| Game 21: Charleston Southern (11-9, 5-3 Big South) vs. Winthrop (14-7, 8-0 Big South) |
The Big South's two hottest teams collide Thursday night for the annual White Out game when Charleston Southern hosts Winthrop from Buccaneer Field House. Charleston Southern has taken four-straight for their longest streak of the season (three coming on the road) while Winthrop has a 10-game streak and remains the last unbeaten in Big South play.
FREE white t-shirts will be passed out at the door while supplies last for the White Out promotion. Fans are encouraged to show up early in order to secure a t-shirt.
Winthrop leads the all-time series but the last decade has seen 40-plus minute battles between the Palmetto State rivals including a double-overtime thriller in Rock Hill last season and four-point Winthrop win in Charleston. The Buccaneers grabbed a win in the third matchup dominating from start to finish in the Big South Quarterfinals behind strong nights from
Christian Keeling and
Dontrell Shuler.
Three of the last four battles have been won by a single-digit margin including a 78-75 victory at Winthrop Coliseum for CSU during the 2017-18 season. That was the first time both road teams won in the same season since the 2001-02 season.
Last season's matchup was the first postseason win over the Eagles for CSU who has rarely played their Palmetto State rival in the Big South tournament despite being two of the founding members. Of the 24 wins all-time over Winthrop, 23 have come in the regular season with 13 inside the Buc Dome and 10 at the Winthrop Coliseum.
Back-to-back Big South Player of the Week
Phlandrous Fleming Jr. has turned in strong performances historically against Winthrop averaging 15.2 points a contest while pulling down 4.8 rebounds and dishing out 2.8 assists and shooting .419 from the floor.
Scouting the Eagles
- Led by the Big South's No. 1 scoring offense, Winthrop enters Thursday's matchup as the last undefeated team in league play at 8-0 (4-0 on the road) and winners of 10-straight games.
- Three players sit in double figures for the Eagles - Hunter Hale (13.0), DJ Burns Jr. (12.1) and Josh Ferguson (12.0) while Chandler Vaudrin (9.9) sits just outside the 10-point threshold.
- Winthrop also sits at the top of the conference in rebounds (41.1) and assists (16.0) while boasting the No. 2 field goal percentage defense (.426) and No. 3 field goal percentage offense (.456).
- Burns leads the Big South in field goal percentage (.576), Vaudrin sits second in assists (5.9) and Ferguson is third in rebounding (6.8).
- Of their seven losses on the season, only two have come by double figures with the largest a 13-point loss to NCAA Division I and ACC powerhouse Duke (83-70) at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Winthrop has scored 100-plus three times thus far including a 116-95 contest at Hampton.
A Win on Thursday Would…
- Be the 25th all-time win in the series for CSU
- Give the Bucs back-to-back wins over Winthrop and three over the last five matchups
- Come as the first loss in league play for Winthrop
- Move the current win streak to 5 and give CSU the longest active streak
- Come as the sixth home win in 2019-20 and sixth Big South win
Last Time Out
- It took 50 minutes, but Charleston Southern men's basketball has a four-game win streak.
- Led by 31 points and a near triple-double from Phlandrous Fleming Jr., Charleston Southern overcame a halftime deficit and two game-tying shots from Gardner-Webb for a 92-83 double overtime road win, moving to 3-1 in league play away from home.
- Fleming led all scorers tying his career-high 31 points and set a new career-high with six blocks, none bigger than the chase down on Jose Perez in the first overtime to keep it tied. He led five Buccaneers in double figures (Duncan LeXander – 15, Deontaye Buskey – 14, Travis Anderson – 13 and Ty Jones – 10) with 24 coming in the second half and two overtime periods
- Perez led the four Runnin' Bulldogs in double figures with 21 points with 15 coming in the second half.
- Saturday's win was the fourth in-a-row for CSU who moves to 3-1 on the road in Big South play.
Series History
- Charleston Southern and Winthrop have battled on the hardwood 73 times since the 1986-87 season when the Big South Conference came into existence.
- Winthrop owns the longest win streak in series history during the early 2000's. The Bucs and Eagles have split the last four matchups including a Big South Tournament date last year.
- In the series history, only once has a team reached the century mark in a single game - Winthrop taking a 101-96 contest on 1/10/1994 in Charleston.
Last Time Versus Winthrop
- No. 6 Charleston Southern never trailed as the Buccaneers topped No. 3 Winthrop in the quarterfinal round of the Big South Men's Basketball Championships, 77-63.
- The Bucs (17-14) led at the halftime break, 38-32, and went up by as many as 15 in the second half on their way to picking up their first win of the season over the Eagles. Winthrop (18-12) swept the regular season over the Buccaneers, but CSU did not allow the Winthrop shooters to get comfortable in the game as the Bucs limited WU to 33.9% shooting from the floor and 30.0% from behind the arc.
- Christian Keeling continues to impress as the junior guard finished with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He was 5-of-9 from behind the arc and added seven rebounds in 37 minutes.
- Dontrell Shuler added the second 20-point scoring effort of his collegiate career to join Keeling with 22 points. Phlandrous Fleming added 16 points and five rebounds, while Travis McConico stuffed the statistics sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and four steals.
- Bjorn Broman led the Eagles with 18 points and hit five of Winthrop's nine three-pointers in the game. Nych Smith added 14 points, while Micheal Anumba had 10 for the Eagles in the loss.
Spark off the Bench
- Redshirt-freshman point guard Travis Anderson has provided key sparks off the bench this season accounting for the third-highest scoring marks for the Bucs.
- Anderson is averaging 8.8 points per contest good for second in the Big South among players who have primarily come off the bench.
| Big South Bench Scorers (Min. 75% of games played off the bench |
| Rank |
Name, School |
GP-GS |
PPG |
| 1 |
Bryson Mozone, USC Upstate |
21-3 |
10.0 |
| 2 |
Travis Anderson, Charleston Southern |
19-1 |
8.8 |
| 3 |
Christian Wilson. Longwood |
21-0 |
7.2 |
| 4 |
Devine Eke, Radford |
19-2 |
6.8 |
| 5 |
Cliff Thomas Jr., High Point |
17-1 |
6.4 |
| 6 |
Kyle Zunic, Winthrop |
19-2 |
6.1 |
| 7 |
Charles Falden, Winthrop |
21-1 |
5.9 |
| 8 |
Brandon Martin, USC Upstate |
18-0 |
5.8 |
| 9 |
Cle'Von Green, Radford |
19-2 |
5.7 |
| 10 |
Jesus Carralero, Campbell |
15-0 |
5.7 |
