Furman 89 - CIU 59
Furman bounced back Monday night against NAIA Columbia International, earning their first win in the newly renovated Timmons Arena. Furman had 5 players in double figures, led by Alex Wilkins with an efficient 26 points, the most by a Furman freshman in a decade. Clearly this result is more about what we see from Furman than what we see from a lower level of competition, but there are still some things we can take away from last night, just like every other game.
From the jump, Alex Wilkins showed that he was looking to score. In the first two games, he seemed to be forcing shots a bit. Tonight he was going right at the rim, forcing the defense to make decisions on whether to foul him or come off of shooters in the paint. He scored the first 7 points for Furman, two from the free throw line. He was also more efficient tonight, going 9-of-17 and shooting 45% from three.
Abijah Franklin joined in the aggressiveness, putting pressure on the rim and drawing multiple fouls. He seems to have a knack for drawing a big and-1 opportunity. Franklin made his first career three pointer en route to an 11 point, 4 rebound, 2 assist outing.
One thing that did not look good was the three point shooting. Outside of Alex Wilkins, (and of course Gunnar Lewis), everyone was below 30% from the arc. Furman finished 11-of-45 from the arc, which is under 25%! Last season required adjustment periods for shooting in late November/early December and the beginning of conference play in January. Let’s hope this team will follow suit and steadily improve from three. Bob Richey was not too worried about the amount of threes postgame, and mentioned that they had not practiced much against zone. Zone is designed to force those out of the offense threes, and I’d expect to see some adjustments in the upcoming games, should a team switch to zone.
Charles Johnston with another double double! Though not shooting up to his established standards, Charles Johnston has helped Furman clean up on the boards in each of the first three regular season games. Johnston has had 3 straight double-doubles to open the ‘25-26 campaign. He also had 14 points and 12 rebounds in the exhibition against Alabama.
Now again, this was NAIA competition, but one thing everyone has been murmuring about is the defense. Tonight Furman looked a little more put together for the majority of the game on the defensive end. They were playing in sync, with a second man always ready to pressure the ball on a drive. What got them out of it was bad shots and quick threes on the offense end, leading to transition offense for CIU. Transition defense has been a struggle for Furman, typically off of their many turnovers early in the season.
Turnovers were more under control Monday night. I didn’t notice nearly as many forced, late passes and cross court passes that we have seen much too often to start the season. The guards, especially Wilkins, played much more within rhythm on the playmaking side of the ball.
That’s it on the takeaways for Columbia International! It seems weird to say, but an NAIA “get-right” game was actually what the Paladins might have needed so early in the season. This freshman heavy team will be getting there step by step. Furman has a tough road game ahead, traveling to Northern Iowa to take on yet another traditional mid-major power on Friday.
Until then, Roll Dins!