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BIG SOUTH SPORTS BLOG Birmingham-Southern Picks Up First Win of Season The Birmingham-Southern Panthers finally ended their winless skid with a 59-52 victory over Arkansas. Richard Kanagy led BSC with 13 points. The Panthers bench scored 15 of BSC’s 33 first half points and BSC also scored 10 points off six Arkansas turnovers in the opening half. Birmingham-Southern never trailed in the first half and led by as many as nine points. The Razorbacks cut the lead to 49-46 with 1:28 remaining, but the Panthers finished the game shooting 8-of-8 from the free throw line to put Arkansas (0-5) away. Free throw shooting was the main difference in this game – BSC was 21-of-29 (72.4%) while Arkansas shot an anemic 10-of-21 (47.6%) from the stripe. Donald Dargan scored a career-high nine points and Mark Parry added eight points for BSC. Birmingham-Southern is now 1-4 overall and will play at UAB (3-2) in a crosstown rivalry game next week.

THR BIRMINGHAM NEWS Birmingham-Southern Facing Early Adversity BIRMINGHAM | Birmingham-Southern coach Jeremy Knight knew coming into the season that it would a challenging and difficult one for his team. He never could have imagined that it would be this difficult this early on in the season. The Panthers fell to 0-4 after a 69-55 dismantling by Central Connecticut State. “I knew we would be relying on some guys to do some things they haven’t done before as well as some young guys, but I never imagined we would start the season 0-4,” Knight said, “especially after the way we played in the exhibition games.” Knight referenced BSC’s exhibition games, a 72-53 win over Nebraska followed by a 57-55 victory over Eastern Kentucky. Based off of those two games, the Panthers looked like they would ultimately be okay this season. Instead, BSC was shocked in the opening game with a 65-54 loss to Florida Atlantic. The Panthers followed that with a 50-48 loss against Cleveland State and a 88-78 loss at Hawaii before Wednesday’s game against Central Connecticut State. Birmingham-Southern’s schedule doesn’t get any easier with game against Arkansas, at UAB, South Alabama, at Murray State, and at San Diego all coming up on the schedule. “We definitely need to figure out what our problems are and fix them as soon as possible. Our schedule doesn’t give us the luxury of being able to take our time and work out the kinks. Everyone, myself and my coaches included, needs to take a look in the mirror and figure out what each of us can do better.” One of the ingredients for BSC’s lack of success so far this season has been a lack of scoring. The Panthers usually lead the Big South in scoring, but are currently 10th in the Big South with 58.8 ppg. Additionally, the Panthers have been awful defensively this season too, allowing teams to shoot 50.5 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from the 3-point line. Center Shawn Beauvais, last year’s Big South Freshman of the Year, was projected by many to be the guy that would carry BSC throughout the season. So far Beauvais has failed to live up to expectations, only averaging 5 ppg and 5.8 rpg. “Shawn had a lot thrown on him coming into the season. People forget, this kid is just a sophomore. Yeah he was the freshman of the year last year, but he was also the second option in the post. He played with a first team All-American. Now, as a sophomore, he has to adjust to being the main guy in the post and being pressured to carry the team every night. That’s a lot for anyone to handle.” Redshirt freshman Jeffrey Cain has shown promise early this season and has earned the starting nod for the previous three games. Cain had his best game at Hawaii when he scored 17 points and had seven rebounds. He currently leads BSC with 10.8 ppg. “Jeffrey has really stepped up and helped to fill some of that void in the post we’re missing. It’s still early, but he’s played really well so far and we’ve been pleasantly surprised by him.” Richard Kanagy is another player that has stepped up for BSC. Kanagy has always been labeled strictly as a defensive player, but over the last two games he has shown some scoring ability as well. Against Hawaii Kanagy totaled 11 points and he scored a team-high 19 points against Central Connecticut State. Kanagy is averaging 10.5 ppg for the season. “Richard really surprised us over the last two games,” Knight admitted, “He’s definitely earned the right to get more touches and as long as he continues to do what he’s supposed to and ultimately scores while he’s on the floor, he will continue to get touches.” The other factor that has caused so much distress for BSC this season is the reliance of young players that haven’t really performed well. The Panthers brought in five freshmen and four of them are playing at least 10 minutes a game. Mark Parry has performed the best out of all the freshmen, averaging 6 ppg, but he is only shooting 38.1 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from 3. Michael Davis is averaging 3.3 ppg, Donald Gayhart is averaging 1.5 ppg and shooting 12.5 percent from the field, and Shaun McCague is averaging 1.5 ppg and 1.3 rpg. “Most of our freshmen have struggled early on,” Knight said, “part of that is just the process of them adjusting to the faster and more physical style of the college game. Part of it is my fault. I haven’t done a good enough job preparing them to play at this level yet. It’s just something that is going to take time for them to adjust to as they continue to learn and adjust. “The bad news is that we’re currently 0-4. I’ve only lost four games in a row once in my entire career, back in 71 at East Texas Baptist. But the good news is that we were able to get on the right track at ETBU and we made it to the Elite Eight that season. We’re just four games into the season. It’s a very long season. I’m not saying we’re going to turn this around and make it to the Elite Eight, but we still have time to correct our issues and still accomplish all of our goals for this season.”

84 PRESEASON TOP 25 RANK SCHOOL PTS LAST SEASON 1 Duke 1,226 31-3, NCAA Tournament Runner-Up 2 Connecticut 1,195 26-6, NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen 3 Illinois 1,193 22-7, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 4 Michigan State 1,191 24-7, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 5 Colorado 1,186 25-6, NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen 6 Providence 1,171 26-5, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 7 Virginia Tech 1,169 22-6, NCAA Tournament 1st Round 8 Northwestern 1,147 19-12, NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen 9 Florida 1,143 22-8, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 10 Seton Hall 1,133 25-7, NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen 11 Kansas 1,132 29-5, NCAA Tournament Final Four 12 Ohio State 1,130 24-6, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 13 Tennessee 1,128 28-3, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 14 Oklahoma 1,122 26-5, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 15 Syracuse 1,098 21-10, NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen T16 North Carolina 1,088 20-10, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round T16 Iowa 1,088 33-2, NCAA Tournament National Champion 18 Wake Forest 1,083 23-8, NCAA Tournament Elite Eight 19 UCLA 1,081 26-5, NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen 20 Air Force 1,068 24-7, NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen 21 Texas A&M 1,056 24-6, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 22 Texas 1,052 17-13, NCAA Tournament 2nd Round 23 Minnesota 1,050 22-8, NCAA Tournament 1st Round 24 St. John’s 1,046 14-14, NIT 1st Round T25 California 1,042 21-8, NCAA Tournament 1st Round T25 Washington 1,042 18-10, NCAA Tournament 1st Round OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Alabama (1,033), Miami (FL) (1,028), Arizona (1,025), Georgetown (1,024), Oregon State (1,021), Utah (1,012), Stanford (998), Fresno State (997), Baylor (997), LSU (991), Florida State (988), South Carolina (988), Wisconsin (985), Louisville (983) PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS FIRST TEAM PG David Golden Sr. 6-1 191 LaSalle SG James Almanza Sr. 6-3 190 Tennessee SF Darren Banks Sr. 6-3 196 Iowa PF Kent Guidi Sr. 6-10 221 Duke C Eric O’Bryan Sr. 7-1 270 Iowa SECOND TEAM PG Richard Harber Sr. 6-6 215 Minnesota SG Justin McKay Sr. 6-4 191 Virginia Tech SF Eric Hunter Jr. 5-11 189 Florida PF Wayne Dobson Jr. 6-7 228 Wake Forest C John Simoneau Sr. 6-10 242 BYU THIRD TEAM PG Oscar Morris Jr. 5-8 164 Florida SG Robert Ross Sr. 5-11 174 Gonzaga SF Clarence Davis Sr. 6-4 184 Duke PF Donald Little Sr. 6-8 222 Tennessee C Frederick Carpenter Sr. 6-7 231 Texas Christian HONORABLE MENTION PG Jason Davis Providence Christopher Huff Texas Christian Thomas Tapia Loyola (MD) SG Clinton Spooner Florida A&M Ronald Antunez Syracuse Felix Meza BYU SF Michael Bates Utah Edwin Statler Bradley Fadey Graminski Colorado PF Hung Tang Michigan State John Prescott Southern Methodist Bobby Tims Duke C John Helms Duke John Fisher Loyola (MD) Brett Henriksen Louisville

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Birmingham-Southern Dominates Boards and Nebraska BIRMINGHAM | The Birmingham-Southern Panthers outrebounded Nebraska 41-27 en route to a 72-53 victory Wednesday night. Sophomore Shawn Beauvais led BSC with 13 points and eight rebounds. “Wow. I’m really surprised that we dominated the glass the way we did,” said BSC coach Jeremy Knight. “We pulled down 13 offensive rebounds and 41 total. Just wow. It’s always a great thing when you can limit your opponent to one shot a possession on defense and you create extra shots and extend the possession on offense.” Nebraska started the game with five quick points, but BSC quickly answered and two teams traded baskets throughout most of the first half. Jared Lobdell hit a fadeaway to give BSC a 19-17 lead, its first of the game, at the 6:23 mark. However, the Cornhuskers kept BSC from running away with the game and a Donald Dargan basket with three seconds left in the half gave the Panthers a 33-29 lead entering halftime. Birmingham-Southern came out firing in the second half and went on a 26-12 run to seal the victory. Nebraska seniors Peter Thurston and Bruce Pulliam led the Cornhuskers in scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively. One of the big questions for this BSC team is how the large group of incoming freshmen will adjust and perform at the collegiate level. Every freshman played well while in the game. Michael Davis only scored two points, but he also grabbed eight rebounds, tying with Beauvais for the game-high. Donald Gayhart scored seven points with two assists and two steals. Mark Parry scored seven points. Shaun McCague didn’t score, but he did grab three rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Redshirt freshman Jeffrey Cain made the most of his minutes with 10 points and six rebounds in just 12 minutes on the court. “I was really, really impressed with the way our freshmen performed tonight,” Knight said. “They were able to come in off the bench and contribute, or if they started they made an impact while they were on the floor. If our freshmen can continue to contribute like this and we can rebound the ball the way we did tonight (throughout the rest of the season), we’ll be alright.” Birmingham-Southern will play its final exhibition game Saturday night against Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels 65-47 in their first exhibition game. “Not to take anything away from this game, but Nebraska is a very young team,” Knight said. “They have a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Eastern Kentucky has a solid group of juniors and seniors and that’s going to give us a new challenge. It’ll be really interesting to see how our freshmen play. They did just fine against other players that were just as inexperienced as themselves. Let’s see how they play against some veteran college players. I’m excited and ready to get to work on preparing for Eastern Kentucky.” Tipoff for the game is scheduled for 5 pm.

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Birmingham-Southern Season Preview BIRMINGHAM | Jeremy Knight prepares for his 11th season at the helm of the Birmingham-Southern men’s basketball team after coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history. The Panthers finished the season with an overall record of 27-3 after a first round loss to Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament. Birmingham-Southern also went 16-0 in Big South play to claim the regular season championship and then won the Big South Tournament Championship. The program is experiencing the most prolific run in program history with an overall record of 121-25 over the last five seasons. The Panthers have also won three Big South Championships, two Big South Tournament Championships, and made three NCAA Tournament appearances. However, the road ahead for the BSC program could be a rocky one with the loss of five players that helped form the foundation for the Panthers’ recent success. Birmingham-Southern now has to replace a two-time Big South Player of the Year and 1st Team All-American, a 1st Team All-Big South player, and two 2nd Team All-Big South players – quite the task for Knight and his staff. There is solid core group of players returning, but Knight will have to find the offensive centerpiece for the program going forward sooner rather than later. Sophomore center Shawn Beauvais is BSC’s returning leader scorer and rebounder after averaging 6.4 ppg and 5.4 rpg last season. “This season will definitely be an interesting one for us,” Knight said during media day. “At the moment we don’t necessarily have an identity as far as which players are going to be our go-to guys in games. We have seven players returning, but most of them have primarily been backup and role players. “Jared (Lobdell) is definitely going to be a leader for this team and perform at a high level, but he’s not a prolific scorer. That’s not his game. He’s going to facilitate the game and pick his shots. Shawn is our leading returning scorer, but he only averaged six points a game last season. Can he be a guy that’s going to put up 12 to 18 points every night? He’s going to have every chance to show that he can and we’ll find out. “We have some very talented freshmen coming in. Maybe one of those guys will step up and provide scoring for us. We just won’t know for sure until we get into practice and play our exhibition games and a couple of regular season games. One thing that’s for sure is that all of these guys can play or else they wouldn’t be here.” The Panthers’ season will ultimately rely on how quickly Knight and his staff can figure out the rotations and establish the offensive hierarchy. This will lead to a prime situation for the incoming freshmen with a chance to immediately make an impact at the collegiate level. This also creates a good situation for the returning players, most of who have been reserve players throughout their career. Every player on the roster will have an opportunity to make a case for serious playing time. Lobdell and Beauvais are the only returning starters from last season’s squad and should be the only two players that can be penciled into a starting spot for this season. Below we’ll break down each position and take a crack at the Panthers rotation entering the season. GUARDS Jared Lobdell Sr. #2 6-3 192 Varnado, La./Varnado HS Lobdell started all 30 games at point guard last season for BSC and averaged 4.9 ppg and 5.4 apg. Lobdell will definitely be the starting point guard to kick off his senior season and will be the leader for this unproven team. Lobdell currently sits at 10th all-time in the BSC assists list with 341 career assists. He only needs 112 assists this season to break the record, which he should accomplish. Last season Lobdell dished out 163 assists. Lobdell’s combination of speed, ball handling, and athleticism make him an elite point guard in the Big South. Richard Kanagy RSr. #5 6-1 173 Gulf Shores, Ala./Gulf Shores HS Kanagy has always been a role player for BSC with his lone start coming against Alabama in the first round of the 82 NCAA Tournament and eventual No. 1 overall pick Paul Smith. Kanagy’s role has always been lock down defender. He has good athleticism paired with elite speed and great defensive skills. Kanagy is versatile enough that he can guard three different positions. He has a good jump shot and averaged a career high 5.4 ppg off the bench last season. His limitation is that his ball handling and passing skills aren’t up to par. Do not expect to see Kanagy starting regularly due to his limitations. Kanagy might start sporadically if the opposing team has a stud guard or wing. Kanagy is definitely a role player, but he is a very good role player and will be a valuable asset off the bench. Donald Bowen RJr. #10 6-0 172 Dunn, N.C./Midway HS Bowen is a guard with elite speed and shooting ability. He also has great ball handling and passing ability. He’s not very athletic and is a poor defender. He spent last season as a bench player that specialized in 3-point shooting. Bowen shot 41.5 percent from 3 last and 41.4 percent overall last season. Bowen averaged 3.4 ppg last season. He is BSC’s best shooter and has better point guard skills than anyone on the team not named Jared Lobdell, but his poor defensive ability might cost him an opportunity to be a starter for BSC. However, Bowen’s shooting ability and guard skills should make him one of the top options off the bench for either guard position. Melvin Frisby Fr. #21 6-2 183 Centre, Ala./Cherokee County HS Frisby might be BSC’s best ball handler and passer behind Lobdell and Bowen, but his shooting and defensive abilities are awful and he’s a very poor athlete. His speed is on par with most of the other incoming freshmen. Frisby has a very bright future at BSC and appears to be destined as the point guard of the future. However, he needs time to develop. A lot of time. It be the biggest upset in BSC history if he doesn’t redshirt this season. A whole season to work on his game and learn the offense is the perfect alternative to being buried in a sea of guards. Nobody likes to redshirt, but that is exactly what Frisby needs and will benefit him the most. Shaun McCague Fr. #13 6-0 175 Fairburn, Ga./Arlington Christian HS McCague comes into BSC ready to go as a top notch defender off the bench. Think of him as a freshman version of Kanagy. His shot and guard skills are poor right now and need to be developed. Right now he is capable of coming in and defender three positions off the bench, but he won’t see much more time due to his offensive deficiencies. However, as McCague grows and develops as a player he will be an extremely versatile player that can play three different positions. Mark Parry Fr. #25 6-0 185 Newnan, Ga./Northgate HS Parry is the prized recruit Knight and his staff signed this offseason. He has a good combination of athleticism and speed and his guard skills are solid as well. He’s an okay defender at the moment but scouts raved about his potential to become a defensive monster. He has a shot at starting as a freshman for BSC. He isn’t projected to develop his guard skills much more, but he is definitely developed enough to be serviceable at either guard position. He can also play and defend the small forward position, which might be the position he spends the majority of his time at. He is yet another versatile player Knight recruited that can make an impact at multiple positions. Parry should have a very bright career ahead of him and should make an impact for BSC during this upcoming season. Donald Gayhart Fr. #11 6-1 191 South Pittsburg, Tenn./South Pittsburg HS Gayhart is another versatile guard for the Panthers. He’s athletic and a good defender. His shooting ability and passing are great for an incoming freshman. However, his ball handling ability needs a lot of work. He’s not the fastest guard on the Panthers’ roster, but he will get faster throughout his career. One highly desirable trait Gayhart has is that he is a monster in the paint. He has elite post skills for a guard and analysts believe that he’s only beginning to scratch the surface of his post game potential. Due to Gayhart’s athleticism and defensive ability, he could make a case to start at shooting guard for BSC. As Gayhart develops his skills look for him to become yet another player that can play three different positions for Knight. SMALL FORWARD Michael Davis Fr. #23 6-7 212 Lebanon, Ore./East Linn Christian Academy Davis is the only small forward on BSC’s roster, but as we’ve touched on there are several guards capable of playing on the wing at the 3. Davis will get the first crack at it due to it being his natural position. Nothing in Davis’ skillset will blow you away, but he is a very solid player in every aspect entering college. Davis has a high ceiling and a very well developed low post game, which is still growing. Davis is also a versatile player and is capable of playing power forward as well. POSTS Michael Stutes Jr. #22 6-8 216 Rockledge, Fla./Rockledge HS Last season Stutes tripled his scoring average (3.3 ppg) from his freshman season despite his minutes per game dropping six minutes. Stutes should be the leader for the power forward position, but he has developed as much as Knight and his staff would have liked. He’s a very solid player, but he’s not elite. The power forward position will be the battle to watch too see which player takes over the position. Stutes might get the first crack at it due to seniority, but he’s going to have to go out and take the job for himself. Donald Dargan So. #44 6-6 212 Russellville, Ala./Russellville HS Dargan will be Stutes primary competition at power forward. Dargan only played six minutes a game, but he displayed flashed of brilliance throughout the season. Dargan isn’t as overall polished as Stutes, but he’s not far behind. He’s more athletic and has a much higher ceiling. It will be interesting is Knight wants to go with the younger Dargan who only has 143 minutes of collegiate experience under his belt, but has more potential and could be a breakout star. Shawn Beauvais So. #0 7-0 258 Sumter, S.C./Wilson Hall Academy Beauvais will return as the man in the middle after starting 30 games at center last season. Beauvais is BSC’s returning leading scorer and rebounder. Beauvais is an elite rebounder and shot blocker with a solid low post game. His big downside is his lack of great athleticism, but he managed pretty well for himself last season. The big difference for Beauvais this season is that he will be the center of attention after the graduation of William Big. It will be interesting to see how Beauvais adjusts to the larger workload, as he will be the player most likely charged with leading BSC in scoring to start with. How Beauvais performs this season should have a huge impact on BSC’s success. Jeffrey Cain RFr. #30 6-8 239 Auburn, Ala./Lee-Scott Academy Cain sat out last season with a redshirt. He’s athletic with a great post game. He has the ability to develop into a top-notch rim protector as his defense and shot blocking continue to develop. Cain will be a great asset off the bench as he could probably start for at least half of the teams in the Big South as a freshman. PROJECTED BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN LINEUP PG Jared Lobdell SG Mark Parry SF Michael Davis PF Michael Stutes C Shawn Beauvais --- 6 Richard Kanagy 7 Donald Bowen 8 Donald Dargan 9 Jeffrey Cain 10 Donald Gayhart 11 Shawn McCague RS Melvin Frisby

Rivals Recruiting Roundup The 84 recruiting period is over and its time to see which teams and conferences fared the best. Iowa has its work cut out for it as it hopes to repeat as national champion in 84. The Hawkeyes lost Bernardo Rivers (11th overall by Bulls), Vincent Harrison (31st overall to Hornets), and Richard Hurt (35th overall to Nuggets) to early entrance in the NBA Draft. This left Iowa with just four sophomores and three seniors on it’s roster. The Hawkeyes went out and put together the No. 16 class in hopes of winning another national championship. Iowa was able to sign two Mr. Basketball award winners in Minnesota small forward Julius Vitale (No. 46/No. 8 SF ****) and Iowa point guard Ronald Brune (No. 195/No. 42 PG). Iowa also added two transfers in shooting guard Greg Mahoney from Minnesota (one year of eligibility) and point guard Donald Greenwood of Dakota College-Bottineau (No. 207/N0. 32 PG) who will have two years of eligibility left. The Hawkeyes capped their class off with a late signing of small forward Oliver Cutright (No. 60/No. 9 SF ****) from Cherokee County High School in Centre, Alabama. Cutright is currently ineligible and will have to sit out the 84 season while he works to raise his GPA. Providence assembled what we ranked as the top class in the country and will be looking to win its second national championship in three years. The Friars class includes point guard Gerard Lindsey (No. 2 PG), shooting guard Chuioke Amendola, small forward Daniel Langton (No. 2 SF), and centers Christopher Wilson (No. 1 C) and Edwin Meier (No. 2 C). It’s definitely a mammoth of a class and it will be interesting to see how long the prospects stay on campus. Below we rank the top 25 classes in addition to how each conference performed. We’ll also show the top 15 recruits from this class and where they signed. Remember to keep up with Rivals for all the latest recruiting information. TOP RECRUITING CLASSES 1 Providence Big East 2 UCLA Pac-12 3 Virginia ACC 4 Ohio State Big Ten 5 Kentucky SEC 6 St. John’s Big East 7 North Carolina ACC 8 Cincinnati Big East 9 Colorado Big 12 10 Stanford Pac-12 11 Texas A&M Big 12 12 DePaul Horizon 13 Texas Big 12 14 Washington Pac-12 15 Seton Hall Big East 16 Iowa Big Ten 17 Oregon State Pac-12 18 BYU Mountain West 19 Wisconsin Big Ten 20 Drake Missouri Valley 21 South Carolina SEC 22 Kansas State Big 12 23 Illinois Big Ten 24 Virginia Tech ACC 25 California Pac-12 RECRUITING RANKINGS 1 Big East 2 Pac-12 3 Big 12 4 Big Ten 5 ACC 6 Mountain West 7 Sun Belt 8 Southland 9 MAAC 10 Missouri Valley 11 Big Sky 12 SEC 13 Conference-USA 14 Big West 15 Ivy League 16 CAA 17 Summit League 18 Patriot League 19 MAC 20 Big South 21 WCC 22 MEAC 23 Northeast 24 Atlantic-10 25 Horizon League 26 Southern 27 Ohio Valley OVR NAME POS HT WT HOMETOWN/HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGE 1 Carl Allen SF 6-7 217 Weatherford, Okla./Weatherford HS Kansas 2 John Daniel PF 6-6 222 Watsonville, Calif./Watsonville HS California 3 Christopher Wilson C 6-11 234 Hudson, N.H./Alvirne HS Providence 4 Rick Johnston SG 6-2 185 Salt Lake City, Utah/East HS Air Force 5 Daniel Langton SF 6-2 193 Malone, N.Y./Franklin Academy Providence 6 John Selman SG 6-1 196 Coal City, W.V./Independence HS Ohio State 7 John Golla PF 6-9 228 Brooksville, Fla./Central HS Kentucky 8 Allen Robinson SG 6-1 195 San Angelo, Texas/Central HS Texas 9 John Hart PF 6-8 220 Sanborn, N.Y./Niagara-Wheatfield HS Ohio State 10 John Mayer SF 6-3 195 Corona, Calif./Buena Vista HS UCLA 11 Stuart Korzenski PF 6-9 222 Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth Regional HS Seton Hall 12 Brian Starling PF 6-8 230 Verona, N.Y./Vernon-Verona-Sherrill HS Connecticut 13 David Norwood SG 6-4 192 Washington, D.C./Ballou HS North Carolina 14 Patrick Hisle PF 6-4 216 Rio Linda, Calif./Rio Linda HS Stanford 15 Robert Weber SG 6-2 189 Charleston, S.C./James Island HS Wake Forest

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Birmingham-Southern Signs Parry BIRMINGHAM | Three-star point guard prospect Mark Parry from Northgate High School in Newnan, Ga. has officially signed with Birmingham-Southern. Parry chose the Panthers over the Florida State Seminoles. Parry is ranked as the No. 95 overall prospect and the No. 15 point guard. The signing brings BSC to a full 12-man roster and caps off the 84 recruiting period for the Panthers. Coach Jeremy Knight has declined to commit on any of the signings and will instead issue a statement through an official athletic department release later this week. Parry, a 6-foot guard, averaged 31.5 ppg and 4.3 apg last season while leading Northgate to the semifinals in the GHSA Class AAAAA playoffs. Parry has a good combination of athleticism and speed and good point guard skills. His shot is solid as well. His defense is okay as well but most analysts believe he will develop into a great defender once he arrives in college. Parry will most likely see time at the point and can also play the small forward position. Parry isn’t an automatic shooter from 3-point range, but he is certainly capable, so he could also slide over and play the 2-guard position as well if needed. Parry originally made a verbal commitment to BSC early in the recruiting cycle, but a late push and offer from Florida State made him reopen his recruitment. A lot of attention has been focused on Parry the last two weeks as he debated between the Seminoles and Panthers before he ultimately signed with Birmingham-Southern this morning. Sources close to Knight said that BSC’s staff decided to go all in on Parry, hoping to sign him, or finish the recruiting period with an open scholarship and sign three players next year instead of two. With Parry’s signing the Panthers will have two scholarships to fill next season, should everyone else return. The addition of Parry makes this recruiting class arguably the most talented class of Knight’s tenure and should keep Birmingham-Southern in contention for the Big South Championship for several years to come. Schedule News Earlier today Birmingham-Southern announced that it had agreed to play exhibition games against Nebraska and Eastern Kentucky this season. Nebraska went 4-23 with a 1-15 record in the Big 12 last season. In 82 the Cornhuskers went 15-15 and made the NCAA Tournament. Nebraska finished 81 with a 15-13 overall record and made the NIT. Nebraska will have a young team with six sophomores and four freshmen, so it will be interesting to see how the Panthers fare against a youthful team from a high major conference. Eastern Kentucky has experienced great success under coach Brad Riddell. Riddell, entering his sixth season at EKU, led the Colonels to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship last season with a 19-11 overall record, and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Colonels have also won three OVC Championships and played in the NIT twice under Riddell’s watch. Eastern Kentucky will have a much more experienced team compared to Nebraska and it will give BSC a good test to play a strong mid major before regular season play begins. Birmingham-Southern will visit Samford for the eighth meeting between the two schools in as many seasons. Birmingham-Southern has won all seven matches in the cross-town rivalry, but this could be the last time the two teams meet for quite a while. Sources close to the team say that Knight is considering cancelling the rivalry series in order to replace Samford with more competitive opponents in the future. Since the series began Samford has had only three season with 10 or more wins, and it’s best season was last year when the Bulldogs went 14-14 overall. During that timespan the Bulldogs have had an RPI in the top 200 only twice, with last season’s RPI of 173 being the highest during that timespan. Sources say that Knight wants to play a more competitive schedule against teams with higher RPIs in order to increase the Panthers’ chance of making the NCAA Tournament should BSC not win the Big South Tournament. However, Knight also wants to keep some kind of Birmingham rivalry game on the schedule and the alternative could become a series with UAB. The Panthers and the Blazers will play for the third consecutive year this season with each team winning their home game. The Blazers have won four straight Conference-USA Championships and would provide an RPI boost for the Panthers’ schedule. It is unclear at this moment if UAB would be willing to continue this series into a long term cross-town rivalry series, but it certainly seems like it could be heading that way, at the moment. Keep up with The Birmingham News for more information on the Birmingham-Southern Panthers this season.

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Birmingham-Southern Adds Four Players on Signing Day BIRMINGHAM | The Birmingham-Southern men’s basketball has added four incoming freshmen to its roster for the 84 season. Coach Jeremy Knight and his staff received signed letters-of-intent from point guards Melvin Frisby and Shaun McCague, shooting guard Donald Gayhart, and small forward Michael Davis. Frisby is a 6-foot-2 guard from Cherokee County High School in Centre. He averaged 19.9 ppg and 4.5 apg during his senior season while leading Cherokee County to the AHSAA Class 4A playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Cherokee County fell in the first round of the playoffs after reaching the elite eight the previous season. Frisby is a talented facilitator but he lacks tremendously in his ability to defend and shoot. Frisby is the No. 151 point guard in the 84 class. More than likely Frisby will redshirt this upcoming season so Knight can groom him into the point guard of the future for the Panthers. McCague is a 6-foot guard from Arlington Christian Academy in Fairburn, Georgia. He scored 22.9 ppg last season and helped lead his team to the second round of the GISA Class AA playoffs. McCague is ranked as the No. 132 point guard in the class of 84. He played point guard in high school but his ball handling and passing, as well as his shot, are lacking for the Division I level. He’s athletic, fast, and can defend and projects more as an undersized small forward starting out. With some time to develop his game there is a good possibility McCague can eventually play three different positions for Knight and the Panthers. Donald Gayhart is a 6-foot-1 guard from South Pittsburg Academy in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Last season he scored an impressive 42 ppg and led his team to the TSSAA Division I-A state championship. Gayhart is ranked as the No. 151 overall player and the No. 33 shooting guard in the 84 class. He is also a one-star recruit according to Rivals. Gayhart is athletic and a good shooter and passer. He is also a good defender and has a very well developed low post game for a guard. He will probably start his career at BSC as a reserve off the bench for both wing positions, but as he develops his speed and ball handling ability he could become another player that can play three positions. Davis is a 6-foot-7 small forward from East Linn Christian Academy in Lebanon, Oregon. Knight as his staff ventured to the other side of the country to recruit Davis and he is definitely the most established recruit enrolling this season at BSC. Davis is ranked as the No. 104 overall recruit and No. 22 small forward. He was also named Mr. Basketball for Oregon and is listed as a three-star recruit by Rivals. Davis averaged 42 ppg last season and led his team to the OSAA Class 2A playoffs where they fell in the first round. He is solid in every facet of his game, but not great at one thing. His best skills entering college are his shooting ability and low post game. He needs to get a little faster but he should be the starting small forward as soon as he steps on campus. Davis also has the ability to play power forward if needed. Birmingham-Southern still has one scholarship available. The Panthers main target is point guard Mark Parry. Parry is from Northgate High School in Newnan, Georgia and is ranked as the No. 95 overall player and No. 15 point guard. He is also listed as a three-star recruit. Parry is the total package for a freshman point guard. He is athletic, fast, a capable defender, can shoot the ball, and has a solid ball handling and passing game. He has his final choices down to Birmingham-Southern and Florida State. Should Parry pick the Seminoles over the Panthers, Knight and his staff will turn their attention to small forward Clement Vester (No. 266/No. 51) from Cape Coral High School in Florida. Vester is currently ineligible and would have to sit out the upcoming season should the Panthers extend an offer and he decides to enroll. The other target the Panthers would go after is Matt Pereira (No. 160/No. 35 *) from Rivercrest High School in Arkansas. Pereira would give the Panthers an extreme logjam in the guard position, but he is also capable of playing three positions. Overall this is a very solid class for Knight. He got a starter on the wing in Davis who should have a very successful career, two players that can potentially play up to three different positions, and what appears to be the point guard of the future for BSC. Knight has clearly shown an emphasis and his value in versatile players that can play multiple positions. If Knight can beat Florida State for Parry look out. This class will go from solid to great.

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Panthers' Success For Next Season Will Depend On Recruiting Class The Birmingham-Southern men’s basketball team is coming off one of its most successful seasons in program history. The Panthers finished 83 with a 27-3 overall record and a perfect 16-0 record in the Big South Conference, which is just the second time in school history BSC has run the table in conference play. Birmingham-Southern also won the Big South Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season, a first in program history. However, the Panthers also lose five seniors that were a pivotal part of BSC’s success. Birmingham-Southern was in a similar position entering the 80 season, having won the Big South Tournament Championship and tying a school record with 28 wins in a single season in 79. The Panthers ended up turning in the worst season in coach Jeremy Knight’s tenure with the program. Birmingham-Southern posted a respectable 18-10 overall record, but went 8-8 in the Big South (the only season BSC hasn’t won 10 Big South games since Knight arrived), and a measly 3-6 in road games. Part of the Panthers’ struggles in 80 were due to an extremely inexperienced roster, BSC had eight underclassmen on its 12-man roster, and a slew of strong teams in the Big South Conference. Birmingham-Southern will once again have to field a team of mostly underclassmen unless Knight signs a handful of two-year JUCO players, which is something he has never really seemed interested in. Knight isn’t against recruiting JUCO players, but it has to be a player that fits a need the team has and preferably has three years of eligibility left. The good news for the Panthers is that next season the Big South Conference should not be as formidable as it was the last time they came off a 16-0 conference season. That’s not to say that the Big South won’t have good teams, look out for Radford, but the level of competition isn’t the same as it used to be. Below we break down each position group for Birmingham-Southern in terms of players returning and players lost, what we could expect to see from each group next season, and how we think BSC should address its needs in recruiting in order to try to get an early feel for how next season might shape up for the Panthers. GUARD: Returning Players: Jared Lobdell (Sr.), Richard Kanagy (Sr.), Donald Bowen (Jr.) Lost: Paul Cheatham, Chris Matthews Jared Lobdell is the only returning starter in this group. Lobdell established himself as one of the best point guards in the Big South Conference last season and earned second team all-conference honors for his performance. Lobdell is a wizard with the ball in his hands – last season he totaled 163 assists to just 47 turnovers – but he has always been a traditional point guard. The knock on Lobdell is that he isn’t capable of being a great scorer. Heck, he has never even been confused with being a good scorer. Lobdell’s shot isn’t the greatest and he doesn’t have a low post game to capitalize on with his big frame against smaller guards. Last season he only scored seven points or more in just eight games. He also only scored double-digits twice last season with his season high of 12 points coming against Alabama State. In Lobdell’s defense, he has never had to score a lot of points for the Panthers to be successful – he has always been surrounded by great weapons. However, as of right now there is no telling where the scoring is going to come from and with a roster (potentially) heavy with underclassmen, it’s not the best scenario to have a senior guard that can’t score when necessary. Richard Kanagy will be the other senior on the BSC squad next season. Kanagy has never been known as a great facilitator (he’s okay but not great) nor has he been known as a scorer (he’s okay but not great). Kanagy has carved out his niche as an elite defender. His speed and defensive IQ gives him the ability to guard three different positions. His defensive versatility is a real asset, but he can hinder BSC on offense. Kanagy is a more polished scorer than Lobdell is, but he isn’t exactly drawing a lot of attention to himself on the offensive end either. Birmingham-Southern’s two most experienced players will not be significant scoring options and it’s hard to imagine both of them on the floor at the same time for extended minutes. Donald Bowen had a fantastic sophomore campaign. Bowen really emerged as a good option off the bench and proved that he’s a very versatile player capable of playing both guard positions. Bowen’s ball handling and passing ability are right up there with Lobdell’s (Bowen had 60 assists to 21 turnovers last season) and his 3-point shooting ability was among the best on last season’s squad (Bowen shot 41.5% from 3). Bowen’s Achilles heel is his lack of defense. He’s just not a good defender. It actually might be a stretch to call him an okay defender. Bowen could potentially be the leading scorer for BSC next season, but the big question will be how his lack of defensive capability will impact how many minutes he plays. The good news for Bowen is that Knight has always been a coach that favors offense over defense. This group of guards will definitely have its work cut out for them. There is absolutely no way you can replace Paul Cheatham and Chris Matthews. Cheatham would have been the best player on any other team in the Big South and would have won Big South Player of the Year if William Big played in a different conference. Matthews was an all-conference guard that came off the bench to give Cheatham a break. Birmingham-Southern had the two best shooting guards in the Big South last season, according to all-conference selections, and it is impossible to try to fill the shoes they have left behind. That’s not to say that Lobdell, Kanagy, Bowen, and whoever Knight brings in can’t be successful, they most certainly can, but don’t expect to see the guards play at the same level as last season. Recruiting: Knight will definitely sign one more guard, if not two, during the spring. Knight and his staff should definitely focus on bringing in another guard that can score. This might be a position that Knight would consider bringing in a JUCO transfer in order to get a more experienced and developed player on the court. If Knight can bring in a scoring guard that is also a good defender look that player to start at the 2-guard. This could allow Bowen to play as Lobdell’s backup and potentially give BSC five scoring threats when Bowen is in the game at the point. Knight might also try to bring in an additional guard to potentially redshirt and groom to take over after Lobdell leaves. Knight has a history of redshirting point guards and developing them into great facilitators that know how to run his offense. SMALL FORWARD: Returning Players: None Lost: Elbert Estrella Elbert Estrella took over the small forward position as soon as he arrived on campus. In four years Estrella earned three Big South all-conference honors and was named the Big South Freshman of the Year in 80. Estrella was always a constant on the wing for BSC – he was never going to score 20 on an opponent, but you could always count on him for eight to 12 points every night. With no small forwards currently on the roster there’s no telling what might happen here. Ideally Knight will bring in a player to start at the 3. There is a possibility that Kanagy could start at the 3 if needed, but that would most likely only happen if Knight can’t sign a small forward during recruiting. Recruiting: Ideally Knight would like to bring in a JUCO transfer to take over the 3 spot and another small forward, preferably a high school senior, to come off the bench and learn from the starter. However, don’t be surprised if Knight brings in only one small forward and an extra guard instead of another 3. Knight has never shied away from loading up on guards and signing guards that are versatile enough to play two to three positions. This will be an interesting position to watch during the offseason and recruiting cycle. POST: Returning Players: Michael Stutes (Jr.), Donald Dargan (So.), Shawn Beauvais (So.), Jeffrey Cain (Fr.) Lost: William Big, William Wright Birmingham-Southern’s most solid positions heading into next season will be in the post. However, you can’t lose Big South Player of the Year William Big and call that position group solid either. Reigning Big South Freshman of the Year Shaun Beauvais will return as the starter at center. Beauvais is BSC’s leading returning scorer and rebounder after averaging 6.4 ppg and 5.4 rpg last season. Look for Beauvais to take the majority, if not all, of the touches in the paint Big left behind after graduation. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Beauvais putting up numbers like 12 and 7 on a consistent basis this season – as a worst case scenario. Redshirt freshman Jeffrey Cain will backup Beauvais in the middle. Cain will be a solid option off the bench for the Panthers and will begin his career as a very polished post player. The only knock on Cain is his poor ball handling and passing skills. Who will replace William Big at the 4 spot for BSC? Junior Michael Stutes might get the first crack at it when fall workouts begin. Stutes has a big frame (6-foot-8) but he needs to add some weight (216 pounds) in the weight room. Stutes is a great ball handler and passer for a big man, but he doesn’t excel at any one skill that a post player needs. He’s somewhat athletic with solid rebounding, defending, and shot blocking skills. He’s a solid player but not great. Sophomore Donald Dargan should give Stutes a tight battle for the starting power forward spot. Dargan is more athletic than Stutes but nowhere near the ball handler and passer he is. Dargan’s post skills are just behind Stutes, but Dargan has a much higher ceiling with his skills than Stutes does, especially with his low post offense. It’s very possible that Knight gives Dargan the nod over Stutes to let Dargan acclimate to the college game more quickly while also bringing a solid player off the bench in Stutes. However, it’s also a possibility that Knight might start Beauvais and Cain in the post while Dargan and Stutes come off the bench. Small forward is definitely the most uncertain position on this roster but power forward isn’t too terribly far behind it. Recruiting: Don’t look for the Panthers to focus too much attention to the post during recruiting. Birmingham-Southern is set at center for the next few years and power forward is pretty solid at the moment. Knight might sign a post player to balance the class. If that’s the case, look for Knight to bring in a power forward he can most likely redshirt. FINAL VERDICT Birmingham-Southern is set at three, probably four, positions. Beauvais should be the centerpiece of BSC’s offense and provide an anchor for the defense. The biggest issue for this team is the small forward position and depth. Currently the Panthers have neither of those. Birmingham-Southern’s success next season very well may lie with how well Knight and his staff can stock and prepare the bench for next season. Look for BSC to bring in two scoring guards, probably a high school guard to come off the bench and a JUCO guard to start at the 2, along with two small forward, a JUCO and high school senior, and a post player to redshirt. Knight and his staff have some good piece in place already, but the success for next season will ultimately rely on their ability to bring in more good pieces, if not better pieces. One thing is a certainty – BSC’s staff will be busy during the recruiting period and it will be very interesting to see what they do with their five scholarships.

83 NBA DRAFT RECAP ROUND ONE PICK TEAM PLAYER POS HT WT YR COLLEGE 1 Charlotte Hornets John Clark PG 5-9 159 Jr. Kentucky 2 Brooklyn Nets David Feldmann PF 6-5 211 Jr. Oklahoma 3 Detroit Pistons Ernest Murphy C 7-0 264 So. Connecticut 4 Dallas Mavericks Antonio Boyd PF 6-6 215 Sr. Ohio State 5 Denver Nuggets Joe Nisbett PG 6-1 196 Jr. Virginia 6 Sacramento Kings Adam Gray C 6-5 217 Jr. Duke 7 Houston Rockets Clarence Hawkins SF 6-6 219 Sr. Washington 8 Minnesota Timberwolves Charles Myles C 6-8 214 Sr. Providence 9 Los Angeles Clippers Gilbert Dingman SG 6-0 186 Jr. Seton Hall 10 Los Angeles Lakers Michael Daughtry PF 6-6 219 So. Kansas 11 Chicago Bulls Bernardo Rivera SG 6-1 194 So. Iowa 12 Miami Heat Glen Singleton SF 6-7 215 Sr. Boston College 13 Phoenix Suns Edward Wolski SF 6-8 217 So. North Carolina 14 Portland Trailblazers Michael Smith PG 5-11 174 So. UCLA 15 New York Knicks William Agostini C 6-9 224 Sr. Texas A&M 16 Boston Celtics Louis Chan SF 6-4 204 Jr. Ole Miss 17 Toronto Raptors Dwayne Bryant PG 6-4 195 Sr. Duke 18 San Antonio Spurs Eric Henderson SF 6-7 214 Jr. Ole Miss 19 Utah Jazz Kenny Calabrese PF 6-6 199 Jr. Connecticut 20 Cleveland Cavaliers Daniel Zahradnik SG 6-4 204 Jr. Michigan 21 Atlanta Hawks Robert Shaw SG 6-4 184 Jr. Ole Miss 22 Oklahoma City Thunder Douglas Oakley SG 6-1 192 Sr. Kansas 23 Golden State Warriors Dennis Jiminez PG 5-11 182 Jr. Ole Miss 24 Orlando Magic Ronald Bowman SG 6-0 164 Sr. Kansas 25 Milwaukee Bucks Mike Knudson PF 6-7 213 Sr. Rutgers 26 New Orleans Pelicans James Blackwelder PG 6-0 187 Jr. Arizona 27 Indiana Pacers Eric Harris C 6-11 227 Sr. Ole Miss 28 Philadelphia 76ers Lonnie Butler SG 6-3 208 Jr. Miami (FL) 29 Washington Wizards Russell Bell SF 6-5 220 Jr. Illinois 30 Memphis Grizzlies Bruce Walsh PG 6-0 176 Sr. Texas A&M ROUND TWO PICK TEAM PLAYER POS HT WT YR COLLEGE 31 Charlotte Hornets Vincent Harrison PF 6-5 222 Jr. Iowa 32 Brooklyn Nets Derek Johnson PG 5-11 169 Jr. Michigan State 33 Detroit Pistons Larry Nystrom SF 6-6 203 Sr. Providence 34 Dallas Mavericks Michael Howell C 6-9 214 Sr. UCLA 35 Denver Nuggets Richard Hurt PG 5-10 174 Sr. Iowa 36 Sacramento Kings Andrew Adamo SG 6-2 179 Jr. Wake Forest 37 Houston Rockets Ronald Nutt C 6-8 220 Sr. Seton Hall 38 Minnesota Timberwolves James Kunze SG 6-3 179 Sr. Virginia 39 Los Angeles Clippers Troy Stecker SF 6-2 194 Sr. Illinois 40 Los Angeles Lakers Jacob Lowery C 6-9 210 Sr. Alabama 41 Chicago Bulls Mark Wallace PF 6-10 240 Sr. Seton Hall 42 Miami Heat Jeffery Murrell C 6-10 235 Jr. Ohio State 43 Phoenix Suns Rodney Murray PF 6-6 217 Sr. Utah 44 Portland Trailblazers Christopher Yungbluth PF 6-8 212 Sr. California 45 New York Knicks Jeffrey Brown PG 6-1 179 Sr. Colorado 46 Boston Celtics James Vogel PF 7-1 264 So. Arizona 47 Toronto Raptors James McGlory PF 6-8 232 Sr. Providence 48 San Antonio Spurs James Rutledge C 7-0 248 Sr. Virginia 49 Utah Jazz Gerald Timmons SG 6-1 178 Sr. Ohio State 50 Cleveland Cavaliers William Sutton PF 6-5 212 Sr. Mississippi State 51 Atlanta Hawks Paul Thompson SG 6-3 187 So. Syracuse 52 Oklahoma City Thunder Jacob Harris SG 6-0 176 Sr. UCLA 53 Golden State Warriors Joe Lipp PG 6-0 187 Jr. North Carolina 54 Orlando Magic Jarrod Ratner PG 5-7 168 Sr. Texas A&M 55 Milwaukee Bucks Carl Williams SF 6-5 206 Sr. Texas 56 New Orleans Pelicans James Ward C 6-10 247 Sr. Mississippi State 57 Indiana Pacers Timothy Parks PG 6-3 204 Sr. LSU 58 Philadelphia 76ers Robby Raines C 6-8 225 Jr. Tennessee 59 Washington Wizards Daniel Bohannan PG 6-3 175 Sr. Virginia 60 Memphis Grizzlies Richard Mason SF 6-5 213 Sr. Texas A&M

BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN INDIVIDUAL STATS Richard Kanagy PG Jr. 30 GP/0 GS 16.9 mpg 56.3% / 44.0% / 87.5% 5.4 ppg 2.3 apg 1.5 rpg Jared Lobdell PG Jr. 30 GP/30 GS 24.0 mpg 46.1% / 0.0% / 77.1% 4.9 ppg 5.4 apg 2.6 rpg *Led Big South in assists *5th in NCAA in assists Donald Bowen PG So. 30 GP/0 GS 13.4 mpg 41.4% / 41.5% / 75.0% 3.4 ppg 2.0 apg Paul Cheatham SG Sr. 30 GP/30 GS 24.2 mpg 50.0% / 50.5% / 80.0% 14.8 ppg 2.3 apg *Finished career with 1,080 points (14th all-time at BSC) *Finished career with 46.0% 3-point percentage (3rd all-time at BSC) *Finished career with 80.9 free throw percentage (1st all-time at BSC) *Led Big South in 3-point field goal percentage *8th in NCAA in 3-point field goal percentage Chris Matthews SG Sr. 30 GP/0 GS 18.1 mpg 53.3% / 47.1% / 81.8% 9.0 ppg 2.6 apg 1.5 rpg *Finished career with 43.0% 3-point percentage (7th all-time at BSC) Elbert Estrella SF Sr. 30 GP/30 GS 23.7 mpg 46.0% / 34.1% / 64.6% 8.1 ppg 2.2 apg 4.2 rpg William Big PF Sr. 30 GP/30 GS 29.6 mpg 58.0% / 0.0% / 64.4% 16.7 ppg 7.5 rpg *Finished career with 56.8% field goal percentage (1st all-time at BSC) *Led Big South in scoring *Led Big South in field goal percentage *5th in NCAA in field goal percentage Michael Stutes PF So. 30 GP/0 GS 10.8 mpg 52.2% / 0.0% / 76.3% 3.3 ppg 2.3 rpg Donald Dargan PF Fr. 23 GP/0 GS 6.2 mpg 55.0% / n-a / 85.7% 1.2 ppg 1.1 rpg William Wright C Sr. 30 GP/2 GS 17.3 mpg 60.8% / n-a / 80.9% 4.5 ppg 5.2 rpg Shawn Beauvais C Fr. 30 GP/28 GS 18.1 mpg 54.7% / 0.0% / 73.2% 6.4 ppg 5.4 rpg Jeffrey Cain C Fr. ---Redshirted--- BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN TEAM STATS (Big South rank in parenthesis) OFFENSE DEFENSE PPG 77.3 (1st) 62.0 (2nd) REB 33.0 (T-4th) 26.9 (1st) AST 19.4 (1st) 11.9 (2nd) TO 12.3 (1st) 14.4 (7th) FG% 52.5% (1st) 42.4% (1st) FG3% 44.8% (1st) 33.2% (1st) FT% 74.3% (4th) 72.7% (11th) *6th in NCAA in assists *2nd in NCAA in field goal percentage *4th in NCAA in 3-point field goal percentage *13th in NCAA in rebounds allowed

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS Division III: Oglethorpe (31-4) [1st National Championship] Division II: Philadelphia (29-6) [2nd National Championship 73, 83] NIT: Oklahoma State (23-10) [1st NIT Championship] Division I: Iowa (33-2) [4th National Championship 37, 62, 64, 83]

AP AWARDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Joe Nisbett PG Jr. Virginia (20.6 ppg, 3.2 apg) DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Vincent Bateman PG Jr. Drake (8.3 ppg, 2.2 spg) FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Hung Tang PF Fr. Michigan State (10.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg) COACH OF THE YEAR Henry Fawes HC Iowa (4th AP COTY Award) FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICA PG Joe Nisbett Jr. Virginia (20.6 ppg, 3.2 apg) SG Robert Ross Jr. Gonzaga (19.1 ppg, 4.7 apg) SF Troy Stecker Sr. Illinois (21 ppg, 5.7 rpg) PF William Big Sr. Birmingham-Southern (16.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg) C Charles Myles Sr. Providence (14.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg) SECOND TEAM ALL-AMERICA PG Michael Smith So. UCLA (18.8 ppg, 4.7 apg) SG Clinton Spooner Jr. Florida A&M (22.8 ppg, 2.3 apg) SF Larry Wayman Sr. Northern Arizona (17.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg) PF Ronald Ortunda Sr. Tennessee (14.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) C Frederick Carpenter Jr. Texas Christian (20.1 ppg, 8.8 rpg) THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICA PG John Clark Jr. Kentucky (20.7 ppg, 3.6 apg) SG David Smith Sr. Wichita State (16.2 ppg, 4.1 apg) SF Edwin Statler Jr. Bradley (16.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg) PF Shawn Holman Sr. Navy (14.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg) C Michael Howell Sr. UCLA (13.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg) HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICA PG Rodney Patterson Eastern Kentucky David Golden La Salle Michael Elizondo Boston SG Justin McKay Virginia Tech James Almanza Tennessee Ronald Bowman Kansas SF Glen Singleton Boston College David Pasko UAB Russell Bell Illinois PF Christopher Yungbluth California Luis Grube Cincinnati Ruben Leist Marist C Jacob Lowery Alabama John Fisher Loyola (MD) Joshua Hendrick North Carolina

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Birmingham-Southern Runs Out of Gas Against Michigan State PHILADELPHIA, PENN. | One minute and thirty seconds. That is how close Birmingham-Southern came to upsetting 5-seed Michigan State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers had four possessions in the final 1:30 of the game with the score tied 54-54. Birmingham-Southern was only able to make a layup in that span along with a missed 3-point shot and two turnovers. The Spartans were able to score on all of their final possessions and pulled out a 61-56 victory over BSC. “This loss is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, that I’ve ever experienced in my career as a coach,” BSC coach Jeremy Knight said. “We had our chances all throughout the game. We get down to the final 1:30 of the game and we couldn’t take care of the basketball.” Birmingham-Southern executed a great game plan to stay in the game and held Michigan State’s future NBA guards Derek Johnson and Paul Shires to a combined 20 points and combined three assists. The biggest difference in the game was at the free throw line. Birmingham-Southern, which makes getting to the charity stripe a priority in its offense, was only 5-of-8 (62.5%) while Michigan State was 14-of-17 (82.4%). “I thought we didn’t do a good job of getting to the line. We only had eight shots all night. Part of our offensive philosophy is being aggressive and going to the rim and drawing fouls to get to the free throw line. Tonight we shot a few more 3’s than we typically do and I believe that was part of the reason why we didn’t get to the line as often as we normally do.” Birmingham-Southern’s one-two punch of William Big and Paul Cheatham once again led the Panthers in scoring in their final collegiate game. Big scored a team-high 12 points with six rebounds and Cheatham added 11 points. Freshman center Shawn Beauvais scored six points, seven rebounds, and two blocks. “Our seniors have done a lot for this program during their time on campus. Every night each one of them gave everything they had and tonight was no different. This is one of the best senior classes we’ve had at BSC and there’s going to be big expectations for incoming classes to carry on the tradition and expectations they helped establish. But we’ve also got some great young guys in our program. Shawn had a good game tonight and my staff is always trying to bring in the best players that they can for our system. This class brought BSC to great, new heights and I believe that we will only go higher in the following years. “We’ll be back in the NCAA Tournament. Every year one of our goals is to make it here. We will be back.”

NCAA TOURNAMENT DIVISION III FIRST ROUND MIDWEST [1] California Tech def. [16] Oswego [8] Grinnell def. [9] William Paterson [12] Ferrum def. [5] Marietta [4] Lewis and Clark def. [13] Wisconsin-Oshkosh [6] Wisconsin-La Crosse def. [11] Albright [14] Tufts def. [3] St. Joseph's (ME) [7] Sewanee def. [10] City College of New York [2] Averett def. [15] Endicott EAST [1] Palm Beach Atlantic def. [16] Castleton State [8] Dominican def. [9] Upper Iowa [12] Redlands def. [5] Heidelberg [4] Yeshiva def. [13] Catholic [6] Clarkson def. [11] Louisiana [3] Augustana def. [14] Olivet [7] Wisconsin-Superior def. [10] Mount St. Joseph [2] Utica def. [15] College of New Jersey SOUTH [1] Oglethorpe def. [16] Frostburg State [8] Anderson def. [9] St. Norbert [5] Wisconsin-Stevens Point def. [12] Sul Ross State [13] Ramapo def. [4] Union [6] Christopher Newport def. [11] Brooklyn [3] Dallas def. [14] St. Mary's (MN) [7] Mount Union def. [10] Ohio Wesleyan [2] Westminster (MO) def. [15] Haverford WEST [1] Centre def. [16] Keene State [8] Chicago def. [9] Capital [12] Old Westbury def. [5] Piedmont [13] Bethany College def. [4] Howard Payne [11] Wisconsin-Stout def. [6] Wisconsin Lutheran [3] Greensboro def. [14] Neumann [7] Coe def. [10] Wilmington [2] Colorado def. [15] Ripon SECOND ROUND MIDWEST [1] California Tech def. [8] Grinnell [4] Lewis and Clark def. [12] Ferrum [6] Wisconsin-La Crosse def. [14] Tufts [2] Averett def. [7] Sewanee EAST [1] Palm Beach Atlantic def. [8] Dominican [4] Yeshiva def. [12] Redlands [3] Augustana def. [6] Clarkson [2] Utica def. [7] Wisconsin-Superior SOUTH [1] Oglethorpe def. [8] Anderson [5] Wisconsin-Stevens Point def. [13] Ramapo [3] Dallas def. [6] Christopher Newport [7] Mount Union def. [2] Westminster (MO) WEST [1] Centre def. [8] Chicago [13] Bethany def. [12] Old Westbury [3] Greensboro def. [11] Wisconsin-Stout [2] Colorado def. [7] Coe SWEET SIXTEEN MIDWEST [1] California Tech def. [4] Lewis and Clark [2] Averett def. [6] Wisconsin-La Crosse EAST [4] Yeshiva def. [1] Palm Beach Atlantic [3] Augustana def. [2] Utica SOUTH [1] Oglethorpe def. [5] Wisconsin-Stevens Point [3] Dallas def. [7] Mount Union WEST [1] Centre def. [13] Bethany [3] Greensboro def. [2] Colorado ELITE EIGHT MIDWEST [1] California Tech def. [2] Averett EAST [4] Yeshiva def. [3] Augustana SOUTH [1] Oglethorpe def. [3] Dallas WEST [3] Greensboro def. [1] Centre FINAL FOUR [1] California Tech def. [4] Yeshiva [1] Oglethorpe def. [3] Greensboro CHAMPIONSHIP [1] Oglethorpe def. [1] California Tech NCAA TOURNAMENT DIVISION II FIRST ROUND MIDWEST [1] Cal State-Dominguez Hills def. [16] Washington Adventist [9] Armstrong Atlantic def. [8] Adams State [5] Fort Valley State def. [12] Findlay [13] Southwest Minnesota State def. [4] Seattle [6] Mount Olive def. [11] Cal State-Los Angeles [3] Philadelphia def. [14] Charleston [7] Abilene Christian def. [10] North Dakota State [15] Wisconsin-Parkside def. [2] Ouachita Baptist EAST [1] Merrimack def. [16] Truman State [9] Ashland def. [8] Fairmont State [5] USC-Upstate def. [12] West Virginia Wesleyan [4] LIU-CW Post def. [13] Colorado School of Mines [6] Northwest Nazarene def. [11] Bloomfield [3] Grand Canyon def. [14] Indianapolis [10] Southwest Baptist def. [7] Tusculum [2] Eastern New Mexico def. [15] Lane SOUTH [16] Western Oregon def. [1] New Jersey Tech [8] Northeastern State def. [9] Grand Valley State [5] Western State def. [12] St. Michael's [4] Cal State-Chico def. [13] Minnesota State-Mankato [11] Christian Brothers def. [6] Molloy [3] Mercyhurst def. [14] West Texas A&M [10] University of D.C. def. [7] West Florida [2] Bowie State def. [15] Limestone WEST [1] Green Mountain def. [16] Salem International [8] Wayne State (MI) def. [9] Post [5] San Francisco State def. [12] Mansfield [4] Pace def. [13] Rollins [6] Angelo State def. [11] Felician [3] Quincy def. [14] Morehouse [7] Delta State def. [10] Cal State-Santa Barbara [2] UNC-Pembroke def. [15] Southern New Hampshire SECOND ROUND MIDWEST [1] Cal State-Dominguez Hills def. [9] Armstrong Atlantic State [13] Southwest Minnesota State def. [5] Fort Valley State [3] Philadelphis def. [6] Mount Olive [7] Abilene Christian def. [15] Wisconsin-Parkside EAST [9] Ashland def. [1] Merrimack [4] LIU-CW Post def. [5] USC-Upstate [3] Grand Canyon def. [6] Northwest Nazarene [2] Eastern New Mexico def. [10] Southwest Baptist SOUTH [8] Northeastern State def. [16] Western Oregon [5] Western State def. [4] Cal State-Chico [3] Mercyhurst def. [11] Christian Brothers [2] Bowie State def. [10] University of D.C. WEST [1] Green Mountain def. [8] Wayne State (MI) [4] Pace def. [5] San Francisco State [3] Quincy def. [6] Angelo State [2] UNC-Pembroke def. [7] Delta State SWEET SIXTEEN MIDWEST [13] Southwest Minnesota State def. [1] Cal State-Dominguez Hills [3] Philadelphia def. [7] Abilene Christian EAST [4] LIU-CW Post def. [9] Ashland [3] Grand Canyon def. [2] Eastern New Mexico SOUTH [5] Western State def. [8] Northeastern State [3] Mercyhurst def. [2] Bowie State WEST [1] Green Mountain def. [4] Pace [2] UNC-Pembroke def. [3] Quincy ELITE EIGHT MIDWEST [3] Philadelphia def. [13] Southwest Minnesota State EAST [4] LIU-CW Post def. [3] Grand Canyon SOUTH [3] Mercyhurst def. [5] Western State WEST [1] Green Mountain def. [2] UNC-Pembroke FINAL FOUR [3] Philadelphia def. [4] LIU-CW Post [3] Mercyhurst def. [1] Green Mountain CHAMPIONSHIP [3] Philadelphia def. [3] Mercyhurst NIT FIRST ROUND [8] Texas Christian 60, [1] Santa Clara 52 [4] Loyola (MD) 69, [5] Gardner-Webb 56 [3] Purdue 80, [6] Kansas State 71 [2] Louisville 77, [7] Murray State 71 [1] Idaho State 82, [8] South Florida 64 [4] Fresno State 80, [5] North Texas 69 [3] Florida State 70, [6] Baylor 65 [7] Columbia 75, [2] Southern Methodist 65 [1] Oklahoma State 57, [8] St. John's 43 [5] Georgia Tech 69, [4] Furman 55 [6] Bradley 79, [3] Indiana 78 [2] San Diego State 70, [7] Prairie View A&M 68 [1] UMBC 69, [8] Cleveland State 55 [5] Harvard 74, [4] Wisconsin 66 [3] Arizona State 84, [6] Wichita State 77 [7] George Washington 62, [2] Texas Southern 59 SECOND ROUND [8] Texas Christian 59, [4] Loyola (MD) 52 [2] Louisville 77, [3] Purdue 61 [1] Idaho State 85, [4] Fresno State 77 [7] Columbia 58, [3] Florida State 56 [1] Oklahoma State 58, [5] Georgia Tech 49 [2] San Diego State 73, [6] Bradley 58 [5] Harvard 81, [1] UMBC 75 [3] Arizona State 66, [7] George Washington 58 THIRD ROUND [2] Louisville 80, [8] Texas Christian 68 [1] Idaho State 68, [7] Columbia 66 [1] Oklahoma State 62, [2] San Diego State 42 [5] Harvard 52, [3] Arizona State 49 SEMIFINALS (@ New York, N.Y.) [1] Idaho State 67, [2] Louisville 66 [1] Oklahoma State 63, [5] Harvard 60 CHAMPIONSHIP (@ New York, N.Y.) [1] Oklahoma State 71, [1] Idaho State 69 NCAA TOURNAMENT DIVISION I FIRST ROUND MIDWEST [1] Duke 78, [16] Central Michigan 42 [9] BYU 78, [8] South Carolina 71 (OT) [5] Syracuse 78, [12] Navy 61 [4] Oklahoma 72, [13] DePaul 55 [11] Texas 75, [6] Minnesota 72 [3] UCLA 69, [14] George Mason 54 [7] Wake Forest 72, [10] Gonzaga 65 [2] Tennessee 89, [15] Western Carolina 61 EAST [1] Ole Miss 90, [16] Long Island 62 [8] Arizona 70, [9] Richmond 58 [5] Michigan State 61, [12] Birmingham-Southern 56 [4] Seton Hall 84, [13] Stephen F. Austin 59 [11] LSU 63, [6] Virginia Tech 59 [3] Illinois 81, [14] Marist 67 [7] Oregon State 61, [10] Rutgers 48 [2] Kansas 89, [15] Hampton 65 SOUTH [1] Ohio State 75, [16] California-Irvine 49 [9] Mississippi State 71, [8] Georgetown 69 [12] North Carolina 55, [5] California 44 [4] Colorado 91, [13] Northern Arizona 81 (OT) [6] Air Force 55, [11] Dayton 42 [3] Miami (FL) 87, [14] Dartmouth 55 [7] Kentucky 61, [10] Missouri 46 [2] Providence 82, [15] Chicago State 69 WEST [1] Iowa 88, [16] Eastern Kentucky 60 [8] Florida 86, [9] Boston College 81 [12] San Jose State 77, [5] Washington 71 (OT) [4] Connecticut 86, [13] Drake 60 [11] Alabama 60, [6] Utah 58 [3] Virginia 75, [14] South Alabama 65 [10] Northwestern 65, [7] Stanford 57 [2] Texas A&M 85, [15] Houston 68 SECOND ROUND MIDWEST [1] Duke 69, [9] BYU 53 [5] Syracuse 68, [4] Oklahoma 65 [3] UCLA 82, [11] Texas 75 [7] Wake Forest 60, [2] Tennessee 59 EAST [1] Ole Miss 73, [8] Arizona 63 [4] Seton Hall 71, [5] Michigan State 65 [11] LSU 64, [3] Illinois 61 [2] Kansas 80, [7] Oregon State 70 SOUTH [9] Mississippi State 72, [1] Ohio State 59 [4] Colorado 53, [12] North Carolina 50 [6] Air Force 76, [3] Miami (FL) 72 [7] Kentucky 57, [2] Providence 54 WEST [1] Iowa 80, [8] Florida 53 [4] Connecticut 69, [12] San Hose State 64 [3] Virginia 85, [11] Alabama 68 [10] Northwestern 61, [2] Texas A&M 58 SWEET SIXTEEN MIDWEST (@ Milwaukee, Wis.) [1] Duke 68, [5] Syracuse 58 [7] Wake Forest 64, [3] UCLA 57 EAST (@ Brooklyn, N.Y.) [1] Ole Miss 83, [4] Seton Hall 58 [2] Kansas 90, [11] LSU 78 SOUTH (@ New Orleans, La.) [9] Mississippi State 63, [4] Colorado 57 [7] Kentucky 68, [6] Air Force 62 WEST (@ Seattle, Wash.) [1] Iowa 59, [4] Connecticut 49 [3] Virginia 66, [10] Northwestern 58 ELITE EIGHT MIDWEST (@ Milwaukee, Wis.) [1] Duke 67, [7] Wake Forest 57 EAST (@ Brooklyn, N.Y.) [2] Kansas 63, [1] Ole Miss 61 (OT) SOUTH (@ New Orleans, La.) [9] Mississippi State 71, [7] Kentucky 61 WEST (@ Seattle, Wash.) [1] Iowa 99, [3] Virginia 58 FINAL FOUR (@ Glendale, Ariz.) [1] Duke 79, [2] Kansas 69 [1] Iowa 79, [9] Mississippi State 67 CHAMPIONSHIP (@ Glendale, Ariz.) [1] Iowa 76, [1] Duke 70

The Birmingham News Perfection! Birmingham-Southern Claims Big South Championship BIRMINGHAM | The Birmingham-Southern Panthers defeated Coastal Carolina 78-66 to claim the 83 Big South Tournament Championship. The Panthers’ victory is historic because it gives BSC its 10th Big South Tournament Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Birmingham-Southern will be making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. “This is absolutely incredible,” said an excited Jeremy Knight. “When you look back all the way to last summer and all the hard work these guys have put in since then. They took everyone’s best shot each night and they did what it took to find a way to win. I just can’t express how special this is to be a part of what this team has done so far this season.” The Panthers went 16-0 during the regular season in Big South play and then won all three games in the Big South Tournament for a perfect 19-0 overall record against Big South teams. This is just the second time in program history that BSC has accomplished that feat, with the other coming in 79 – also under Coach Knight’s tenure. Although he has already experienced a perfect Big South season, Knight said this one was more special. “Don’t get me wrong, anytime you go undefeated it’s a very special thing,” Knight said. “But this time was different than the first time. The last time we did this we knew we had a good team but they weren’t expected by their peers and fans and outside sources to go undefeated. They took each game one at time, like we always try to do, and they found a way to win them all. This year our team once again had high expectations from the staff, just like they do every year, but the expectations and pressure from the outside was so much greater than it’s ever been since I’ve been here. For the guys to not get caught up on that and focus on the task at hand and accomplish our goals is something that is truly special to me.” This BSC squad is perhaps the most talented from top to bottom since Knight took over the program. Seven players earned all-conference recognition and William Big and Shawn Beauvais were named Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively. Big showed why he is the best player in the conference during the biggest stage the Big South can offer. Big finished the championship game with 20 points and 12 rebounds and was named Tournament MVP. “William has just been incredible for us all season long. Coming into the season we knew he was going to have to be our leader and we put a lot on him in terms of workload and expectations. And every single night he delivered. Most nights he dominated in the post and on the boards. On nights when he was off he did a good job of getting other teammates involved and letting them step up and make plays. Every single game he did whatever was necessary for the team to get a win. Every member of this team did that and that’s why we’re in the position we are right now.” Birmingham-Southern will play in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time and in consecutive years for the first time ever. This will be Knight’s third trip to the Big Dance with BSC. Birmingham-Southern is currently projected as a 12-seed matched up with 5-seed Oklahoma. “We’re excited about winning the tournament. We’re gonna celebrate. But we also need to refocus and realize that there is more basketball to be played. We’ve accomplished every goal we’ve set for this season. Now it’s time to add ‘win an NCAA Tournament game’ to our list of goals. It’s going to be a step up in competition, but our guys are experienced enough to know what’s ahead of them and what they need to do to prepare to be successful. We’ll enjoy this victory and watch the selection show and then it’s time to get back to work.”

BIG SOUTH SPORTS BLOG Big South Championship Game Set And then there were two! The semifinals for the Big South Tournament is over and two teams are left standing with hopes of winning the championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. As most predicted the championship game will be played between Coastal Carolina and Birmingham-Southern. Below we’ll have a recap of the two semifinal games to see how the Chanticleers and Panthers advanced to the championship game. Game 9: Coastal Carolina 75, Liberty 60 Liberty played in its third game in as many days. The Flame held their own in the first half against Coastal Carolina, the Chanticleers only led by three at the half. However, the fatigue finally caught up with Liberty in the second half as Coastal Carolina outscored the Flame 45-33 to run away with the game. Coastal Carolina forced 23 Liberty turnovers and converted them into 26 points. The Chanticleers also pounded Liberty inside for 26 points in the paint. The other main difference in the contest was difference in fouls. Coastal Carolina was only whistled for 12 fouls while Liberty racked up 24 fouls. Additionally, Liberty was only able to get to the free throw line nine times. Coastal Carolina was too fresh and too much for Liberty and the Chanticleers found their way to the title game without facing a huge challenge, just as many experts predicted. Liberty’s leading scorers were Paul Bard and Stewart Hayhurt with 12 and 11 points off the bench, respectively. Damion Palmer has continued to be a force to be reckoned with for Coastal Carolina as he scored 13 points. Game 10: Birmingham-Southern 79, Radford 57 Birmingham-Southern wasted no time in this game jumping all over Radford and letting their opponent know that they are the best team in the Big South Conference. The Panthers raced out to a 40-27 halftime lead. Birmingham-Southern pounded Radford inside for 34 points in the paint and turned 15 Radford turnovers into 18 points. Paul Cheatham led the way for BSC with 18 points, including a 4-for-7 performance from behind the arc. William Big and Elbert Estrella each scored 14 points for BSC as well. Radford’s Anton Basinger was held to just 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting. The Birmingham-Southern defense dominated Radford throughout most of the game and held the Highlanders to just 26 total rebounds and 2-of-12 (16.7%) from the 3-point line. Birmingham-Southern also recorded eight steals and five blocks. The match that most people predicted and want to see for the championship game will happen. Birmingham-Southern and Coastal Carolina will square off once again. Earlier this season BSC was able to escape a road game against Coastal Carolina with a 96-94 overtime victory. Birmingham-Southern freshman Shawn Beauvais had his best game of the year with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Coastal Carolina has been impressive throughout the Big South Tournament, but BSC is on an entirely different level right now. The Panthers sent a message with their semifinal victory that they came here to dominate, and so far this season that is what BSC has done. With a win BSC could wrap up just its second undefeated streak in Big South play (BSC went 16-0 and won the Big South Tournament in 79, also). The Panthers could also win their 10th Big South Tournament Championship, which would put them in second place behind Alabama A&M’s 14 tournament titles, and give the Panthers an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. A victory for Coastal Carolina would be its ninth Big South Tournament Championship and send the Chanticleers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 71. BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Coastal Carolina (17-11) Birmingham-Southern (26-2) [-10]

BIG SOUTH AWARDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR William Big PF Sr. Birmingham-Southern (17.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg) DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR William Lyberger C Sr. Alabama A&M (12.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 1.2 bpg) FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Shawn Beauvais C Fr. Birmingham-Southern (6.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg) COACH OF THE YEAR Jeremy Knight HC Birmingham-Southern FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG SOUTH PG James Bing Jr. UNC-Asheville (11.5 ppg, 3.4 apg) SG Paul Cheatham Sr. Birmingham-Southern (16.1 ppg, 2.5 apg) SF Damion Palmer Sr. Coastal Carolina (15.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg) PF William Big Sr. Birmingham-Southern (17.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg) C William Lyberger Sr. Alabama A&M (12.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg) SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG SOUTH PG Jared Lobdell Jr. Birmingham-Southern (5.3 ppg, 5.7 apg) SG Chris Matthews Sr. Birmingham-Southern (8.5 ppg, 3.1 apg) SF Elbert Estrella Sr. Birmingham-Southern (9.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg) PF Lester Hitchcock Sr. Alabama A&M (9.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg) C Nathan Forbes Jr. Charleston Southern (8.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg) THIRD TEAM ALL-BIG SOUTH PG Freddie Fulghum Jr. Mississippi Valley State (12.1 ppg, 4.2 apg) SG Glenn Allan Jr. Charleston Southern (10.3 ppg, 2.8 apg) SF Michael Brown Sr. Mississippi Valley State (12.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg) PF Edgar Stewart Sr. Liberty (9.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg) C Shawn Beauvais Fr. Birmingham-Southern (6.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg) HONORABLE MENTION ALL-BIG SOUTH PG Joshua Mallery Winthrop Richard Kanagy Birmingham-Southern William Claussen Coastal Carolina SG Francis Young Liberty Christopher Peake Alabama A&M Peter Smith VMI SF Anton Basinger Radford Joel Longoria Charleston Southern Daniel Akins Radford PF William Allmon Coastal Carolina Tom Darden High Point Gordon Penney UNC-Asheville C Daniel Summers Coastal Carolina Brian Storm Mississippi Valley State Christopher Perlman VMI

BIG SOUTH SPORTS BLOG Big South Tournament Day 2 Recap The second day of the 83 Big South Tournament is over and four teams are left in the hunt for the Big South Tournament Championship. Below we’ll recap each game from Day 2 and look ahead to the semifinals. Game 5: Coastal Carolina 74, Mississippi Valley State 64 The Chanticleers jumped all over Mississippi Valley State from the get go. Coastal Carolina forced 18 MVSU turnovers and scored 26 points off of those takeaways. On top of that Coastal Carolina hit 10 shots from beyond the arc. Don’t let the final score fool you – this game was all Coastal Carolina. Mississippi Valley State had three players score in double digits led by point guard Freddie Fulghum’s 15 points. Small forward Damion Palmer led Coastal Carolina with 15 points. Game 6: Liberty 71, Alabama A&M 68 (OT) The Liberty Flame upset Alabama A&M in the second game of the day to move onto the semifinals where it will play its third game is as many days. Alabama A&M’s season is over as well as the chance to win its fifth Big South Tournament in the last seven years. Liberty shooting guard Francis Young finished the game with 12 points and eight rebounds. Young also nailed a corner 3 with one second remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. Liberty pulled down an impressive 45 rebounds and scored 22 points off of 19 Alabama A&M turnovers. The Bulldogs did themselves no favors from the free throw line, shooting 60 percent (15-of-25) from the charity stripe. Center Richard Jeanbaptiste led Liberty with 13 points and six rebounds. Alabama A&M’s leading scorers were point guard Seth Hall (13 points) and center William Lyberger (10 points and 13 rebounds). Game 7: Birmingham-Southern 80, High point 65 The top team in the Big South was all over High Point in this game. Birmingham-Southern played stifling defense and held the High Point starters to just 25 combined points. Power forward William Big led BSC with 16 points, five rebounds, and three blocks. Shooting guard Paul Cheatham added 12 points and seven assists. Thomas Hendrix and Eric Smith led High Point with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Game 8: Radford 71, UNC-Asheville 70 It appeared as if there would be another upset in the final game of the day when UNC-Asheville had a five-point lead at the half. Despite shooting just 61.5 percent from the free throw line (16-of-26), Radford was able to bounce back and take control in the second half. The Highlanders were never able to run away with the game, but there was no question who was winning this game throughout most of the second half. Daniel Akins led Radford with 15 points. Ian Glick once again put together an impressive performance and led UNC-Asheville with 14 points, five assists, and four steals. The semifinals are set and four teams are left with hopes of making the NCAA Tournament. Liberty, fresh off its upset over Alabama A&M, should challenge Coastal Carolina in the first game. It will be interesting to see what effect playing three games in three days will have on Liberty. The main attraction of the semifinals will be top seed Birmingham-Southern and Radford. The Highlanders played fairly well against UNC-Asheville, however, they can’t afford to fall too far behind against BSC or the Panthers will run them out of the gym. Both games in the semifinals should be great. Look forward to a championship game featuring Coastal Carolina and Birmingham-Southern. SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS Liberty (15-13) Coastal Carolina (16-11) [-5] Radford (16-11) Birmingham-Southern (25-2) [-18]

BIG SOUTH SPORTS BLOG Big South Tournament Day 1 Recap The first day of the 83 Big South Tournament is over and its time to recap all of the action from the first round. Game 1: Mississippi Valley State 79, Charleston Southern 71 The first game of the tournament featured an upset as the Delta Devils pulled off an eight-point win over the Bucs. Mississippi Valley State had four players score in double digits and were led by senior small forward Michael Brown’s monster performance with 29 points and seven rebounds. The Delta Devils also made 21-of-26 free throws (80.8%) while the Bucs chucked shots up from behind the arc (8-of-28 28.6%). Charleston Southern’s bench also only accounted for eight points. Game 2: Liberty 84, Alabama State 69 Liberty dominated Alabama State from the opening tip en route to a blowout victory. The Flame forced 18 turnovers, won the rebound battle 35-28 and outscored Alabama State’s bench 45-27. Leading the way for Liberty was junior point guard John Boyle with 13 points. Junior power forward Jame Hasenberg also scored 13 points and had six rebounds and three blocks coming off the bench for Liberty. Junior shooting guard Richard Cate was the leading scorer for Alabama State with 16 points off the bench. Game 3: High Point 67, VMI 62 VMI’s starting five put up a valiant effort against High Point, but in the end it was the Panthers depth and ability to make free throws that won the game. Four starters for VMI scored in double digits, led by sophomore point guard Antonio Hyden with 18 points while playing small forward, but the Keydets bench could only account for seven points. High Point’s bench scored 30 points. VMI was an abysmal 10-of-19 (52.6%) from the free throw line. Senior power forward Tom Darden was High Point’s leading scorer with 13 points. Game 4: UNC-Asheville 79, Winthrop 76 The nightcap game was a thriller with the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs pulling out a three-point victory. Winthrop suffered from the misfortunes of an 11-of-19 (57.9%) performance from the free throw line and star point guard Joshua Mallery fouling out in 27 minutes. Mallery scored 14 points with five rebounds and three steals. UNC-Asheville fired away from behind the arc hitting 8-of-18 (44.4%) shots from 3-point range. Senior point guard Ian Glick led the Bulldogs with 16 points and sealed the victory by scoring the final four points for UNC-Asheville. Here’s the lines for the second round matches in the Big South Tournament Mississippi Valley State (11-16) Coastal Carolina (15-11) [-9] Liberty (14-13) Alabama A&M (12-14) [-2] High Point (5-22) Birmingham-Southern (24-2) [-38] UNC-Asheville (10-17) Radford (15-11) [-4]

BIG SOUTH SPORTS BLOG 83 Big South Tournament Field Finalized The 83 Big South Tournament bracket is officially finalized. Birmingham-Southern will host the tournament on its campus in the Bill Battle Coliseum. Birmingham-Southern captured the Big South regular season championship with a perfect 16-0 record after defeating High Point 84-63 Saturday afternoon. This is the first time a Big South team has ran the table in the regular season since BSC accomplished the feat in 79. The Panthers hosted that year as well and won the Big South Tournament and accompanying automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The beauty, or curse depending on who you ask, of playing in what is normally a one-bid league is that it is truly a new season for every team. How the teams have performed over the previous 16 games doesn’t matter – all that matters is what happens over the next four days. Survive and advance will be the motto for each team this weekend as, in all likelihood, the Big South will once again receive only one bid to the Big Dance. Birmingham-Southern could potentially sneak into the tournament with a loss in the championship game, as it did last season, but there is no guarantee that the Panthers are locked in. Last season BSC just made the field of 64 as the final at-large bid and the Panthers fell two spots to 50th in the latest projection report. The Panthers could have a tough match with Radford in the semifinals before potentially playing Coastal Carolina, who pushed BSC to overtime in the regular season, to claim the Big South Tournament crown. Neither of those two games are guaranteed wins, but the Panthers are the clear favorite to cut down the nets this weekend. Below we break down the bracket and give you a prediction for each team. Check back throughout the tournament as we update the bracket and breakdown the top performers for each round. 83 BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT at Bill Battle Coliseum – Birmingham, Ala. FIRST ROUND (Wednesday) Game 1: Mississippi Valley State vs. Charleston Southern Game 2: Liberty vs. Alabama State Game 3: VMI vs. High Point Game 4: UNC-Asheville vs. Winthrop SECOND ROUND (Thursday) Game 5: Coastal Carolina vs. Mississippi Valley State/Charleston Southern Game 6: Alabama A&M vs. Liberty/Alabama State Game 7: Birmingham-Southern vs. VMI/High Point Game 8: Radford vs. UNC-Asheville/Winthrop SEMIFINALS (Friday) Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner CHAMPIONSHIP (Saturday) Game 11: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner PREDICTION: This tournament should play out chalk the entire way. Coastal Carolina is blessed with being in the weaker bracket and should have no trouble getting to the championship game. Alabama A&M has a reputation for playing its best ball during the tournament (see last year’s upset of BSC and VMI) and have won four of the last six Big South Tournaments. Its possible the Bulldogs could make another postseason run, but we believe the Chanticleers will handle Alabama A&M just like they did earlier in the season. VMI should advance to play BSC in the second round. Normally this is a match you would see in the semifinals if not the championship game. The Keydets have had BSC’s number lately having won two straight against Knight’s squad, but the Panthers broke that streak with a dominating 79-55 victory Thursday night. This year VMI features six true freshmen while BSC plays five experienced seniors. This year BSC’s experience will trump VMI’s youth and inexperience. The semifinals should feature an intriguing matchup between BSC and Radford. Radford boasts 10 sophomores on its 12-man roster, but senior small forwards Anton Basinger and Daniel Akins (13.2 and 11.7 ppg, respectively) lead the Highlanders. Despite having an army of underclassmen Radford was able to win 10 Big South games. Radford might be a year away from being an unstoppable force in the Big South, but don’t sleep on them this year. Birmingham-Southern’s path to the Big South Tournament title isn’t a cake walk, but having the league’s top two scorers in William Big (16.9 ppg) and Paul Cheatham (15.3 ppg) certainly make it more manageable. Don’t be surprised if Alabama A&M or Radford show up in the championship game, but the final verdict is most likely going to be Coastal Carolina and BSC in a great game. We have the Panthers coming out on top. Stay connected to the Big South Sports Blog to get the latest up to date information and scores throughout the Big South Tournament.

NBA DRAFT PROSPECT RANKINGS The 83 college basketball regular season is winding down and now its time to start looking ahead to the 83 NBA Draft. Below we rank the top 10 prospects at each position and give our current overall ranking as well. Obviously this is an early draft and the rankings will change over the final two weeks, conference tournaments, and the NCAA Tournament. Additionally, players will announce their intentions to return to school for another season. At first glance this draft is very weak in guards and wings that can make in immediate impact. While the draft’s immediate contributors will be post players, the post positions are very top heavy while the guard and wing spots are more balanced throughout the class. Oklahoma junior power forward David Feldman is our current top rated prospect in the draft. Feldman’s main competition for the first overall pick will be Kentucky junior point guard John Clark (No. 2) and Connecticut sophomore center Ernest Murphy (No. 3). The case for Clark will be that he is an elite point guard capable of making an immediate impact in the NBA. He benefits from a very weak guard class where there is most likely only one other point guard worthy of a lottery pick. The first overall pick will most likely be either Feldman or Clark, but Murphy could enter the conversation as a dark horse candidate. The sophomore from Connecticut hasn’t put up the type of numbers he was expected to as an elite high school prospect (Murphy is currently averaging 8.8 ppg and 6.6 rpg), however, Murphy’s skill set and natural physical abilities has NBA scouts drooling over the potential of the seven-footer in the NBA. Follow Rivals to get the most up to date information on the top NBA Draft prospects throughout the remainder of the season. POINT GUARD 2 John Clark 5-9 159 Jr. Kentucky 13 Joe Nisbett 6-1 196 Jr. Virginia 18 Michael Smith 5-11 174 So. UCLA 19 Dwayne Bryant 6-4 195 Sr. Duke 25 DennisJiminez 5-11 182 Jr. Ole Miss 27 James Blackwelder 6-0 187 Jr. Arizona 34 Paul Shires 6-3 198 So. Michigan State 36 Derek Johnson 5-11 169 Jr. Michigan State 38 Bruce Walsh 6-0 176 Sr. Texas A&M 55 Richard Harber 6-5 215 Sr. Minnesota SHOOTING GUARD 7 Gilbert Dingman 6-0 186 Jr. Seton Hall 11 Daniel Zahradnik 6-4 204 Jr. Michigan 14 Bernardo Rivera 6-1 194 So. Iowa 22 Ronald Antunez 6-3 207 Jr. Syracuse 23 Robert Shaw 6-4 184 Jr. Ole Miss 28 Ronald Bowman 6-0 164 Sr. Kansas 30 Douglas Oakley 6-1 192 Sr. Kansas 31 Lonnie Butler 6-3 208 Jr. Miami (FL) 39 Jurica Zediker 6-0 181 So. Oklahoma 53 James Kunze 6-3 179 Sr. Virginia SMALL FORWARD 6 Clarence Hankins 6-6 219 Sr. Washington 8 Glen Singleton 6-7 215 Sr. Boston College 15 Edward Wolski 6-8 217 So. North Carolina 16 Louis Chan 6-4 204 Jr. Ole Miss 17 Eric Hunter 5-11 189 So. Florida 21 Eric Henderson 6-7 214 Jr. Ole Miss 33 Russell Bell 6-5 220 Jr. Illinois 37 Warren Kelly 6-4 204 Fr. Kansas 40 Darren Banks 6-2 196 Jr. Iowa 42 Clarence Davis 6-4 184 Jr. Duke POWER FORWARD 1 David Feldman 6-5 211 Jr. Oklahoma 4 Antonio Boyd 6-6 215 Sr. Ohio State 9 Michael Daughtry 6-6 219 So. Kansas 20 Kenny Calabrese 6-6 199 Jr. Connecticut 24 Raymond Berry 6-11 253 Jr. Connecticut 29 David Johnson 6-9 243 Jr. Georgetown 32 Mike Knudson 6-7 213 Sr. Rutgers 47 Samuel Bowen 6-8 225 Jr. Seton Hall 52 Vincent Harrison 6-5 222 Jr. Iowa 56 Christopher Yungbluth 6-8 212 Sr. California CENTER 3 Ernest Murphy 7-0 264 So. Connecticut 5 Adam Gray 6-5 217 Jr. Duke 10 Charles Myles 6-8 214 Sr. Providence 12 William Agostini 6-9 224 Sr. Texas A&M 26 Eric O’Bryan 7-1 270 Jr. Iowa 35 Eric Harris 6-11 227 Sr. Ole Miss 41 Kevin Malone 6-11 258 Jr. Connecticut 43 Ronald Moss 6-6 208 So. Michigan State 45 Angel Lombardi 6-11 233 Jr. Virginia Tech 46 Ellis Gurganus 7-0 257 So. Miami (FL)

BIG SOUTH SPORTS BLOG Birmingham-Southern Claims Big South Regular Season Crown The Birmingham-Southern Panthers have claimed at least a share of the Big South Conference regular season championship with its 80-62 road win over Alabama State Saturday night. Should Birmingham-Southern (20-2 overall, 12-0 Big South) lose the remaining four games and Coastal Carolina (13-11, 10-4) win out them the two teams will share the regular season crown, however, BSC will host the Big South Conference Tournament due to its 96-94 OT win against Coastal Carolina earlier in the season. The championship will be Birmingham-Southern’s fourth regular season title during coach Jeremy Knight’s 10-year tenure. This will also mark just the second time the Panthers have hosted the Big South Conference Tournament during Knight’s tenure. Birmingham-Southern hosted the tournament in 79 when they used their home court advantage to win the Big South Conference Tournament and earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Birmingham-Southern will visit UNC-Asheville (7-16, 4-9) Thursday night where it should wrap up the Big South championship outright. Should the Panthers fall it seems extremely unlikely that they will lose their final four games, so it should only be a matter of time before BSC wins the conference outright. Knight has never had a losing record, overall or conference, while at the helm of the BSC Panthers and this will mark his seventh season with at least 12 Big South victories. This is also Knight’s eighth season with at least 20 wins at BSC. Knight has already established himself as one of the top coaches outside of the high major conferences and its been known that he desires to move to a high major school – in the past three years he’s expressed interest in openings at Oregon, California, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, and Memphis to name a few. With his impressive resume continuing to build and the recent noise the team has been making on the national scene the last few years, one can only wonder how much longer it will be until he gets a call from a high major. CURRENT BIG SOUTH STANDINGS 1 Birmingham-Southern 20-2 12-0~ 2 Coastal Carolina 13-11 10-4 3 Alabama A&M 11-13 8-6 4 Radford 12-10 7-5 5 Charleston Southern 13-10 7-6! 6 Liberty 11-12 7-6 7 Mississippi Valley State 9-13 5-7@ 8 VMI 11-11 5-7# 8 Winthrop 9-13 5-7# 10 UNC-Asheville 7-16 4-9 11 High Point 3-19 3-9 12 Alabama State 6-17 3-10 ~ - Birmingham-Southern has clinched a share of the Big South championship and will host the Big South Tournament ! – Charleston Southern currently owns tiebreaker over Liberty. CSU and LU will play in the season finale. @ - Mississippi Valley State owns tiebreaker over VMI and WU # - VMI and Winthrop split their regular season meetings BIG SOUTH AWARDS PROJECTIONS Player of the Year William Big PF Sr. Birmingham-Southern (17 ppg, 7.6 rpg) Defensive Player of the Year Joshua Mallery PG Jr. Winthrop (13 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.8 spg) Freshman of the Year Shawn Beauvais C Fr. Birmingham-Southern (6.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1 bpg) Coach of the Year Jeremy Knight HC Birmingham-Southern (20-2, 12-0)

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Knight Pleased With Panthers Entering Big South Play BIRMINGHAM | Birmingham-Southern head coach Jeremy Knight said he was pleased with his team’s performance during the nonconference portion of the schedule. The Panthers are currently 8-2 with their only losses coming against two ranked opponents – BSC lost 74-60 to then No. 5 Seton Hall and 65-50 to then No. 9 Texas A&M. “Overall we’re really pleased with how our guys have been performing,” said Knight of his team’s first 10 games. “We’ve really done a good job of playing defense overall. We won all of the game we probably should have won and lost the games we should have lost. I felt like there were a few games that could have gone either way on our schedule and we won them, so I think we’re in a pretty good situation heading into conference play.” The highlight victories for BSC include a 51-47 road win over a young Auburn squad and a 76-57 thrashing of crosstown rival UAB. Making BSC’s victory over the Blazers much sweeter is the fact that UAB coach Greg Olmander gave Knight his first coaching job as an assistant at Division III East Texas Baptist. After the 73 season Olmander made the move to Division II Indianapolis which allowed Knight to take over East Texas Baptist for his first head coaching job. Knight led the Tigers to a Division III National Championship during his first season as a head coach. “I think my past with Coach Olmander is pretty well documented,” said Knight. “I’ll always be forever grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to get into the coaching business. We used to coach against each other during scrimmages at practices years ago at East Texas. It’s crazy to sit back and see how our different paths led each of us to Division I programs in Birmingham, which gives us the opportunity to play each other. “It was really nice to get a win over [uAB] for those reasons, but we also got to get some revenge from the beating they put on us last year,” Knight said with a grin. The Panthers best win of the season so far came on the road against West Virginia (RPI: 26). Birmingham-Southern went to Morgantown and picked up an 80-71 victory. “The West Virginia game was huge for us. To be able to play a quality opponent on the road and beat them was a huge boost to not only our program and postseason hopes, but also to our players. When you’re able to go on the road and beat an Auburn or a West Virginia it really gives your players a boost of confidence. Our coaching staff tells them all the time that we belong on that level with some of those teams and whenever you’re able to beat them it just really affirms it for the players. They have proof that we’re not just saying these things – they’re true!” The leader for the Panthers this season has been William Big. The senior from California is averaging 16 points and eight rebounds a game, which ranks first and third in the Big South Conference, respectively. Big is also shooting a Big South leading 59.8 percent from the floor. Big is on pace to become the sixth BSC player to be named Big South Player of the Year during Knight’s tenure. During Knight’s nine years at the helm of BSC, a player has won the award seven times. Fellow seniors Paul Cheatham and Chris Matthews aren’t far behind in production. Cheatham averages 13.8 ppg (second in the Big South) and Matthews averages 10.8 ppg in a reserve role. Cheatham is also third in the Big South in three-point field goal percentage (46.4%) and free throw percentage (88.9%). Matthews ranks fourth in the Big South three-point field goal percentage at 45.2 percent. Junior point guard Jared Lobdell leads the Big South in assists with 5.2 per game. “I said coming into the season one of our strengths would be our senior leadership and it’s really shown through our first 10 games. William is doing a fantastic job in scoring and getting boards. On top of that he’s taking good shots, which is leading to his high field goal percentage. Paul and Chris have been phenomenal. Together they’re averaging 25 points a game. They understand that it’s not about who starts and who comes off the bench, it’s about what you do on the court while you’re in the game. They’ve both done a great job of playing whichever role gives our team the best chance to win, no matter what role it is. “Jared is another upperclassmen who just does a great job of playing his role. He understands that we don’t need him to score 15 points every night. He goes out and just does a great job of reading defenses and finding an open man to get the ball to. He’s had four games so far with at least seven assists. His ability to draw defenders in and then kick out to other players is a big reason why Paul and Chris and other guys are getting great looks at the basket. Our veteran presence and leadership on this team has been phenomenal.” Birmingham-Southern is in the driver’s seat entering Big South play. Based off of the first 10 games of the season it appears that the Big South Championship will run through the Magic City. The next 16 games on the Panthers’ schedule may not feature many marquee opponents, but the games will be immensely important to BSC and its quest to return to the NCAA Tournament. “We’ve done a great job to get to where are right now at 8-2. But the reality is that, for the most part, none of that matters. Right now there are 12 teams in the Big South Conference that are 0-0. It’s a brand new season. We need to attack these next 16 games like we did the first 10 and we’ll be in pretty good shape. Everyone has a blank slate right now and we just need to do our jobs one game at a time.” The Panthers will open Big South play Thursday night at home against Liberty (6-4). Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN NONCONFERENCE SCHEDULE at Troy W 78-61 at Arkansas State W 80-69 No. 5 Seton Hall L 60-74 at Auburn W 51-47 at Georgia State W 88-50 UAB W 76-57 No. 9 Texas A&M L 50-65 Montana W 75-64 at West Virginia W 80-71 Samford W 89-56 BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN STATS (BIG SOUTH RANKING) POINTS William Big Sr. PF 16 (1st) Paul Cheatham Sr. SG 13.8 (2nd) Chris Matthews Sr. SG 10.8 (13th) REBOUNDS William Big Sr. PF 8 (3rd) Shawn Beauvais Fr. C 5 (T-20th) ASSISTS Jared Lobdell Jr. PG 5.2 (1st) Donald Bowen So. PG 2.4 (17th) Richard Kanagy Jr. PG 2.1 (T-20th) Elbert Estrella Sr. SF 2.1 (T-20th) BLOCKS Shawn Beauvais Fr. C 1 (T-8th) William Wright Sr. C 0.9 (T-10th) William Big Sr. PF 0.8 (T-13th) STEALS Chris Matthews Sr. SG 1.5 (T-5th) William Big Sr. PF 1.2 (T-11th) Jared Lobdell Jr. PG 1.1 (T-20th) FG % William Big Sr. PF 59.8% (1st) Chris Matthews Sr. SG 51.4% (7th) Paul Cheatham Sr. SG 47.7% (14th) FG3 % Paul Cheatham Sr. SG 46.4% (3rd) Chris Matthews Sr. SG 45.2% (4th) FT % Paul Cheatham Sr. SG 88.9% (2nd) Jared Lobdell Jr. PG 76.9% (11th) William Big Sr. PF 60.5% (23rd) BIG SOUTH STANDINGS EAST Charleston Southern 6-4 VMI 6-4 Radford 5-5 Liberty 4-6 Winthrop 4-6 Coastal Carolina 3-7 WEST Birmingham-Southern 8-2 Mississippi Valley State 4-6 UNC-Asheville 3-7 Alabama A&M 3-7 Alabama State 3-7 High Point 0-10

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Panthers Run Out of Gas, Fall to South Carolina COLUMBIA, S.C. | After an exhilarating back and forth contest throughout most of the game, Birmingham-Southern went flat during the final seven minutes against South Carolina and ultimately lost the game 73-65. Chris Matthews hit a free throw with 7:03 remaining in the game to cut the Gamecock’s lead to 56-54. From that point on the Panthers shot 2-of-9 (22.2%) from the field, including 1-of-6 (16.7%) from 3-point range. Birmingham-Southern also turned the ball over twice and connected on four of their six free throw attempts during that stretch. Jared Lobdell was 0-2 from the charity stripe during the final seven minutes, missing the front end of a one-and-one twice. “Our execution down the stretch today was awful,” BSC coach Jeremy Knight said, frustrated. “We played so well for the first 30 minutes and then we just stopped making good basketball decisions and took some bad shots. Everything kind of snowballed downhill from there.” The Panthers gave South Carolina everything they could handle in the first half as they went into the break with a 35-30 lead in a tightly contested half. Birmingham-Southern shot 62.5 percent from the 3 in the opening half (5-for-8) and scored 12 points off 10 Gamecock turnovers. The Panther’s bench also contributed 16 points in the first half. The second half performance from BSC was the complete opposite from the first as they made 2-of-10 3-point attempts (20%) and failed to score zero points off just three South Carolina turnovers. Birmingham-Southern’s bench also only accounted for three points in the second half. “Our bench did a great job of getting involved in the first half and our guys were getting into their guys and forcing some turnovers. We were able to turn those turnovers into fast break opportunities and scored some easy baskets. In the second half we relaxed a little bit on defense and it hurt us. We went cold from the 3 and continued jacking them up instead of getting to the rim.” William Big led BSC in scoring with 18 points, but only managed to get two rebounds. Elbert Estrella added 16 points and a team-high five rebounds. Shawn Beaubais struggled mightily, only grabbing four rebounds and failing to score. South Carolina’s Michael Messer also took advantage of Beaubais’ inexperience on his way to a 18 points, 11 rebound performance. “I thought for the most part William and Elbert played really well. William has to get more than two rebounds for us. Shawn had a tough day today. He was matched up against a senior that averaged 13 and 7 in the SEC last year. Not to make any excuses for his performance today, because the bottom line is he needs to perform better than that, but this is why we play these games; to see how our guys perform against quality competition. “You can only tell so much about these guys from conditioning and practice, especially the freshmen, so it’s nice to have these two exhibition games to see how our guys perform against other teams. No we’ll have to sit down and evaluate each of our players and figure out how to play everyone going forward.” Birmingham-Southern will open the 83 regular season on Friday with a road trip against the Troy Trojans. Last season the Trojans went 10-18 and BSC defeated them 80-54 in the season opener. Troy defeated Division II Nebraska-Omaha 72-55 in their only exhibition game earlier this week. Tip off is set for 7:00 pm.