ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball will close out the regular season Thursday night in a nationally-televised contest at Hampton inside the Convocation Center. The game will air live on ESPNews.   
 

Game 29: Winthrop (18-10, 10-5 Big South) at Hampton (12-15, 7-7 Big South)
Date	Thursday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m. (EST)
Location	Hampton, VA (Convocation Center / 7,200)
Live Stats	Sidearm (click here)
Television/Stream	ESPNews (click here) Matt Schick (PxP) – Paul Biancardi (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 p.m.
Game Notes	Winthrop | Hampton
Social Media	@Winthrop_MBB | @WUEagles | #ROCKtheHILL | #WinthropMBB #WinthropEverStand | #BigSouthMBB
Tickets	Click Here

 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Winthrop
G         0          Nych Smith (5-10, Sr., 17.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.7 apg)
G         3          Micheal Anumba (6-5, Fr., 6.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.7 apg)
G         13         Bjorn Broman (6-0, Sr., 10.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G         14         Adam Pickett (6-1, Sr., 12.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.6 apg)
F          25         Josh Ferguson (6-8, Jr., 11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.3 apg)

Hampton
G         02        Jermaine Marrow (6-0, Jr., 25.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 5.1 apg)
G         03        Greg Heckstall (6-6, Jr., 7.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G         23        Kalin Fisher (6-2, Sr., 16.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.1 spg)
G         25        Akim Mitchell (6-5, Sr., 8.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.3 apg)
F          22        Trevond Barnes (6-9, Sr., 7.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.1 bpg)
 
THE SERIES
Series Record vs. Hampton: 5-2
Series Streak: W3
Record at Convocation Center: 1-1
Streak at Convocation Center: W1
Kelsey vs. Hampton: 4-1
 
SERIES HISTORY

• This is the second meeting this season and the just the 8^th meeting all-time
• Winthrop won the first meeting 101-91 in Rock Hill behind 17 threes
• Eagles are 5-2 all-time against Hampton and have won three straight in the series, including their last trip to the Convocation Center in 2016
• Winthrop has scored 84 or more points in five of the seven meetings all-time

THE GAME

• This is a matchup of the Big South's top two scoring teams as Winthrop leads at 84.3 ppg and Hampton is second at 81.4 ppg
• In conference games only it is Hampton first (82.3 ppg) and the Eagles second at 79.9 ppg
• Eagles need a win to put themselves in position for a chance at a Top 3 seeding in next week's conference tournament while Hampton needs a win to have a shot at a first round bye in the tourney
• Winthrop hit 14 threes in its last contest and now has 252 on the season, which ranks 1^st nationally and also leads the country in threes per game (12.6)
• The Pirates are the league's top free throw shooting team (.773) and also lead the league in blocked shots (3.6 per game)
• This is the final regular season game for the Eagles as they'll be off this weekend when the rest of the league completes the regular season

WINTHROP       

• Head coach Pat Kelsey is in his seventh season with the Eagles (139-81)
• Kelsey is now one victory behind former VMI head coach Duggar Baucom for 8^th on the all-time in Big South wins
• Hit 14 threes in the double overtime win over Charleston Southern and now have 352 (program record) on the year which ranks as the 4^th most in a single-season in Big South history
• It is also just 15 made threes away from cracking the Top 20 all-time in NCAA D1 history
• Have hit 10 or more threes in 13-of-15 league contests
• Already broke the program's single-season record for threes per game as the Eagles could go the rest of the season without making a single three and finish with an average of 11.7 per game
• This year's average break's the record set by the 2017-18 team of 9.55
• Nych Smith lead the team in scoring at 17.0 ppg while Adam Pickett is second at 12.4 ppg
• Pickett has really been hitting the boards over the last seven games, averaging 8.0 in that span
• Josh Ferguson is scoring 11.0 ppg while Bjorn Broman is also averaging double figures at 10.5
• Ferguson is averaging 19.0 ppg and 6.5 rpg over the last two games while going 13-of-23 from the floor and 7-for-11 from three
• In the first meeting against Hampton Smith and Ferguson each scored 20 points to lead the team
• Eagles looking to finish regular season with a winning record on the road, currently 7-7 overall and 4-3 in the conference

HAMPTON

• Hampton is coached by Edward Joyner Jr., who is in his 10^th season with the Pirates (163-151)
• Joyner Jr. led the Pirates to the NCAA Tournament in 2014-15, earning a first round win over Manhattan (74-64)
• Led by league's second leading scorer in Jermaine Marrow at 25.3 ppg as he also ranks 3^rd in assists and steals
• Marrow scored 32 in the first meeting with the Eagles and just three games ago dropped in a career-high 40 points
• He's led the team in scoring for 22-of-27 games and nine of the last 10
• Kalin Fisher, who had 34 in the loss at Campbell on Feb. 13 is second in scoring at 16.8 ppg
• In the first meeting with the Eagles Fisher had 29 points and three steals
• Is 8-3 at home this season having dropped two of the last three (both losses in overtime)

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 217 in his career
• The Eagles are now through 28 games on the season and are currently averaging 12.6 threes per game, which no other team in program history have averaged 10 or more for a full season
• The team is currently averaging 12.57 per game and there have only been three 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 (84.3 ppg) and three-point field goals per game (12.6). Winthrop has led the Big South in scoring, scoring margin and three-point field goals per game the last two seasons. Nych Smith's 17.0 ppg ranks 6^th in the league while Josh Ferguson ranks third in rebounds per game (7.3). Smith is also 7^th in field goal percentage, 6^th in assists per game and 10^th in free throw percentage. Bjorn Broman ranks 3^rd in the league in free throw percentage (.831).

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.