Men's Basketball 1/31/2023 12:45:00 PM

Presbyterian Awaits Radford For Wednesday Night Hoops

RADFORD, Va. – Presbyterian awaits the Radford men's basketball team for a 7 p.m. tip inside the Templeton Center on Wednesday night.

SETTING THE STAGE
Opponent: Presbyterian Blue Hose (5-18, 1-9 Big South)
Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Templeton Center (Clinton, S.C.)

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Watch: CLICK HERE (ESPN+)
Listen: CLICK HERE (WRAD 101.7 FM)
Live Stats: CLICK HERE

SERIES HISTORY
The Highlanders are 20-9 all-time against the Blue Hose, including an 8-5 record in Clinton, S.C. and a 17-7 clip as conference foes. Radford has won eight of the last 10 meetings between the two programs, but PC has come out on top in two of the last three.

Celebrating New Year's Eve with some college hoops, Radford earned a 69-51 victory over Presbyterian earlier this season. The Highlanders took a nine-point lead into halftime and only extended it in the second half, coasting to a wire-to-wire win.

DaQuan Smith dropped 20 points while stuffing the stat sheet with three rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist to go with a perfect 4-for-4 performance on three-pointers. Bryan Antoine added 13 points and three steals of his own. Marquis Barnett's 12 points and Crosby James' 10 points paced the visitors.

SCOUTING THE BLUE HOSE
Fifth-year head coach Quinton Ferrell had his Blue Hose squad off to a 5-9 start to the season, feeling good after a three-game win streak that featured an 82-72 upset of Campbell in the Big South opener. Those good memories have quickly faded away, however, as PC is currently in the midst of a nine-game losing streak that started with a loss to non-other than the Radford Highlanders.

Presbyterian ranks 6^th in the Big South with 69.5 points allowed per game, but dead last in scoring with only 64.7 points on average. Their shooting percentage of 42.2% and field goal defense of 46.6% both rank near the bottom of all teams in the nation. They do, however, get to the line at a high clip, averaging nearly 21 free throw attempts per game.

Freshman forward Jalen Forrest has been a huge bright spot this season. Winning Big South Freshman of the Week honors five times already, Forrest leads the Blue Hose with 12.6 points per game while contributing 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game as well.

TURNOVER MARGIN
No matter who's serving as the primary ballhandler on the floor, Radford has gotten consistent, disciplined play from up and down the roster and it has led to the best turnover margin in the Big South. With an average of 12.3 turnovers and 14.6 turnovers forced per game, the Highlanders' +2.3 turnover margin ranks first in the Big South and 51^st out of 363 teams in the nation.

Josiah Jeffers (85-to-43), Onyebuchi Ezeakudo (59-to-40), Kenyon Giles (28-to-23), Bryan Antoine (24-to-19) and Ibu Yamazaki (9-to-6) all deserve credit for having positive assist-to-turnover ratios this season.

RARE STREAK
The Highlanders are currently riding a seven-game winning streak with hopes of making it eight on Wednesday night. Dating back to 2010-11, Radford has only had four other instances of winning eight or more games in a row:

10 games, 2019-20 season
8 games, 2018-19 season
8 games, 2017-18 season
8 games, 2014-15 season

FOLLOW RADFORD MEN'S BASKETBALL
To follow the Radford men's basketball team throughout the season, visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordHoops on Twitter, 'radfordhoops' Instagram or Radford Men's Basketball on Facebook.

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