Dec. 20, 2007

Spartans in Texas Photo Gallery

Complete Release State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament Notes in PDF Format

EL PASO, Tex. - USC Upstate continues its Texas two-step Friday and Saturday in the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament hosted by UTEP. The Spartans opened the tournament Friday with a 77-69 loss to host UTEP. Upstate plays Buffalo Saturday at 5:00 p.m. MST in the consolation game. Follow the action live through live statistical updates using Gametracker through USC Upstate's website at www.upstatespartans.com.

Recapping SMU
USC Upstate erased a 14-point deficit with an 18-0 run and closed out the final 8:37 on 20-4 run to take a 58-56 victory over SMU Tuesday night in Dallas. The win was the first over a Division I opponent in the history of the school and the first in eight tries this season in the Spartans' inaugural year playing on the Division I level.

Mezie Uzochukwu was fouled with 0.6 seconds to play in the game, sending the freshman to the free throw line for a pair of tosses. He converted both free throws to give Upstate a 58-56 lead and Rashawn Brailsford broke up the long inbounds pass to secure the win.

Luke Payne led Upstate with 19 points, three assists and three steals. Bobby Davis added 10 points and six rebounds, while Nick Schneiders added a career-high 13 rebounds. Jeremy Byrd had eight points and two steals, and provided a spark defensively in the decisive second half run.

Monumental Win
USC Upstate's 58-56 win at SMU Tuesday night was another milestone victory for the Spartans this year. Upstate claimed its first win in the Division era against Brevard on Dec. 6. However, Brevard is a Division II member, making the SMU win the first against a Division I program this year as well as the first win over a Division I opponents in the history of the school.

Upstate has several wins over programs currently competing on the Division I level, but the wins came in the 1970s and 80s when the institutions played in the NAIA before moving to NCAA Division I membership.

Second Long Road Trip
USC Upstate began its second major road trip of the season Tuesday at SMU. The Spartans are currently participating in the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament prior to taking a short break for Christmas. Following a brief break for Christmas, the Spartans will hit the road again to play at Duquesne (Dec. 30) and Iowa State (Jan. 2). Upstate's six-game road swing will end with its first ever Atlantic Sun Conference game at East Tennessee State on Jan. 5 in Johnson City, Tenn. Upstate will return home on Thursday, Jan. 10, to take on A-Sun rival Gardner-Webb.

The second major road trip follows a lengthy road schedule to open the season as the Spartans played at Utah on Nov. 9 before heading to Fairbanks, Alaska, to play three games in the BP Top of the World Classic (Nov. 16-18). Upstate played three more road games (UNC Greensboro, Cincinnati and Wake Forest) before heading home for a win against Brevard on Dec. 6.

Spartans No. 81
According to the latest strength of schedule ranking by Jeff Sagarin, Upstate has the 81st toughest schedule out of 341 teams in Division I college basketball. The schedule was ranked No. 39 last week.

Home Sweet Home
Despite playing just 10 games at home this season, the Spartans will be happy to do so. Upstate has a solid home record, going 55-18 in six years under head coach Eddie Payne.

Hitting The Boards
Nick Schneiders, Upstate's 7-2 center, has had some tremendous outings this season in just his fourth year of playing organized basketball. However, he did something Tuesday night at SMU that the German native has never done before. He grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds to help Upstate to pull out the upset win over the Mustangs.

The 13 rebounds at SMU marked the first time in his two-year career that the post player has grabbed double digit rebounds in a single game. His previous career high was nine rebounds in the season opener at Utah.

Shaking Up The Lineup
Head Coach Eddie Payne used his sixth different starting lineup Tuesday against SMU. Upstate started freshman Josh Chavis at the point and Luke Payne at the "2"-guard spot. Gabor Boros started on the wing, Bobby Davis at the power forward spot and Nick Schneiders at center. Davis is the only player to start every game for the Spartans this season.

Payne Reaches Milestone
Senior guard Luke Payne notched his 1,000th-point at UNC Greensboro (Nov. 24). The Spartanburg High School graduate sank a three-pointer with a little over seven minutes to play in the game to give him 12 points in the contest and 1,000 for his career. He went on to finish with 15 points in the game.

Payne became the 17th player in the history of the storied program to reach the 1,000-point milestone. He currently has 1,090 points in his career and ranks 13th all-time in scoring, recently passing Charles Ford (14th), Terrance Gist (15th), Carlos Bryson (16th) and Willie Murdaugh (17th) on the all-time scoring list.

In addition to his scoring prowess, Payne ranks among the program's all-time leaders in 13 other statistical categories.

Payne currently leads the Spartans in scoring at 15.7 points per game and is the lone Spartan to average in double figures this season.

Upstate Road Warriors
By season's end, USC Upstate will have played 30 games with two-thirds of the games being played away from the G.B. Hodge Center. In fact, the Spartans opened the season playing their first seven games away from the friendly confines of the Hodge Center before playing its home opener against Brevard on Dec. 6. Upstate will play 13 of its first 15 games on the road this season.

In all, Upstate will travel more than 12,000 miles away from Spartanburg, and nearly 24,000 miles round trip, this season to play 20 games away from home.

Shooting The 3-Ball
While USC Upstate has not shot the lights out from the field and scores at a 60.6 ppg clip, the Spartans have shown prowess from behind the three-point arc.

Upstate knocks down 34.7 percent of its shots from downtown and currently ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Playing No Gimmies
Upstate's ambitious schedule in 2007-08 certainly has no slouches on it. In fact, when you combine the win-loss records of the seven Division I opponents the Spartans have played so far this year, the opponents are a combined 39-23. Overall, the Spartans' opponents are 51-33 when adding in Division II Brevard and the NAIA's Bluefield.

Upstate's current six-game road trip will find the Spartans' opponents combining for a 29-22 record on the year. That figure includes Buffalo and Wyoming, one of which will be Upstate's second opponent in the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament.

Byrd Flies To The Top
Jeremy Byrd collected six steals in the season-opening game at Utah, surpassing Terrance Gist (276) to move atop the all-time steals list at Upstate. Byrd now has 297 picks in his stellar four-year career with the Spartans.

Byrd, from Greenville, missed the three games prior to the Brevard contest and has not played in enough games to be considered among the A-Sun stat leaders. He currently averages 3.3 steals per game which would lead the league over a steal per game if he was eligible to be listed.

Hines Gives Schneiders Props
Reigning Southern Conference player of the year and UNC Greensboro standout Kyle Hines gave Upstate center Nick Schneiders praise on his blog. Hines was in the middle of recapping recent action when he talked of Schneider's thunderous dunk over him.

"USC Upstate had a 7-2 player on their team that I had to guard in the game," Hines blogged. "He was the tallest player I had played against. I faired well against him until one play in the second half, he dunked on me pretty bad. Coach (Mike) Dement showed the play like five times during our film session. I must admit it looked really bad on film. The coaches and rest of the team got a good laugh out of that one."

A-Sun Makes Some Noise
If the start if the season is any indication of how good the Atlantic Sun Conference is going to be this year, the league will be tough. Gardner-Webb, Mercer, Belmont and now Upstate have pulled off impressive wins early in the season.

Gardner-Webb, behind the 15 points and eight rebounds from Aaron Linn, defeated then-No. 22 Kentucky, 84-68. Mercer claimed a 96-81 victory over then-No. 18 Southern Cal. In addition to the Kentucky and Southern Cal wins, Belmont claimed an 86-75 win over Cincinnati and an 85-83 win over Alabama. Upstate claimed a 58-56 win over the Conference USA's SMU Mustangs Tuesday.

Payne Receives Honor
Despite playing the final two games, and part of the first, with a deep thigh bruise at the BP Top of the World Classic Nov. 16-18, starting guard Luke Payne played well enough to garner All-Tournament honors. He scored 43 points in three games, averaging 14.3 points and three rebounds per outing in the tournament. He scored 17 points against Akron and Oregon State and nine against IUPUI.

Greensboro Newbies Have Solid Pedigrees
When coaches bring in new recruits, they not only look for individual talent, they also look to see how well a player helps their former team and the how well the teams do in competition. Josh Chavis and Mezie Uzochukwu, both from Greensboro, N.C., come to Upstate after strong senior seasons.

Chavis, from Dudley HS, played in the North Carolina East-West All-Star game. He also spent the summer playing for the N.C. Gaters AAU team. He was the starting point guard on the team that won the AAU 19-Under National Championship.

Uzochukwu, from Northeast Guilford HS, also played in the North Carolina East-West All-Star game. He finished the game with a team-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds, leading the West squad to the 81-75 victory and earning MVP honors. He joined a prestigious club of East-West MVP winners, including recent honorees Kevin Swinton and William Graves, both of whom now play in the ACC.

Burrows Brings Experience To Sidelines
First-year assistant coach Bill Burrows is anything but new to the game. The veteran of the sideline has been a head coach on the high school level in North Carolina for nearly 30 years and was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech and Towson. He can tell stories of coaching greats such as Brad Daugherty and Brad Johnson, but his best quality may be his ability to tell stories that both entertain and educate.

Paul Makes Good
Former Spartan starting point guard C.J. Paul is now living the life around the NBA. No, he is not playing in the world's top league, he is serving as the personal assistant/manager for his younger brother, Chris, the former NBA Rookie of Year now in his third season with the New Orleans Hornets.

Upstate Signs Reiff Early
USC Upstate head coach Eddie Payne announced the signing of Lucas Reiff to a national letter of intent during the early signing period. Reiff is the first signee in the 2007-08 recruiting class.

Reiff is currently spending a season in prep school at Maine Central Institute, the former school of current Spartan Rory Spencer. Reiff averages 11 points per game as a shooting guard at MCI for head coach Dave Campbell.

Reiff attended Zionsville High School in Zionsville, Ind., prior to enrolling in prep school at MCI. He was a three-year letterman at Zionsville and was a starting "2"-guard as a junior and senior. He earned All-Conference and team Most Valuable Player honors his junior and senior years and was a two-time Boone County Player of the Year.

Reiff averaged 19.1 points per game as a junior and 16 points per outing as a senior despite playing his senior season with a torn meniscus. He was selected as an Indy Star Super Team member following his junior season, an award honoring the top basketball players in the Indianapolis area.

Scouting The Tournament Field
SMU enters Tuesday night's game with a 4-4 overall record, having won its last four contests. The Mustangs opened the season with four straight losses: 75-61 to Southern, 64-54 to Alabama State, 93-76 to Centenary and 82-57 to Dayton. However, SMU rebounded with wins over Paul Quinn (81-63), UT-San Antonio (62-56), TCU (71-65) and Houston Baptist (90-79) to improve to 4-4 on the year prior to taking 11 days off for final exams.

About UTEP
UTEP enters the State Farm Sun Bowl Classic with a 6-2 record. The Miners claimed a 76-67 victory over SE Louisiana Wednesday night in El Paso. It amrked the second straight win for UTEP and four of the last five. The Miners ave claimed wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (77-50), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (77-62), Texas Southern (78-57, and New Mexico State on two occasions (84-76 and 79-78). UTEP has lost to Texas Southern (76-81) and UNLV (71-84).

UTEP scores at a 77.3 ppg clip and holds opponents to 69.4 ppg. Three Miners average in double figures, led by Stefon Jackson with 25.0 ppg. Jackson is also tied for the team lead in rebounding at 4.9 rpg. Marvin Kilgore averages 11.5 ppg, while Randy Culpepper scores at an 11.3 ppg clip. Kilgore leads the team in assists, dishing out 45 on the year. UTEP shoots at a 44.5 percent rate as a team, including hitting 33.1 percent from behind the three-point arc.

About Buffalo
Buffalo enters the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament with a 5-4 record. The Bulls opened the season with an 89-82 win over Ohio Valley. Buffalo has also claimed wins over South Florida (76-69), Canisius (68-59), Tulane (65-51) and Evansville (81-60). The Bulls took a 76-63 loss against Florida International the last time out on Dec. 5. Buffalo has also lost to Connecticut (82-57), Niagara (80-63) and Pittsburgh (92-45).

Buffalo scores at a 67.4 ppg clip and allows opponents to score 73.0 points per outing. No Bull player averages in double figures. Sean Smiley leads the team in scoring at 9.8 ppg. Greg Gamble is solid with 8.9 ppg while dishing out 21 assists and averaging 3.1 rebounds per outing. Rodney Pierce averages 6.2 points per game and has dished out a team-high 22 assists.

About Wyoming
Wyoming enters the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament with a 4-4 record. The Cowboys have alternated wins and losses on the season. Wyoming opened the season with an 87-63 win over Colorado University-Colorado Springs. The Cowboys also took wins over Lamar (75-71), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (78-59) and Colorado (73-64). Wyoming lost its last game, a 79-72 decision to Montana State on Dec. 15. The Cowboys also lost to Denver (76-65), Wichita State (75-63) and Akron (96-71).

Wyoming scores at a 73.0 ppg clip and allows opponents to score 72.9 ppg. Brandon Ewing leads the way with 17.4 ppg. He also dishes out a team-best 5.5 assists per outing. Two other Cowboys average in double figures. Brad Jones averages 13.8 ppg, while Ryan Dermody scores at a 12.0 ppg clip.