Greenville, S.C. – The Furman men's basketball team looks secure a share of its first Southern Conference regular season title since 2017 and its first No. 1 seed in the SoCon Men's Basketball Championship since 1991 when it faces first-place Samford in the regular season finale on Saturday. Tip-off at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala., is set for 2 p.m. EST and the game will air live on CBS Sports Network.
 
Furman (23-7, 14-3 SoCon) can secure the top seed in next week's conference tournament with a win over the Bulldogs (21-9, 15-2 SoCon). The Paladins would hold the tiebreaker with Samford if it can claim the regular season sweep of the Bulldogs and would also hold the tiebreaker in a three-way tie with Samford and UNCG based on its record versus the two teams should the Spartans win their regular season finale versus ETSU. 
 
On Wednesday night, Furman kept its hopes of a regular season title alive with a 70-67 victory over Mercer at Timmons Arena. Jalen Slawson netted a season-high 27 points and JP Pegues added 18 to help Furman claim its 10^th win in its last 11 games and 17^th consecutive triumph over the Bears. The Paladins connected on 22 second-half free throw attempts and tallied 20 points off 15 Mercer turnovers.
 
With the victory over Mercer, Slawson and fellow fifth-year senior Mike Bothwell joined their former teammate Alex Hunter atop Furman's all-time wins list with 111 career victories in the purple and white.
 
Saturday's game marks the 35^th all-time meeting between Furman and Samford with the Paladins holding a 24-10 series advantage. Furman has won seven of the last eight meetings, including a thrilling 91-84 overtime verdict at Timmons Arena on January 25 behind 26 points and 11 rebounds from Slawson. Furman rallied from a five-point deficit in the final two minutes of regulation and the Paladins scored the final seven points of overtime to hand Samford its first league loss of the season. 
 
Samford's last victory over the Paladins came in an 83-75 contest in the 2022 regular season finale at the Pete Hanna Center. Furman responded by defeated the Bulldogs, 71-68, in the semifinal round of the 2022 SoCon Men's Basketball Championship. Prior to last season's loss to Samford, Furman had won five straight games in Birmingham. Paladin head coach Bob Richey is 9-2 all-time versus the Bulldogs.
 
Saturday's regular season finale versus Samford can be heard on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM, 1330 AM, and via the Audacy app with Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy on the call.