Tournament Central
 
Greenville, S.C. – Furman opens play in the Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday at noon when it faces the winner of Friday's Mercer-Citadel game in the quarterfinals at the Harrah's Cherokee Center-Asheville in Asheville, N.C.
 
Fans can purchase tickets for this weekend's tournament at SoConSports.com and can find out about all Furman related activities in Asheville by visiting the SoCon Basketball Championship Central page at FurmanPaladins.com. Saturday's game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available on Nexstar affiliates throughout the region. The game can also 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.
 
Furman enters postseason play at 24-7 overall and as the No. 1 seed after finishing 15-3 in league play. The Paladins' 24 wins are just one shy of the school record of 25 established in 2019 and 2020, while their 15 league wins match a school record set in 2020. 
 
In the regular season finale at Samford on February 25, Furman claimed a 93-79 victory on the strength of 35 points from Mike Bothwell and 20 from JP Pegues to earn a share of the school's first SoCon regular season title since 2017 and secure its first No. 1 seed for the league tournament since 1991. The Paladins closed the regular season having won three straight games and 14 of its last 16 contests. With the 14-point win in Birmingham, Furman completed the regular season sweep of Samford and fifth-year seniors Bothwell and Jalen Slawson became Furman's all-time winningest players with 112 career victories.
 
Bothwell and Slawson both received first team All-SoCon honors from the league's coaches and media this week while Slawson was tabbed as the consensus SoCon Player of the Year. Forward Ben VanderWal was named to the SoCon All-Freshman Team by the league's head coaches.
 
Furman is making its 70^th appearance in the SoCon Men's Basketball Championship and looking to claim its first title and NCAA Tournament berth since 1980. The Paladins have advanced to the championship round 11 times, including last season when Chattanooga converted a buzzer-beating long range shot to edge Furman 64-63 in overtime.
 
Saturday would mark Furman's 37^th all-time meeting versus Mercer in the series that the Paladins lead 26-10. Furman has claimed 17 straight wins over the Bears, including an 84-66 triumph in Macon, Ga., and 70-67 win in Greenville, S.C., earlier this season. The Paladins improved to 3-0 versus the Bears in postseason play with a quarterfinal round victory last March in Asheville.
 
Furman holds a 131-88 series lead over The Citadel and had won nine straight over the Bulldogs before suffering a 69-65 defeat in Charleston, S.C., on February 15. The Paladins claimed a 97-72 victory in the first meeting of the season in Greenville on January 4. In eight previous postseason meetings versus the Bulldogs, Furman holds a 6-2 advantage.
 
The winner of Saturday's quarterfinal will advance to face either Western Carolina or ETSU in a 4 p.m. semifinal round matchup Sunday on ESPNU. Monday's championship game, which is set to air live on ESPN, is slated for 7 p.m.