Southern Conference Hoops

Hey everyone! Welcome to conference play!! Everything matters a little more from here on out. I haven’t done any quick hits or spotlights the past couple of weeks, but hope to get back to that this week. I also haven’t decided if I’m going to keep recapping all ten teams, limit it to the top five or 6, give longer recaps for the top half and just highlight the impact scorers for the bottom half. In conference play, when they have sorted themselves out more, and they are playing each other, it seems redundant to cover each game twice, in a way. 

1. East Tennessee State (10-5, 2-0). Two games for ETSU this week, and two conference wins. In their first conference game of the season, the Buccaneers went on the road at The Citadel and took care of business, winning 74-49. Blake Barkley led the way in the first game with 17 points and 4 rebounds. Both McCullum and Taylor also added 13 for the Buccs. To start the new year over the weekend, ETSU returned home to host Mercer, escaping a back and forth contest with a 6 point win. Barkley continued his hot shooting, putting up 19 on 7-12 shooting, but Taylor led ETSU with 21, to go along with 8 rebounds. Taylor continues to lead scoring and rebounding for the Buccaneers this season at 14.6 ppg and 4.8 rpg.
2. Wofford (10-5, 2-0). Finishing 2025, Wofford started conference play on the road at Western Carolina, coming away with a 79-74 victory, which stayed neck and neck the whole forty minutes. Nils Machowski had a phenomenal game for the Terriers, scoring 27 and shooting 60% from the field, while also grabbing 7 rebounds. Five players on Wofford had 5+ rebounds in a defensive team effort. Starting 2026, Wofford traveled to the Citadel to take on the Bulldogs, and continued their success, putting up 95 in an important conference road win. Somehow improving from the last game, Machowski scored 37 on 8 threes to lead the way. The 37 was his season and career high. Additional important contributions were from Cayden Vasko, who had his season-high with 20, hitting 5 threes and adding 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and from Holmes, who had a great all around game with 16/7/9. Strong start to conference play for Wofford. 
3. UNCG (6-9, 2-0). Playing twice in January already, UNC Greensboro has come away with two home conference wins. First on Thursday, UNCG hosted Chattanooga, and in a game that featured 12 lead changes, held on for a 77-72 win. KJ Younger had a fantastic game, scoring a season-high 24 points, along with 9 rebounds. Senior Justin Neely also continued his streak of double-doubles with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Two days later the Spartans hosted Samford, where UNCG took the lead early on and held a comfortable lead the whole game. Four Spartans scored 15+ points in a fantastically balanced effort, and of course Neely got his double-double with 22 and 14, making it three straight double-doubles against DI opponents. 
4. Samford (8-7, 1-1). On the road to begin conference play, Samford knew what to do to make their mark, with a twenty point win at VMI in their first game on Thursday. Forward Dylan Faulkner scored a season high 25, while also pulling down 12 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Jadin Booth played a key role too in 36 minutes, scoring 19 on efficient 6-11 shooting. Another road test for Samford over the weekend ended in a tough loss to UNC Greensboro, 89-82. In a copy of the last game, Faulkner again had 25 points, and Booth led the way with 26. 
5. Western Carolina (5-8, 1-1). The Catamounts began conference season with a very tough loss at home to Wofford, losing 79-74. WCU was led on the scoring sheet by guard Cord Stansberry, who put up 20, including a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. Playing 29 minutes, guard Tidjiane Dioumassi, a transfer from Southern, scored 13, his high for the season. Finally, freshman Samuel Dada, had an important impact off the bench with 7 points and 13 rebounds. WCU began 2026 on the road at Furman over the weekend, unfortunately falling short after a back and forth struggle that went to overtime and had 16 lead changes. For the Catamounts, 4 starters scored 12+, and five players had 5+ rebounds. Soumaoro scored 16 with 8 rebounds to lead the way, and Kell also had 16 on 7-14 shooting from the field. 
6. Furman (10-5, 1-1). Furman ended the year starting conference play with a 2 point win at home against Mercer that went down to the wire. Alex Wilkins scored 20 while dishing out 7 assists, while Asa Thomas put up 19 with five rebounds to lead the Paladins. In their first game of the year, Furman hosted Western Carolina, and again closed the gap to take it to overtime before losing by three. Another game of 20+ for WIlkins, this time with 24, making it three straight with 20+.
7. VMI (6-9, 1-1). A tough start to conference play for VMI, in a 20 point loss at home to Samford, 78-58. TJ Johnson scored 17 for the Keydets and Yidizoglu added another 12. In a balanced defensive effort, six players snagged down at least four rebounds. A bounce-back over the weekend, VMI hosted and got an important victory against Chattanooga by 8. Four starters scored 12 or more, and Tan Yildizoglu led the way with a season-high 22 on efficient 7-12 shooting, while also dishing out 6 assists.
8. Mercer (8-7, 0-2). A heartbreaking start to conference play for Mercer in a two point loss on the road at Furman. Guard Baraka Okojie continued his high scoring output with 22, which included a perfect 6-6 from the line. Both Mighty with 8 points and 13 rebounds, and Shoulders, with 9 points and 9 rebounds, had big impacts and were just short of a double-double. Another tough loss began 2026 for the Bears, falling 77-71 on the road at East Tennessee State. Sophomore Brady Shoulders had his best game of the season though, with 21 points on 7-11 shooting and 8 rebounds. With 15 points, Okojie kept his streak of scoring in double figures in every game alive. 
9. Chattanooga (6-9, 0-2). Back to back road losses to start conference play for Chattanooga. First on Thursday, the Mocs traveled to UNC Greensboro, and despite having a lead with 2:30 to go, fell 77-72. Three starters: Brennan Watkins, Jordan Frison, and Collin Mulholland, all scored 12 for Chattanooga, while Jikari Johnson lead the way with 15 off the bench. Next the Mocs went on the road to VMI and had a similar defeat, 79-71. Billy Smith put up 17, and they were also helped along by Tate Darner who tied his season high with 16. 
10. The Citadel (3-12, 0-2). A very tough start to conference play for The Citadel. First they hosted ETSU, where they held it close for the first 10 minutes, but ETSU pulled ahead and never looked back. Only scoring 49 points in the blowout, they were able to get lots of guys some minutes off the bench. Christian Moore led the Bulldogs with 10, but both Braxton Williams and Dante Kearse had seven off the bench. In a much more competitive and higher scoring effort over the weekend, The Citadel hosted Wofford, but ultimately fell 95-86. Braxton Williams got the start and put up 20, while Moore also knocked in 20 off the bench on 7-10 shooting. Sola Adebisi did his part with an 11 point, 11 rebound, double-double.