January 20, 2012

Game Notes
Follow the Spartans on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After falling just short of another Atlantic Sun Conference road sweep in the state of Florida, the USC Upstate men's basketball team (10-9, 4-3 A-Sun) returns to the Hodge Center to host A-Sun leader Belmont (13-6, 6-1) Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

For those fans that cannot attend Saturday's contest there are several ways you can follow the action from the opening tip to the final horn.  Fans can follow the action by clicking the live stats and live video links above. 

Join the Conversation on Twitter: @UpstateSpartans

Hashtag: #UpstateMBB

Spartan Specs

• In last season's meeting in Spartanburg, Belmont survived a late Spartan rally to claim a 67-62 victory inside the Hodge Center (1/21/11).

• Upstate head coach Eddie Payne is just 10 wins shy of 400 for his career.

• Jodd Maxey earned A-Sun Newcomer of the Week honors (1/17/12) after shooting a blistering 84.6% from the field, while connecting on 71.4% of his free throw attempts between the Spartans' two contests against North Florida and Jacksonville.

• Ty Greene led a quartet of Spartans in double-figures at Jacksonville (1/16/12).  Greene, who sank a game-tying three-pointer with 3.8 seconds remaining in regulation, finished with a game-high 20 points.  His triple at the end of regulation gave the rookie 200 career points.

• At Jacksonville (1/16/12), Torrey Craig posted a double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds), while Jodd Maxey and Ricardo Glenn pitched in 15 and 14 points, respectively.

• Upstate's victory over North Florida (1/14/12) gave the Spartans 10 wins on the season; it is the first time in the Division I era that the Spartans reached the double-digit win plateau [2007-08 (7); 2008-09 (9); 2009-10 (6); 2010-11 (5)].

• The Spartans connected on 5-of-7 free throw attempts in the final 6:50 of the game; After UNF trimmed lead to two (62-60), Upstate closed the game on a 7-2 run over final 1:48 of the contest.

• At UNF (1/14/12), Babatunde Olumuyiwa scored a career-high 14 points including six of the final seven points for the Spartans.  Olumuyiwa finished 5-for-7 from the floor and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line (entered UNF game shooting 41.4% at the charity stripe).

• Chalmers Rogers tied a career-high with three made three-pointers at UNF (1/14/12).  Rogers also hit three triples against Lipscomb (2/17/10).

• Jodd Maxey pitched in 12 points at UNF (1/14/12) despite battling foul trouble.  Maxey finished 5-for-6 from the field and hit two of his four free throw attempts en route to his fourth straight game of 10+ points.

• Torrey Craig recorded his fourth double-double of the season with a 17-point, 12-rebound performance against the Ospreys (1/14/12).

• Upstate's five-game home winning streak was snapped with a 73-66 setback against Mercer (1/9/12).

• Torrey Craig was named the A-Sun Player of the Week (1/10/12) after averaging 24.7 points and 8.3 rebounds over a span of three games.  Craig posted a new career-high with 29 points at ETSU (1/4/12), followed by totals of 28 points (Kennesaw State) and 17 points (Mercer).

• Against Kennesaw State (1/7/12), Ty Greene set a new career-best with seven assists.

Today's Opponent – Belmont

After falling on the road at Marshall (L, 86-87, 12/19/11), the Bruins have won six of their last seven contests, including three straight on the road.

In the Bruins last contest, they used a strong first half to pull away from Florida Gulf Coast (W, 95-53, 1/16/12).

Belmont's only conference loss came on its home floor to rival Lipscomb.  Leading 68-57 with 8:45 to play, the Bruins saw their lead slip away as Lipscomb closed the game on a 28-6 run to claim an 85-74 victory Jan. 6.

Kerron Johnson leads a quintet of five Belmont players averaging double-figures in scoring.  Johnson averages 14.2 points per game and is followed by Ian Clark (11.9), JJ Mann (10.6), Scott Saunders (10.2) and Drew Hanlen (10.2). 

Mick Hedgepeth is the team's leading rebounder at 6.0 rebounds per contest, while Saunders ranks second (5.6).  Meanwhile, Johnson ranks second in the A-Sun with 5.21 assists per game.