By MONTE DUTTON
When a sports team wins 17 games in a row, it naturally develops an aura of invincibility.
If we won’t be beat, we can’t be beat.
Forgive the grammar. That’s what people say. It’s one reason for italics.
The Samford Bulldogs come growling into Timmons Arena on Wednesday with the shape of the Southern Conference hanging in the balance. Samford (17-2, 6-0) is facing a Furman squad that is only 10-9 and 4-2 in the SoCon. The Paladins, though, were seriously injured when the league season commenced. Now the reigning champion — and preseason pick — has won four in a row.
Samford got votes in the national polls and ESPN.com named head coach Bucky McMillan its national coach of the week.
Knocking off a team that has won every game since Nov. 10 (Virginia Commonwealth, 75-65) has to be considered an upset. If it springs, the conference race is tight again. Furman then visits another team that is now 4-2 in the SoCon, rival Wofford, on Saturday evening. If the Paladins’ streak runs to six, they’re roaring toward the top. If it doesn’t, at least for now, they’re stuck in the middle again.
Furman is riding the euphoria of a last-second victory on Saturday over Western Carolina, 65-62, that left visions of J.P. Pegues’ three-pointer dancing in the minds of Furman fans as if Christmas had become Groundhog Day.
Keep it coming.
“It’s part of our culture,” said Marcus Foster. “We don’t really worry about what outside people think. We knew, when we were down, and some people start looking at us different.
“We embody a culture that’s super-resilient and determined, we looked at the schedule and saw it was an opportunity for us.”
Foster missed nine games but leads the Paladins with an average of 19.0 points and 6.3 rebounds but missed nine games. Pegues averages 17.1 points and 5.1 assists, missing three games. Alex Williams averages 16.3 points after missing five games, PJay Smith averages 10.2 and Carter Whitt, 10.0.
The Paladins have shown extraordinary recent progress in three-point shooting. In the past four games, the percentages are .419, .350, .486 and .368. In the previous four, they were .185, .100, .226 and .121.
Looking back on the Paladins’ troubles – when they lost their first two SoCon games, hampered by injuries and illness – Richey said, “That was the Good Lord saying, hey, listen, just keep moving. Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep fighting.”
Samford is coached by McMillan, an enthusiastic young man who harbors oft-expressed designs of SoCon domination. No one’s in his way in the present standings, but the Paladins are a familiar obstacle. In the current standings, McMillan leads, but Richey has the street cred, which is a strange concept in a rivalry between private schools. The two head coaches were born four months, 20 days apart in 1983. This is McMillan’s fourth season at Samford and Richey’s seventh at Furman.
McMillan won five state championships at Birmingham’s Mountain Brook High School, his alma mater. All of Richey’s coaching has been at the college level.
On the sideline, McMillan is active and often agitated. He doesn’t need a seat. Sometimes he struts like a rooster. He burns with ambition. To work the officials any harder, McMillan would need a walking stick.
Richey is thoughtful and analytical. On the rare occasions when he looks mad, he is. He’s no performance artist, but he’s cagy and secure. Most of what he does is by design.
They are different visions of the same generation, intensely competitive with different sources of heat.
Western Carolina just lost consecutive close games to the Bulldogs (75-71) and Paladins (65-62). This one may be something like that as the teams that edged the Catamounts play each other. It’s a coincidental, three-game round-robin: Samford at Western, Western at Furman, and Samford at Furman. So far, Samford is 1-0, Furman is 1-0 and Western is 0-2.
They are not the only ones in the race, but it’s quite a segment.
For the season to date, Samford has hit 19 more three-pointers in 75 fewer attempts (199/489, .407) than Furman.
Achor Achor, a 6-9 junior from Melbourne, Australia, leads the Bulldogs, averaging 16.8 points and 5.9 rebounds. Also averaging double figures scoring are A.J. Staton-McCray (13.3) and Jaden Campbell 10.1. Samford lost 6-6 senior Jermaine Marshall (10.6) to injury. He hasn’t played since Dec. 21.
“Just keep pressing. Just keep pushing,” Richey said. “In big games, that’s what you have to do.
“Every team has to grow different. Every team has to learn different. The reward is when you see it all coming together and start believing in the way they have to win together.”
A year ago, the Furman that wound up 28-8 and two rounds into the NCAAs was also 4-2 in the SoCon at this point.
“We had adversity with that group, too,” Richey said. “We all kind of forget that. It was a different adversity, a different time and different things.”
Entering Wednesday at 7 p.m., the Bulldogs rule and the Paladins ride a rocket.
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