BOILING SPRINGS – Gardner-Webb will host Charleston Southern Thursday afternoon at 5:00 pm to open Big South Conference play in Paul Porter Arena.

Head coach Tim Craft's squad has won three in a row – all at home – and has gone 14-4 inside Paul Porter Arena over the past two seasons.

The Runnin' Bulldogs (5-7) went 11-5 against the Big South Conference last season – its best mark in Big South play since finishing 11-5 in 2012-2013 under current Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann.

Gardner-Webb holds a 24-6 series edge over Charleston Southern, with five wins in a row. The last CSU win came in Boiling Springs – a 92-83 double overtime affair that saw guard Phlandrous Fleming go for 31 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists and six blocks for the Buccaneers.

The Runnin' Bulldogs ran to a pair of wins last season, scoring more than 80 points in each – with an average margin of victory of 21.0 points in those wins. 

This year's Gardner-Webb team hangs its hat on the defensive end, with 6-foot-9 senior Kareem Reid and 6-foot-8 senior Ludovic Dufeal protecting the rim and 6-foot-6 classmate Anthony Selden growing into a shot blocker as well.

That trio sparks a team effort that has produced 5.9 blocks per game this season, part of a defensive approach that is limiting opponents to 37.8 percent shooting from the floor.

Selden leads the offense with 12.0 points per game, followed closely by Reid (11.9 ppg), DQ Nicholas (10.5 ppg) and Julien Soumaoro (10.3 ppg).

Charleston Southern (4-7) is paced by Claudell Harris, Jr. (17.1 ppg), Taje' Kelly (11.2 ppg) and Tahlik Chavez (10.7 ppg), with Chavez the reigning Big South Conference Player of the Week after draining 10 threes in a win over Kentucky Christian on December 22.

The Bucs are averaging 76.1 points per game as a team this season and four of their losses have come in buy games at Ohio State, Tulane, Virginia Tech and South Florida. The game with the Hokies came down to the wire (69-64) and CSU outscores its opponents by an average of 2.5 points per game in the second half.

The Bucs also shoot a solid 72.6 percent from the free throw line as a team, with each of the top four scorers making at least 72 percent from the stripe.

Thursday's game will stream live on ESPN+, with Jon Gross and Sarah Jansen on the call (WatchESPN.com).