Furman vs. Seattle | 11:30 PM | ESPNU
Furman will have to quickly adjust to a time change as they move to Las Vegas and take on Seattle in the 11:30 PM time slot on the East Coast. The Dins will take part in the Terry’s Chocolate Vegas Showdown, and will be paired with a very stingy Seattle team. The Redhawks are 2-3 but only lost by 2 to a consistently strong Liberty squad earlier this season. They are certainly a much better team than their record indicates. Furman has a trip to Kansas upcoming, and Seattle will be going to Duke, so both teams will have to work hard not to look ahead to those daunting matchups.
Furman is coming off of a dominant win, where they led from the outset and did not have to stress at all down the stretch. Nine guys scored, led by 14 from Nick Anderson and 13 from PJay Smith. The Dins will likely need more from Johnston, House, and Bronson off of the bench to feel as comfortable in Vegas. All of the starters played over 22 minutes in the blowout, and should take the court together once again.
Projected Starting Five:
PJay Smith
Nick Anderson
Ben VanderWal
Garrett Hien
Cooper Bowser
Seattle Redhawks
Seattle is led by Matthew-Alexander Moncreiffe, a 6’8 senior who transferred in from Oklahoma State. He averages a double double, with nearly 15 points and 10 rebounds per game. Seattle does play a 9 man rotation, but only 5 guys average 6 or more points per game. Shooting 38% from three as a team, their most consistent shooter is John Christofilis, who hits threes at a 42% clip. A good number of their shots come off of assists, and most of them come from the hand of Maleek Arington, a transfer from Idaho State. At nearly 6 assists and 1.5 steals per game, he will look to disrupt the flow of Furman’s offense while getting his own into a rhythm. Seattle will likely work first from the post, and with some strong big men, Furman will need to trust Garrett Hien and Cooper Bowser to be strong in the paint. They may need some rotation underneath if foul trouble occurs. Seattle has had the same five starters for each of their 5 games so far.
Projected Starting 5
Maleek Arington: 9.8 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 5.6 APG
Brayden Maldonado: 7.6 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 0.4 APG
John Christofilis: 12.8 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 0.4 APG
Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe: 14.8 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 0.8 APG
Malek Gomma: 4.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 0.8 APG
Keys to the Game
Post Defense: Once again, the post defense will need to step up, where Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe likes to work. The Dins shut down the last big man at Charleston Southern, and will need to do a similar job in Vegas.
Bench Production: Furman has been getting consistent performances from the bench, so the Charleston production shouldn’t be too worrisome. However, they’ll need two or more of the bench guys to bring the energy in order to get going.