Bridge / ESPN 730 | WGNC AM1450/101.1 FM (click here) / Mike Pacheco (PxP) – Pregame 6:30 p.m.
Game Notes	Winthrop | Radford
Social Media	@Winthrop_MBB | @WUEagles | #ROCKtheHILL | #WinthropMBB #WinthropEverStand | #BigSouthMBB
Tickets	Click Here

 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Winthrop
G         3           Micheal Anumba (6-5, Fr., 7.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.6 apg)
G         11         Charles Falden (6-3, So., 7.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.8 apg)
G         13         Bjorn Broman (6-0, Sr., 10.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G         14         Adam Pickett (6-1, Sr., 12.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.7 apg)
F          25         Josh Ferguson (6-8, Jr., 10.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.3 apg)

Radford
G         1          Carlik Jones (6-1, R-So., 16.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 6.0 apg)
G         5          Donald Hicks (6-3, Jr., 8.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G         11        Travis Fields Jr. (5-10, Jr., 11.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.8 apg)
F          24        Ed Polite Jr. (6-5, Sr., 12.7 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 1.2 bpg)
C          20        Mawdo Sallah (6-8, Gr., 5.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.0 bpg)
 
THE SERIES
Series Record vs. Radford: 36-39
Series Streak: L2
Record at Dedmon Center: 12-19
Streak at Dedmon Center: L1
Kelsey vs. Radford: 6-8
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and Radford meet for the 77^th time and the second time this season
• The first meeting in Rock Hill was won by Radford, 80-61
• Eagles have won two of the last three trips to the Dedmon Center
• Neither team has swept the regular season series since Radford did in 2014-15
• In 76 career meetings, Winthrop has averaged 67.8 ppg while Radford has averaged 68.8 ppg

THE GAME

• Both teams are coming off a loss as Radford leads the league at 10-2 and the Eagles are in second at 9-4
• A win for the Eagles would keep their hopes alive to win the regular season while a loss would eliminate them from finishing first in the standings
• Radford leads the conference with 18 wins while the Eagles are tied for the second most wins at 17 with Gardner-Webb
• Winthrop continues to lead the league in scoring at 84.6 per game while Radford is seventh at 74.5 ppg
• The Highlanders are second in the league in scoring defense allowing 68.0 per game
• Winthrop leads the nation in three-point field goals made (324) and three-point field goals per game (12.5) and shoot 38 percent behind the arc
• The Eagles also defend the three-point line well ranking third in the league as they hold opponents to 33 percent
• Highlanders are 10-1 at home this season, 5-1 in the league as the only loss came on a buzzer beater against Campbell
• Winthrop is 7-6 on the road this season and 4-2 in the league

WINTHROP       

• Head coach Pat Kelsey is in his seventh season with the Eagles (138-80)
• Kelsey is now two wins behind former VMI head coach Duggar Baucom for 8^th on the all-time in Big South wins
• Features one of the top offenses in the entire nation at 84.6 ppg, which ranks 9^th nationally
• That average currently ranks first all-time in the history of the program
• On pace to make 374 threes on the season, which would rank 17^th all-time in NCAA D1 history
• The 12.46 threes per game is currently the 5^th best single-season average in NCAA D1 history
• Looking to win 10 or more league games for the 6^th straight season and finishing in the Top 3 of the league standings for a 4^th straight year
• Nych Smith is leading the team in scoring at 17.5 ppg and 18.9 ppg in conference games only
• That average ranks as the 4^th best in program history with three league games remaining
• Adam Pickett is averaging 12.4 ppg while Bjorn Broman (10.7) and Josh Ferguson (10.4) are also averaging double figures
• Eagles are coming off a season-low 60 points in the loss at Gardner-Webb
• In the other two league games the Eagles scored 60-61 points, they bounced back to win the next game

RADFORD

• Led by 8^th-year head coach Mike Jones (134-124)
• Jones guided the Highlanders to the 2017-18 Big South Conference Championship
• Have lost two league games by a total of two points
• Of the six home games in league action, five of them have been decided by eight points or less with three being a one possession game
• Led in scoring by sophomore Carlik Jones as he also leads the team in assists (6.0 per game)
• Ed Polite Jr. is second in scoring at 12.7 ppg and is averaging 10.1 rpg and just broke the Radford record for career rebounds
• Polite Jr. has 10 or more rebounds in six straight games, including tying his career-high of 19 in the overtime win against High Point
• Travis Fields Jr. is the third Highlander averaging double figures at 11.4 but dropped in a career-high 33 points in a win at Hampton on Feb. 7
• Have gone to overtime in two of the last three games  

RECORD BOOK WATCH

• Bjorn Broman became the 8^th player in program history to hit 200 or more threes in a career as he reached 200 when he knocked down four in the win over Asheville on Jan. 21 and now has 214 in his career
• The Eagles are now through 26 games on the season and are currently averaging 12.5 threes per game, which no other team in program history have averaged 10 or more for a full season
• The team is currently averaging 12.46 per game and there have only been four seasons better than that number in NCAA D1 history
• 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 (84.6 ppg) and three-point field goals per game (12.5). Winthrop has led the Big South in scoring, scoring margin and three-point field goals per game the last two seasons. Nych Smith's 17.5 ppg ranks 6^th in the league while Josh Ferguson ranks third in rebounds per game (7.4). Smith is also 5^th in field goal percentage, 6^th in assists per game and 8^th in free throw percentage. Bjorn Broman ranks 3^rd in the league in free throw percentage (.839) and 11^th in three-point field goals per game (2.1).

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.