Furman entered the ESPN Events Invitational with a 3-3 record, having comfortably won their first D1 victory over Queens. The goal for Thanksgiving weekend was to build on this momentum, and put up another improved performance against some very stout competition. Richmond hails from the A-10, which in most years can boast at least a two bid league. Furman’s other opponent, Illinois State, was picked to win the MVC, returning 56% of their minutes from a 22 win team that won the CBI postseason tournament.
So far this season, Furman has played a schedule of daunting mid-majors. High Point outspends most teams at this level, was in the NCAA tournament last year, and was picked to run away with the Big South this season. Troy, only picked fourth in the Sun Belt, was a tournament team last year, and has already beaten San Diego State and lost to USC on a last second heave in overtime. Queens was chosen to win the ASUN and Northern Iowa was picked second in the MVC, second only to the previously mentioned Illiois State. Despite power 5 opponents avoiding the Dins, and ASUN opponent Austin Peay doing whatever they could to get out of the agreed game this year, Furman has been able to measure itself against the top of many other mid major conferences. The good news is, the young Paladins will only get better. So let’s get into some takeaways from two hard-fought games in Florida:
The Richey 1-3-1. The story of the Richmond game was the 1-3-1 that wreaked havoc on the Spiders offense and allowed Furman to leap out to an early lead. Eventually teams seem to figure out the zone, but Richmond never did, and only went on runs when they managed to turn Furman over and hit some late shot-clock threes. Illinois State seemed more poised, and definitely prepared for the zone. Furman had made an impression on the Ill. State scouts watching the game against Richmond.
Asa Thomas was everywhere in game one. Asa did his thing against Richmond, knocking down much needed threes to build the lead, and then hitting them late to hold off the Spiders furious comeback. He grabbed a steal and had a tremendous block as well. He drew more attention against Illinois State’s defense, finishing with 2 threes on the night.
Alex Wilkins is a stud. Wilkins received a lot of hype coming into the year, even from Coach Richey, who had never started a freshman in his time at Furman. Wilkins struggled early on with turnovers and forcing things a bit, but has really come into his own to finish out November. His stats are pretty self-explanatory, but he does things like getting downhill in transition and forcing the defense to collapse or foul him. He consistently makes tough shots around the rim, and is almost automatic in the midrange. Check out his stats from the tournament:
Richmond: 26 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 10-19 from the field
Ill. State: 25 points, 5 assists, 9-17 from the field
Wilkins is young, and I’d expect him to cut down on turnovers. He ended with 9 total in the two games.
In both games, the inside presence caused problems for the opponents. Not many mid major teams have the length that Furman does on the inside. On top of that, Cooper Bowser is a great passer from the post, finding back cuts from Thomas and VanderWal. Many times, Bowser or Johnston established their inside presence, and were able to receive lobs from the perimeter and put home easy layups. It makes the offense much easier when you have a guy to dump it into, who will make the right pass, shot, or get fouled.
Turnovers: The five straight turnovers to end the Richmond game meant that Alex Wilkins’ jumper to make it 73-65 was the final basket the Paladins scored for the final 3:06 of the game. Richmond intensified their pressure to get back into the game and it worked. Furman made some sloppy passes and then couldn’t handle the press soon after. This is another part of the game that should improve, but inbounding to the center consistently won’t work.
Free throws were rough: Furman shot an abysmal 43% from the free throw line against Richmond, and only 55% against Illinois State. Shooting just 75% in both games would have made the Richmond game comfortable, and given the Dins a chance late in the game against the Redbirds. Due to his free throw woes, VanderWal couldn’t be in either game late, where his leadership and veteran presence would have been helpful.
Collin O’Neal put in some great minutes especially against Illinois State. It was a slower weekend offensively for Eddrin Bronson, but O’Neal was a spark off the bench. After going 1-2 against Richmond with a three, O’Neal swished home 4 threes in 4 tries against the Redbirds. He grabbed 4 rebounds and injected a lot of energy into the team with his play. I think Furman really missed his energy later in the second half after Collin left the game with a tweaked ankle.
8 man rotation. Coach Richey has leaned into a solid 8 man rotation early on with Bronson, House, and O’Neal off the bench. The bench has been troubling. Usually one of O’Neal or Bronson can hit a couple threes, but against Richmond, Furman only got 3 points from the bench. The team also looked pretty tired against Illinois State, with Bob Richey mentioning that he may have overplayed guys, but it was important to pull out that win against Richmond. Freshmen Baba Franklin and Owen Ritger have played sparingly. Having another big in Ritger to spell Johnston and Bowser would be huge. Franklin has shown he can get downhill, similar to Wilkins, he is just a raw prospect who may take a bit longer to come into his own.
Tom House: Hopefully something can spark soon for Tom House to pull out of his slump, because Furman will really need something from him off the bench. House was a 40% three point shooter last season, so it is in there somewhere.
The defense is really good. Furman is the number 2 team in the SoCon by PPG in the non-conference (69.6 PPG). Furman is averaging 8.8 steals per game, and holding opponents to 32% from beyond the arc. If the shooting can get going, having to score around 75 points to win a game is so helpful to an offense with a young backcourt.
Furman comes out of the Thanksgiving break at 4-4, and will try to build on their time in Disney World with 5 more non-conference games remaining. Next up is a solid Elon team that Furman should be looking to beat. Elon has played two SoCon opponents, beating UNCG by 2 and losing to Mercer by 7.
Stats from the two Thanksgiving games are below (Via ESPN):
Richmond:
Illinois State:
Good stuff. Always tough to start a freshman to begin the year. Wilkins seems to be getting better every game, so fun to watch, especially getting better in setting up his teammates. Love how they all feed Bowser underneath for dunks. House will break loose soon, I'm sure.