Rock Hill, S.C.— The final regular season road contest takes Winthrop men's basketball to Spartanburg, S.C. to take on USC Upstate, Thursday evening inside the G.B. Hodge Center.
 

Game 30: Winthrop (19-10, 13-3 Big South) at USC Upstate (11-18, 6-10 Big South)
Date	Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, 6 p.m. (EST)
Location	Spartanburg, S.C. | G.B. Hodge Center (837)
Live Stats	Sidearm (click here)
Television/Stream	ESPN+ (click here)
Radio	94.3 FM/104.1 The Bridge / ESPN 730 | WGNC AM1450/101.1 FM (click here) / Dave Friedman (PxP) – Mike Pacheco (Analyst) – Pregame 5:30 p.m.
Notes	Winthrop | USC Upstate
Social Media	@Winthrop_MBB | @WUEagles | #ROCKtheHILL | #EverStand

 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Winthrop
G         3          Micheal Anumba (6-4, So., 6.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.0 apg)
G         13        Hunter Hale (6-3, Gr., 12.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg)
G         54        Chandler Vaudrin (6-7, R-Jr.., 9.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 5.6 apg)
F          25        Josh Ferguson (6-8, Sr., 10.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.1 apg)
F          30        D.J. Burns Jr. (6-9, R-Fr., 12.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.3 apg)
 
THE SERIES
Series Record: 11-8 (Winthrop leads)
Series Streak: W6
Record at G.B. Hodge Center: 6-4
Streak at G.B. Hodge Center: W3
Kelsey vs. USC Upstate: 4-0
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and Upstate meet for the 20^th time and second time this season
• In the first meeting in Rock Hill the Eagles held the Spartans to 19 points in the second half to earn a 79-53 win
• Eagles have now won six straight in the series and their last three trips to the G.B. Hodge Center

 
THE GAME

• Eagles trail Radford by a game with two to play but are locked into a top two seeding for the conference tournament
• Upstate is tied with High Point and Presbyterian College for 8^th place (2 wins separating 4^th place and 8^th place)
• Winthrop leads the Big South in scoring at 80.4 ppg while Upstate is 8^th
• Eagles are 4^th in defensive scoring in the league at 70.8 ppg and Upstate is 7^th allowing 73.0 ppg
• This is the final regular season road contest for the Eagles while it is the final regular season home game for the Spartans
• Winthrop looks to sweep the regular season series for the first time as the two teams only met once in each of the first two seasons Upstate has been in the Big South

 
WINTHROP       

• Head coach Pat Kelsey is in his 8^th season with the Eagles (158-93)
• Kelsey ranks 5^th all-time in Big South history in career wins and is now two wins away from tying Nield Gordon for 2^nd all-time in program history
• The victory at Longwood gave Kelsey 91 league wins all-time as he remains 8^th all-time
• Hunter Hale leads the team in scoring at 12.8 ppg and D.J. Burns Jr. is a close second at 12.5 ppg
• Hale also leads in league games only at 14.8 ppg while Burns Jr. is averaging 13.8 ppg in league play
• Eagles have lost three of four games as they look to get back on track on the road where they are 7-1 in league play
• Burns Jr. is 43 points away from the program's freshman record for total points (Keon Johnson scored 405 in 2013-14)
• If the Eagles win their final two league games they'll tie the 2016-17 and 2004-05 teams for the most league wins in a single-season (15)
• A win over Upstate would give the Eagles 10 true road wins on the year
• It would also be just the third time in program history a team finished with 10 or more true road wins in a single-season (2006-07/2016-17 hold the record for true road wins with 12)

 
USC UPSTATE

• Spartans are led by second-year head coach Dave Dickerson (85-127)
• Started the season 1-7 but followed that up going 6-5 before facing the Eagles the first time
• Have lost three in a row and five of the last six games
• Everette Hammond leads the team in scoring at 14.0 ppg and Tommy Bruner is second at 13.9 ppg
• Hammond had nine points, six rebounds, three assists in the first meeting with Winthrop while Bruner finished with seven points, three rebounds and an assist
• Bryson Mozone led the Spartans in the meeting on Jan. 23 with 14 points off the bench and is averaging 8.9 ppg on the year (3^rd on the team)
• This season the Spartans are 8-5 at home and 4-4 in league play

 
FERGUSON MAKING HIS MARK
Josh Ferguson reached the 500 rebound mark at the end of the 2018-19 season and became the 58th player in Big South Conference history to reach 600 rebounds. Ferguson pulled down eight rebounds in the win over Elon to reach exactly 600 rebounds for his career. He currently ranks 3rd all-time in program history and became the third player in program history to reach 700 in a career. He also became the 36^th player in league history to reach 700 career rebounds. Ferguson became the 26th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points and currently has 1,039 (21^st on all-time list) as he trails Andre Smith by 32 points for 20^th.  
 
TRIPLE-DOUBLE FOR VAUDRIN
Chandler Vaudrin had 10 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the league-opening win over Longwood on Jan. 2. It was the first triple-double by a Winthrop player since Xavier Cooks had 11 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists against Reinhardt. Vaudrin nearly averaged a triple-double over the first two games of Big South action as he posted 16 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists at Campbell. It was the second triple-double of the season in the Big South and 13^th nationally at the NCAA D1 level. For his efforts against Longwood and Campbell he was named the Big South Conference Co-Player of the Week. He is currently the active men's basketball leader overall NCAA divisions for career triple-doubles (5).
 
HALE REACHES 1,000 CAREER POINTS
Hunter Hale surpassed 1,000 points in his collegiate career after scoring 17 points in the loss at Furman. Hale's career began at Central Michigan and this last spring Hale transferred to the Eagles from Grand Valley State to begin graduate school and arrived with 926 points in his career. This season Hale is averaging 12.8 ppg as he's started 26-of-27 games he's played this season.
 
WINTHROP SPORTS SHOW AT ROCO
Joins us on Mondays 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.
 
TUNE IN TO THE EAGLES ALL SEASON LONG
Fans can listen to the games all season long on OTS Media of Rock Hill (94.3 FM and 104.1 The Bridge), which is the flagship station for Winthrop Athletics. In addition, most games will simulcast on 730 ESPN Charlotte and AM 1450 WGNC Gastonia.
All home games as well as all Big South games home or away are available to watch through the Big South Network on ESPN+ unless otherwise picked up by another ESPN network. To watch live Big South games on ESPN+, you need a subscriber. For more information how to subscribe, click here.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
To keep up with the latest news on the Winthrop men's basketball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter (@Winthrop_MBB), Instagram (@Winthrop_MBB) and Facebook (/WinthropEagles).