High Point, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb men's basketball team will be the No.3 seed in the upcoming 2024 Hercules Tires Big South Men's Basketball Championship as the Runnin' Bulldogs will face No.6 Presbyterian in an 8 PM quarterfinal matchup this Friday (3/8) at the Qubein Center on the campus of High Point University.
TV coverage is available on ESPN+, with Mike Gleason and John Williams on the call.
Fans can listen to the game on 730 The Game ESPN Charlotte, locally on 730 AM and 97.5 FM or via the Varsity Network App and
espnclt.com with Phil Constanino and Jim "Mojo" Morrison describing the action.
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools in the Big South Tournament. Gardner-Webb leads the all-time series 35-24 and has won 6 of the last 7 meetings against the Blue Hose.
This will be Gardner Webb's fourth time as the No.3 seed under head coach
Tim Craft, who has an 11-7 record all time in the Big South Tournament. The Runnin' Bulldogs have been seeded third, the most times of any seed under Craft.
In Craft's 10 Big South appearances the Dawgs have been seeded No.6 (three times), No.4 (twice), No.5 (once) and No.7 (once).
The Runnin' Bulldogs will be seeking their seventh semi-finals appearance in 11 tournaments under the Big South's senior head coach, who set a new Big South record this year of 10 seasons of 10-plus Big South wins.
Gardner-Webb is 1-0 in the conference finals, winning its only appearance in 2019, 79-65, at Radford to secure the programs only NCAA Division One Tournament appearance.
Craft is currently second all-time for most Big South wins with 113 and has never had a losing season in Big South Conference play.
Presbyterian made its first Big South tournament appearance in 2012-13, losing to former conference member Campbell is the first round.
The Blue Hose have an all-time tournament record of 1-11 and have only won their first tournament game once back in 2015-16 against Radford. This will be the third quarterfinal appearance for Presbyterian in its 12
th Big South tournament.
Friday's game will be the rubber match between the Runnin' Bulldogs and Blue Hose as the two teams split the two matchups during the Big South regular season.
In the first meeting in Boiling Springs back on January 13
th, Gardner-Webb picked up its first conference win of the season with a wire-to-wire 76-60 victory, snapping a two-game skid to open conference play.
Senior guard
DQ Nicholas scored a game-high 17 points and dished out three assists to lead the three Runnin' Bulldog double-figure scorers that afternoon. Senior
Caleb Robinson scored 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds off the bench for the Dawgs while junior
Julian Soumaoro netted 15 points to go with four assists and a steal.
The Runnin' Bulldogs shot 57.6% in the opening half and opened a 25-point lead at the eight-minute mark. Gardner-Webb's biggest advantage of the afternoon was 27 points with 17:04 remaining in the second half.
The Runnin' Bulldogs shot 49.1 percent in the game and hit 7-of-20 from deep The Dawgs outscored Presbyterian 40-20 in the paint and converted 13 of 22 shots from the charity stripe.
Teel Samage scored 14 points and Marquis Barnett added 13 points and six rebounds for the Blue Hose, who shot 39.5 percent on the day. Presbyterian held a slight 32-30 advantage on the glass.
In the rematch at Presbyterian on February 7
th, Gardner-Webb – playing without Soumaoro – had its six-game winning streak snapped by Presbyterian.
Despite a game-high 19 points from Nicholas, the Runnin' Bulldogs fell just short as Lucas Steiber's three-point attempt at the buzzer was off the mark giving the host Blue Hose a 77-75 victory inside the Templeton Center.
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak against Presbyterian for Gardner-Webb.
The Blue Hose, who trailed for much of the opening half, used a 10-run over the final 1:40 to overtake the 'Dawgs and take a 41-38 lead and momentum into the locker room at halftime.
Free throw shooting was the thing that did the Runnin' Bulldogs in during the contest. Gardner-Webb shot 15-27 (55.6%) from the charity stripe, including 10-20 (50%) in the second half. The 'Dawgs missed their final three free throw attempts in the game's final 11 seconds.
Quest Aldridge scored in double figures for Gardner-Webb for the fourth-straight game as he followed Nicholas with 16 points.
Robinson added his 19
th double-figure scoring game at the time for the 'Dawgs with 14 points to go with six boards.
Gardner-Webb shot 48.2% (27-56) for the game in Clinton and 42.9% (6-14) from deep.
Junior forward Kaleb Scott scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Presbyterian before fouling out in the final minute of the game.
Kobe Stewart added 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds while Trevon Reddish-Rhone added 12 points and Crosby James chipped in 11 points for the Blue Hose, who shot 44 % (24-54) for the game and 5-16 (31.3%) from behind the arc.
Up Next: Friday's winner will take on the winner of No.2 Asheville (20-11) and No.7 Charleston Southern (10-19) in the semi-finals at 2PM on Saturday (3/9) …The Runnin' Bulldogs swept Asheville in the season series for the first time since 2021-22 and split with Charleston Southern as each team won on the other's home court.
GARDNER-WEBB BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT HISTORY
YEAR SEED Record Conference Coach Result____________
2008-09
No.5
13-17
9-9
Scruggs L to Liberty (Quarterfinals) 88-77
2009-10 No.9 8-21 5-13 Scruggs Did not qualify for tournament.
2010-11 No.8 11-21 6-12 Holtman L to Coastal (Quarterfinals) 83-72
2011-12 No.10 12-20 6-12 Holtman L to High Point (First Round) 68-58
2012-13 No.2 (S) 21-13 11-5 Holtman W Campbell (Quarterfinals) 71-57
L to Liberty (Semifinals) 65-62
2013-14 No.3 (S) 18-15 10-6
Craft W Longwood (First Round) 81-65
L to VMI (Quarterfinals) 90-77
2014-15 No.7 20-15 10-8
Craft W Campbell (First Round) 72-64
W High Point (Quarterfinals) 72-71
L to Coastal (Semifinals) 73-70
2015-16 No.6 17-16 10-8
Craft W Campbell (First Round) 79-69
W Coastal (Quarterfinals) 69-65
L to Winthrop (Semifinals) 82-69
2016-17 No.4 19-14 11-7
Craft W High Point (Quarterfinals) 91-55
L Winthrop (Semifinals) 80-77
2017-18 No.6 14-18 9-9
Craft L Winthrop (Quarterfinals) 72-68
2018-19 No.4 20-11 10-6
Craft W High Point (Quarterfinals) 75-69
W Campbell (Semifinals) 79-74
W Radford (FINALS) 76-65
2019-20 No.3 16-16 11-7
Craft W Asheville (Quarterfinals) 72-62
L to Winthrop (Semifinals) 78-66
2020-21 No.6 11-15 10-10
Craft L to Campbell (Quarterfinals) 63-57
2021-22 No.3 18-13 11-5
Craft W Campbell (Quarterfinals) 54-53
L to Winthrop (Semifinals) 76-67
2022-23 No.5 15-16 10-8
Craft L to USC Upstate (Quarterfinals) 77-76
