Basketball needs home wins

The road woes continued for the Furman men's basketball team, falling to Southern Conference title contenders Wofford (15-8, 7-3 SoCon) on the road last Saturday, 57-46.The loss brings the Paladins to 10-11 on the season, 4-6 in the conference and just 2-6 on the road.

Despite benefiting from near double-double nights from both Amu Saaka (8 points, 10 rebounds.) and Jordan Miller (11 pts., 9 reb), it was ultimately the team's 20 turnovers that doomed its upset bid against the Terriers.

Neither Furman nor Wofford - which downed both Georgia and South Carolina this year - shot the ball well, posting dismal numbers from the field (36 percent and 35.9 percent, respectively), three-point range (13.3 percent and 18.8 percent) and the free throw line (57.1 percent and 53.3 percent).

Turnovers have plagued the Paladins all season. They rank ninth out of twelve teams in the Southern Conference in turnover margin, and tenth in assist to turnover ratio.

Luckily, the team can avenge their loss Wednesday in Timmons Arena. After Thursday's match with UNC-Greensboro (5-16, 4-6) and Saturday's contest with Elon (4-16, 2-7), the Terriers will come to Greenville to wrap up a crucial three-game home stand for the Paladins.

While the empty stands and complacent student section would seem to indicate an almost non-existent home-court advantage for the team (Furman ranks tenth out of twelve in the Southern Conference in attendance with a season average of 1706), Timmons Arena has been a safe haven for Furman, who has posted a 6-3 record there.

The Paladins will need the boost that a large home crowd would bring in order to record three wins and position themselves well for the conference tournament in March. Home games are now must wins.

If they cannot protect their home court, with three consecutive road games against Chattanooga (13-10, 5-5), Davidson (11-11, 6-4) and Georgia Southern (6-17, 3-7), the team will have a tough road to hoe the remainder of the season.