Spartans move into Coliseum against Clemson

The Men's Basketball team opened their new home, the Greensboro Coliseum, on November 20 against the 22 ranked Clemson Tigers. The match up was the final match against a series of ACC team's until December 28 against Wake Forest.

The Spartans opened the game step for step with the Tigers, holding a slim margin for the majority of the first half. The game was knotted up at 15 with just under 9 minutes to play in the half when Clemson's freshman forward Milton Jennings hit a 3-pointer. That was shortly followed by a dunk from junior Jerai Grant who was fouled on the shot to give the Tigers a 6-point advantage. The Spartans were able to cut the deficit down to 3 with the score at 25-22 off of a 3 from Senior Mikko Koivisto with 5:30 to play, however that was the closest the Spartans would get for the remainder of the game. UNCG only scored 2 more points in the rest of the first half off of a layup from Brandon Evans while Clemson went on a 17-2 run to close out the half.

In the run the Spartans were unable to capitalize on numerous opportunities with several missed layups and turnovers. Clemson scored 13 of their 42 points in the first half off of 12 turnovers from the Spartans. UNCG was able to rebound well, with Ben Stywall bringing down 5 of 21 team rebounds while Clemson had 22.

Clemson forward Trevor Book led both teams in the first half with 9 points and 6 rebounds. Sophomore guard added 9 off the bench for the Tigers with 2 rebounds. Stywall added 6 for the Spartans in 17 minutes and Mikko Koivisto had 5 in 16 minutes.

The Tigers would hold their lead for the remainder of the game. The closest the Spartans came in the second half was 16 off of a Brandon Evans layup right out of the gate. The Tigers largest lead was 31 with just under 8 minutes to play. That lead would be cut down to 22 by the end of the game. The Spartans closed on a 11-6 run in the final four minutes of play. UNCG had a much better showing in the second half against the Clemson bench, with the second half score 47-43 Clemson.

UNCG was plagued by points off turnovers throughout the game as Clemson had 22 points off of 23 turnovers. The Tigers also added 39 points from their bench while the Spartans totaled only 17.

Coach Mike Dement discussed his team's first three games against ACC teams. "The fact of the matter is I am pretty proud of the way we battled these three games. I said it earlier, I'm not sure an ACC team would be ready to play three ACC games in a row. We've done it and I think we have learned a lot from it and gained a lot from it. I think we've shown that during periods of time when we battle, we battled pretty good."

"In that first twelve minutes we battled pretty good." Dement said. "In the early going we were making some pretty good decisions, passes, and getting it down the court."

Junior Brandon Evans commented on his experience in their first three games. "Coach told us to come out aggressive, just play hard every possession," Evans said. Ben Stywall also commented on the first three games. "Clemson, it was a very different type of game, a different style than the first two we played. Of course with it being the ACC they were still bigger than us but Clemson was a lot more athletic than what we have seen." Stywall added, "They pressed the whole game and that is something that hardly anybody does."

The Spartans returned to the floor on Tuesday night when they traveled to USC Upstate and won 76-70.

Brandon Evans had a double double with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Stywall added 17 points.

UNCG returned home on Saturday to take on East Carolina.

The Spartans were trailing ECU by 14 at half but were able to cut the deficit to 1 with just over 13 minutes to play, however the Pirates pulled away and UNCG fell 82-61. Kendall Toney led the Spartans with 19 points and 2 assists.

UNCG will open conference play at Samford on Saturday and return home to take on College of Charleston Monday at 7 pm.