Mercer Travels to Wofford For SoCon Action

Wednesday, February 12

Spartanburg, S.C.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

Wofford

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

2/11/2020 3:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Mercer Game Notes

The Bears head to Spartanburg to face Wofford for the 50th time in program history

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – For the fiftieth time in program history, the Mercer men's basketball team will square off with Wofford. The matchup will take place at Richardson Indoor Stadium with tipoff set for 7 p.m.

GAME DAY LINEUP
Date: Feb. 12, 2020 | 7 p.m. (ET)
Teams: Mercer (12-13, 6-6 SoCon) at Wofford (16-9, 8-4 SoCon)
Location: Spartanburg, S.C. | Richardson Indoor Stadium
Live Stats: WoffordTerrieiers.com
Radio: 100.9 The Creek FM and SportsMic – Rick Cameron
TV: ESPN+
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

SERIES HISTORY
• Overall: Mercer trails in the all-time series, 28-21
• Current Streak: L3
• Last Meeting: L, 76-67 (Jan. 31, 2019)

OPENING TIPOFF
The Mercer men's basketball team hits the road to face Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. on Wednesday. The Southern Conference matchup will take place at the Richardson Indoor Stadium on the campus of Wofford. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN+, 100.9 The Creek FM and Sportsmic Radio with Rick Cameron on the call.

ABOUT THE TERRIERS
Wofford enters the contest with the Bears with a record of 16-9 on the season and a mark of 8-4 in Southern Conference play… Last Saturday, Chattanooga snapped the Terriers' three-game win streak… Chattanooga defeated Wofford, 84-77, at Richardson Indoor Stadium… Wofford is averaging 73.4 points per game and is outscoring opponents by 5.6 points per game… The Terriers are shooting 46.5 percent from the floor and 35.8 percent from behind the arc… Wofford is making 9.7 three-pointers per game… Wofford is led in scoring by Nathan Hoover who is averaging 15.5 points per game… Teammate Storm Murphy follows with an average of 12.2 points per game… Hoover and Murphy are the top two shooters on the team as they have hit 64 and 48 three-pointers on the season… Wofford has four players with 30 or more three-pointers made this season… Opponents are scoring 67.8 points per game and are shooting 43.7 percent from the floor… Wofford is 10-2 on their home court and is led by first-year head coach Jay McAuley.

LAST time out
The Mercer men's basketball team was defeated, 73-60, by ETSU on Saturday at Hawkins Arena. After trailing by nine at half, Mercer cut the lead down to four points multiple times but could not overcome the deficit in the loss. Djordje Dimitrijevic led the way for the Bears with 22 points. He went 2-of-6 on three-pointers, extending his made three-point streak to 22 straight games. Ethan Stair followed with 19 points.

Dimitrijevic Three-point streak
Two SoCon student-athletes have streaks of 22 games with a made three-pointer. The Bears' Djordje Dimitrijevic and the Catamounts' Matt Halvorsen have made a three-pointer in 22 straight games. They are tied for the longest streak in the SoCon with a three-pointer made in consecutive games. The next closest streaks are Ross Cummings and Matt Ryan, whom have hit a three-pointer in 13 straight games.

Player (School)                                 Streak
Djordje Dimitrijevic (Mercer)     22
Matt Halvorsen (WCU)                  22

BEST socon Free throw shooting team
Mercer enters the weekend as the best free throw shooting team in the Southern Conference. The Bears are making 73.0 percent of their free throws. They have made 298 of their 408 free throws this season.

LAST WIN AGAINST WOFFORD
The last time the Bears defeated the Terriers was on Feb. 25, 2018, in Hawkins Arena. Jordan Strawberry scored a game-high 21 points, including the game-winner on a layup with 10 seconds remaining, to give Mercer a 69-68 Southern Conference victory. The win was its eighth straight.

double-doubles for stair
Entering his senior season with only two career double-doubles, Ethan Stair has become a double-double machine. In the victory over ETSU, Stair picked up his ninth double-double of the season as he scored 11 points and collected a team-high 15 rebounds in the victory. This is his second double-double in three games. His nine double-doubles are second in the Southern Conference.

STair climbing up the scoring ranks
Ethan Stair joined the 1,000-point club in in Birmingham, Ala. on Jan. 18 when the Bears defeated Samford, 90-75. He now has 1,089 points in his career and is sitting at No. 33 in program history. Below are the players he is looking to catch over the next few games. James Florence, who played for the Bears from 2006-10, is the all-time leading scorer as he scored 2,286 points. Florence is the only 2,000-point scorer in Mercer history.

1,000 Point Scorers (No. 26-30)
                Rk.         Name                                    Pts
                26.          Chris Moore                       1,120
                27.          Kenny Daugherty             1,118
                28.          Shaddean Aaron               1,115
                29.          Stephon Jelks                    1,113
                30.          Jerry Thurston                   1,099
                32           Ethan Stair                          1,089

STAir closing in on Top TENREBOUNDING season
Senior Ethan Stair has collected 222 rebounds during the 2019-20 season. He is 42 rebounds shy of tying Benton Wade and Woodrow Richardson for in ninth single-season Mercer Basketball history.

Collecting the offensive boards
Last Wednesday against Furman, the Bears collected 20 offensive rebounds. This is the most in a single game this season. Mercer has collected 10 or more offensive rebounds 12 times this season. They have accomplished this feat in the last two games of the season. For the season, Ethan Stair has collected 45 offensive boards to lead the Bears, while Maciej Bender follows with 44. Eight different Bears have collected at least 10 or more offensive rebounds in 2019-20.

THREe-point shooting
This season, seniors Ethan Stair and Djordje Dimitrijevic have each hit six three-pointers in a contest. Stair accomplished this feat at Georgia Southern (11/19), while Dimitrijevic did this twice, against VMI (1/15) and Samford (1/18). The school record for most three-pointers hit in a game is nine, which was accomplished by Bud Thomas against Lipscomb during the 2013-14 season.

Last meeting between WOFFORD and Mercer
The last time the Bears met the Terriers was on Jan. 31, 2019 at Hawkins Arena. A second-half cold spell by Mercer led to a 76-67 loss to Wofford. The Bears were within three-points of visiting Wofford with 4:40 remaining, but could not hit the pivotal shot needed to tie or take the lead. After a three-pointer by Cory Kilby with 8:47 left, Mercer was held without a field goal for the following 6:21 until Ethan Stair hit a jumper in the paint, making it a 72-65 deficit for the Bears. Mercer would only manage one more field goal the rest of the game as Wofford pulled away for the nine-point victory.

Kilby finished with a team-high 16 points while Stair (14), Djordje Dimitrijevic (12) and Ross Cummings (11) all scored in double figures. Mercer hit just 14-of-24 free throws in the contest, including 10-of-17 in the second half.

SoCon win total
With six games remaining in the 2019-20 season, the Bears are looking to eclipse their 2018-19 Southern Conference win number. This season the Bears have won six conference games, which ties the number of wins they had last season.

stair leads the bears in rebounding
Senior Ethan Stair leads the Bears in rebounding this season. He is averaging 8.9 rebounds per game. His 8.9 average per game is second in the Southern Conference. Stair has 13 games this season with nine or more rebounds. He set his career-high with 16 rebounds against UNCW on Dec. 16, 2019. At ETSU on Jan. 29, Stair finished one rebound off his career-high. He has nine games with double-figure rebounds. Stair has collected a career-high 222 rebounds this season.

Single season points scored
With six games remaining in the season, Ethan Stair has scored 385 points, the most in a single season of his career. If Stair can score 171 more points this season, he will tie Shaun Thompson with 556 points scored in a single-season the 10^th most points in a single season. To accomplish the feat, Stair will need to average 28.5 points per game.

Looking at the Southern conference
As we are closing on the final weeks of the 2019-20 regular season, teams in the Southern Conference are still playing for a lot. ETSU and Furman lead the SoCon with a record of 10-2. However, UNCG follows with a record of 9-3 and Wofford sits two games back with a record of 8-4. Sitting three games out of first place is Western Carolina with a record of 7-5. Mercer currently sits in sixth place with a record of 6-6 on the season and is only three games out of third place.

Single game socon scoring leaders
The Bears Djordje Dimitrijevic scored 34 points on Jan. 11 against Western Carolina. The 34 points are the third-highest single-game total in the Southern Conference. Jordan Lyons (Furman) scored 40 points at VMI earlier this year and last weekend Josh Sharkey (Samford) scored 35 against Chattanooga. Below are the top five SoCon scorers this season.

Name (Team)                                    Points                   Opponents (Date)
Jordan Lyons (Furman)                  40                           at VMI (1/1/20)
Greg Parham (VMI)                         36                           The Citadel (2/8/20)
Josh Sharkey (Samford)                 35                           vs. Chattanooga (1/29/20)
Djordje Dimitrijevic (Mercer)     34                           at Western Carolina (1/11/20)
Jordan Lyons (Furman)                  33                           at Alabama (11/19/19)
Jordan Lyons (Furman)                  33                           at Western Carolina (2/8/20)

GREG GARY COACH'S SHOW
The Greg Gary Coach's Show is underway from Margaritas in Mercer Village. The 11-edition show will be streamed on Sportsmic Radio and the Mercer Men's Basketball Facebook page. The show is aired from Margaritas in Mercer Village from 6 to 7 p.m. The next Greg Gary Coach's Show will be on Monday, Feb. 17th.

SoCon Championships
The 2020 Ingles SoCon Men's Basketball Championship presented by General Shale will be held March 6-9 at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina. The 2020 edition of the tournament is the 100th for the nation's oldest collegiate conference basketball tournament.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action on Saturday, when they host UNCG at Hawkins Arena. It is Pink Out 478 Day at the Hawk. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m.

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.