UNCG springs upset, picks off Wofford in SoCon quarters

By Jordan Ferrell (@FerrellonFM983)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Survive and advance. Conquer and prevail. Whatever the cliche you apply, it may fail to adequately describe the emotion and the pressure of quarterfinal Saturday at the Southern Conference tournament.

Words often pale in comparison to the thrill of four intense games to try and stake a claim to Sunday evening’s semifinals.  

After No. 1 seed East Tennessee State took care of business with an 83-76 victory over The Citadel, the second game would feature a fun matchup between two of the best offensive teams in the league, defending SoCon champion Wofford and UNC Greensboro.

Wofford has been a bit of a pleasant surprise this year, finishing second in the league standings after a sudden change of leadership when Dwight Perry resigned back in September. Perry was succeeded by former Terrier player and assistant Kevin Giltner, who was formerly a part of former Wofford coach Mike Young’s staff at Virginia Tech. 

“It was awkward,” Giltner said about being thrust into the role with little time to prepare ahead of the season. “I got announced at 4:00, we had practice at 5. I think the best way to build a relationship with the guys is get out there and sweat with them; to work with them and let them hear my voice. We had work to do and I told them that nobody is feeling sorry for us. In fact, everybody is happy that it is happening to us. So how are we going to respond and move on?”

“I can say all those cool words, but these guys have got to accept that, have the right character and motivation to come fix the issues. Boy, they did. It was awkward at first, but after 24-48 hours, I could tell they were a really special group and that they were connected as a group. They made it easy on me.”

Wofford returned a good foundation this season with sophomore guard and first-team all SoCon selection Kahmare Holmes, as well as fellow sophomore Luke Flynn. They got some transfer support, with the most notable being Nils Machowski (UCF) and Cayden Vasko (Central Michigan).

“I have learned a lot under those guys,” said Holmes of the transfers that helped him grow this season. “Having those transfers come in, they taught me how to be a more vocal leader and pushed me in practice. They pushed me to be the best version of myself I can possibly be. I learned a lot from those upperclassmen and I would not trade it for the world.” 

On the other side, the Spartans, were led by first-teamer Justin Neely as well as freshman KJ Younger, who dropped an impressive team-high 29 points Friday in UNCG’s first-round win over VMI. 

UNC Greensboro built a 42-35 lead out of the intermission before Wofford’s Chace Watley burst onto the scene. The freshman guard hit a pair of triples and a layup over a two-minute span while the Spartans went cold. With the UNCG slide at three minutes, Kahmare Holmes put the Terriers in front with a driving layup on which he drew a foul with Wofford on an 11-0 run. 

Out of the break, Holmes went on a personal 5-0 spurt to extend the push to 16-0 before Younger finally got the Spartans off the slide with a driving layup, converting the old-fashioned three point play to make it 51-45 in favor of the Terriers. UNCG responded to the overall 18-3 Wofford run with a 10-4 rally to knot the game at 55. The Terriers continued to go on spurts, building their lead back to six before Noah Norgaard, who followed Younger’s earlier layup with a big three, hit another one from the left wing to once again cut the deficit, making it 66-63 in favor of Wofford at the final media timeout, after which the game got chaotic. 

The Terriers struggled with several chances to put the nail in the coffin, allowing UNCG to go on a 7-0 run, eventually taking the lead on a second chance layup from Valentino Pinedo with just under three minutes to play in the game. On the other end, Pinedo was called for a blocking foul against Holmes. This time, he connected on the first to tie the game, but missed the back end of the one-and-one. 

The tie was broken with just over a minute on the clock when Norgaard struck from the left side again for a triple, but Machowski was quick to answer with a shot that was a near mirror image. Pinedo’s tip-in with 36 seconds on the clock once again pushed the Spartans in front. He fouled Holmes on the other side, but two misses kept the advantage with UNCG, and forced Wofford to have to foul. Donald Whitehead, Jr. split the free throws and the ricochet led to a scrum for the ball at the opposite baseline. 

Machowski came away with the ball and broke down the court, draining a layup with just mere seconds remaining. After a quick timeout, UNCG forced the Terriers to foul, sending Neely to the stripe. He drained both free throws, which put the Terriers in a position where they had to get in position and put up a three. Machowski was able to get the look, but missed, sealing the 75-72 victory for the Spartans. 

“What a great college basketball game,” said UNCG head coach Mike Jones. “We got off to a really good start, but they were the No. 2 seed for a reason. They came right back and after going back and forth for a while, they tried to take control in the second half. I was super proud of our guys for maintaining their poise. Wofford went up, 66-60, and our guys didn’t blink. We came right out and knocked down a shot to cut it back to a one-possession game. I thought our competitive spirit to defend and rebound with passion was unbelievable.” 

“So help me God, I thought we played well enough to win,” Giltner surmised. “I thought we did a lot of really good things. They are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league and we held them to 10 offensive boards. We only turned the ball over twice. These guys played their absolute butts off. It is a funny game and sometimes when you deserve to win, you don’t. That’s what we signed up for playing Division I college sports. I told these guys even though it falls on deaf ears not to hang their heads. We played well. Our intentions were good, our look was good about us, our motivation was great. I really wanted to win that game and keep playing with this team. They are an unbelievable bunch to coach and come practice with everyday. I am sad that it is over, but that is what we signed up for.” 

UNCG was led by a trio in double figures. Neely was the top scorer, putting up his 20th double-double of the season (27th of his career) with 22 points and a whopping 24 rebounds. Younger added 19 with seven boards and an assist while Norgaard tallied 19 to go with 7 rebounds and an assist. On the Wofford side, Holmes and Machowski were both over 20 points. Holmes scored 24 while Machowski added 22. The duo combined for 14 rebounds, an assist, and three swipes. 

“Justin is the best player in the league,” said Jones. “I said it before and he proved it again today. You cannot be tired this time of year. You can’t be too tired to get back on defense in transition. You can’t be too tired to box out. You can’t be too tired to chase a guy off a screen. But, what naturally happens is that you make mistakes. We made a few during that big Wofford run. Everybody in the huddle acknowledged the mistakes we made and we said that we just have to fight one possession at a time. That fight was good. But it was the talk among each other in the huddle that made the difference. Justin’s voice is always the loudest in the huddle. He commanded the troops and they followed. But our guy from Denmark (Norgaard) had a heck of a game. He really showed up and hit some big shots for us in the second half.”

With the quarterfinals in the books, UNC Greensboro’s run will continue in Sunday’s semifinals, where the Spartans will face Furman. 

“We were only guaranteed the first-round game,” Jones stated about tomorrow’s game. “These guys earned another 40 minutes last night. Now they have earned another 40 tomorrow. That is what it is really all about. You would hate to look back after a game and say, ‘I wish I had played a little bit harder. I wish I would have given a little bit more.’ The motto Justin says is, ‘empty the tank,’ meaning make sure we don’t leave anything out on the floor. I thought the guys did that today. Now we have to try and do it again.”