Back on the Road: Bears to Play at UNCG Tomorrow

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears are back on the road and headed to UNCG for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday evening.

The Bears are supporting Coaches vs. Cancer in both games this week. Fans wishing to donate to the cause can do so here.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 | 7:00 p.m.
Matchup: Mercer (10-4, 3-3 SoCon) at UNCG (10-5, 5-2 SoCon)
Location: Greensboro, N.C. | Greensboro Coliseum
Live Stats: bit.ly/2YjOST8
Live Video: Coming Soon
Live Radio: 100.9 The Creek and SportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB
Game Notes: Mercer | UNCG

TODAY'S GAME/LAST TIME OUT
Felipe Haase connected on back-to-back three-pointers, the last one coming with 63 seconds remaining, to give Mercer an 83-80 lead over the VMI Keydets, which it held for its 10th victory of the season. Haase's late heroics sent the crowd into a frenzy, and the Bears' overwhelming defense forced VMI's Greg Parham to throw up a pair of errant three-pointers, including a last ditch attempt with one second on the clock. Mercer improved to 10-4 overall and 3-3 in the Southern Conference. Haase scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 3-of-4 at the charity stripe. Cummings connected on 7-of-13 shots from the floor and knocked down 5-of-6 free throws for 22 points. Ayers III poured in 18 points. The trio accounted for 63 of the Bears' 83 points (75.9 percent). The Bears begin a two-game road trip tomorrow with a 7 p.m. game at UNCG before traveling to Wofford for a 4 p.m. contest on Saturday.

ABOUT THE SPARTANS
The Spartans enter Wednesday's matchup with a full head of steam, having won four in a row. Wes Miller's UNCG squad sits 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Conference. Preseason Player of the Year Isaiah Miller, the SoCon's career active leading scorer paces UNCG with 18.1 points per game.

SERIES HISTORY
The series is tied, 8-8.

MOVING UP THE LIST
Ross Cummings became the 43rd player in Mercer men's basketball history to reach at least 1,000 career points when he made a layup with 5:45 to go against Wofford on Dec. 29. He scored 22 points against Furman to move into 40th all-time. Below are the players he is trying to catch. Prior to Cummings, the last Bear to join the 1,000 point club was Ethan Stair. Stair joined the club last season on Jan. 28 at Samford. The all-time leading scorer is James Florence. Florence played for the Bears from 2006-10 and tallied 2,286 points in his career. Cummings' 1,083 points rank him 34th in program history.

1,000 Point Scorers
Rk.       Name                          Pts.
31.       Jerry Thruston             1,099
32.       Bob Reeves                 1,097
33.       Tony Bolds 1,085
34.       Ross Cummings 1,083

200+ CAREER THREE-POINTERS FOR CUMMINGS
The sharpshooting Cummings is nearing Mercer's all-time three-pointers made record, currently held by fan-favorite Langston Hall. Hall, who led the Bears to a stunning upset of No. 3 Duke in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, knocked down 256 treys. James Florence, the Bears' all-time leading scorer knocked down 242 shots from beyond the arc. Thanks to four three-pointers against Ga. Southern (Dec. 13), Cummings has sole possession of third all-time on the list. His five triples on Dec. 29 vs. Wofford put him over 200 total. He currently has 216 three-pointers made and is 41 away from the record.

Rk.       Name                          3's
1          Langston Hall              256
2.         James Florence          242
3.         Ross Cummings         216
4.         E.J. Kusnyer 190
5.         Bud Thomas                161

BENDER AMONG NATION'S BEST SHOOTERS
Maciej Bender currently sits eighth in the country in field goal percentage. Below are the top-10 as of the morning of 1.25.21

Rk.      %.        Name (School)
1.         74.5     Asbjorn Midtgaard (Grand Canyon)
2.         70.1     Kofi Cockburn (Illinois)
T-3.      68.8     Hunter Dickinson (Michigan)
T-3       68.8     Gavin Kensmill (Stephen F. Austin)
5.         66.9     Xavier Cork (Western Carolina)
6.         66.4     Dwight Wilson (Ohio)
7.         66.3     Gaige Prim (Missouri State)
8.         65.5     Maciej Bender (Mercer)
T-9       64.7     Grant Basille (Wright State)
T-9       64..7    Jalen Johnson (Alabama A&M)

CUMMINGS HIGH AMONG ACTIVE SCORING LEADERS
Ross Cummings is among the Southern Conference's active career scoring leaders. He sits 63 points out of the top-five.

Name                          School             Yr.       Points
Isaiah Miller                 UNCG             Sr.       1,664
David Jean-Baptiste  UTC                Sr.       1,155
Clay Mounce               Furman         Sr.       1,155
Matt Halvorsen           WCU              Sr.       1,155
Storm Murphy           Wofford Sr.       1.150
Ross Cummings         Mercer         R-Sr.    1,083

GARY LEADING THE CONFERENE IN ASSIST-TO-TURNOVER RATIO
Jeff Gary is leading the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio

Name              School     Ratio
Jeff Gary          MER        3.2
Alex Hunter    FUR         2.6
Greg Parham  VMI         1.9
Tyler Moffe      CIT      1.8
Ryan Larson    WOF       1.7

DON'T LEAVE HIM OPEN! CUMMINGS AMONG SOCON'S BEST FROM DISTANCE
Ross Cummings is third among active SoCon players career in three-pointers made.

Name School Yr. 3's
Matt Halvorsen WCU   Sr. 267
Kaiden Rice Citadel Sr. 240
Ross Cummings Mercer R-Sr. 216

HAASE HITS THE BOARDS
Felipe Haase has made a difference on the glass for Mercer this season. Below is where he ranks among the SoCon's leaders in rebounding

Rk.       Category         Avg.
3.         Reb./Game      8.7
3.         Def.Reb/Game 7.0
9          Off.Reb./Game 1.7

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.

Back on the Road: Bears to Play at UNCG Tomorrow

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maciej Bender

Ross Cummings

Jeff Gary

Felipe Haase

Ethan Stair

Footer

Mercer University Athletics