Dec. 14, 2007

Greenville, S.C. - The Furman men's basketball team, following a 10-day break for exams, returns to action Saturday when it travels to Greensboro, N.C., to face the UNC Greensboro Spartans in a 7 p.m. Southern Conference clash at Fleming Gym.

Furman (0-7, 0-2 SoCon) last played on December 5, when it fell 75-59 at Mercer. The Spartans suffered their third consecutive setback, a 66-65 loss at Wofford on Saturday, to fall to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Furman has depended on the strong play of its freshmen class through the first month of the season. Freshman guard Justin Dehm leads the Paladins in scoring averaging 10.3 points a game while playing a team-high 26.1 minutes per contest. Bobby Austin, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, has paced the Paladins with 4.4 rebounds per game and 10 steals on the season. Freshman forward Noah States, who moved into the starting lineup for the December 1, trip to Elon, has tallied career highs of 12 and 13 points in Furman's last two outings. He leads the squad with six blocked shots.

Kyle Hines, 2006-07 Southern Conference Player-of-the-Year, leads the Spartans with 17.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-6 power forward registered 19 points and 17 rebounds in UNCG's one-point loss at Wofford.

Following Saturday's league contest, Furman travels to Logan, Utah, for the Gossner Foods Holiday Classic on December 20-21, at Utah State. The Paladins face Northern Arizona in the tournament opener before battling either the host Aggies or Utah Valley State the next day. Furman concludes its seven-game road swing at the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic at St. Mary's (Calif.) December 28-29.

Furman vs. UNCG Notes