Winthrop men’s basketball will host North Carolina A&T State for the first time in program history Thursday night on ESPNU.
NC A&T, which is in its first year competing in the Big South Conference, is 9-13 overall and 4-4 in Big South play.
The Aggies are on a three-game losing streak, with a one-point loss versus Campbell, an eight-point loss to Longwood, and most recently, a 20-point loss to USC Upstate.
The Eagles have lost two of their last three, with a 65-56 loss at High Point on Jan. 24 and a 92-88 loss at Longwood on Saturday. In between those losses, the Eagles pulled out a comeback victory in Spartanburg on Jan. 26, defeating USC Upstate 95-91 in overtime.
Despite the losses, Winthrop is 6-2 in conference play and remains one of the premiere teams in the Big South, having won the conference title the past two seasons. The Eagles were voted to finish atop the Big South’s South Division this season in the conference preseason poll.
Similarly, NC A&T won the 2021 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular season title before dropping out of the conference tournament due to a positive COVID-19 case within the program. The Aggies were picked to finish third in the Big South’s North Division in the conference preseason poll.
Winthrop has not lost a game in Winthrop Coliseum this season and buzz is heating up on campus and in the Rock Hill community. At Winthrop’s last home game (Jan. 22 versus Gardner-Webb), a season-high 1,803 people were recorded in attendance.
This is Winthrop’s second game to be featured on ESPNU this season, with the first on Jan. 13 when the Eagles hosted UNC Asheville. That contest went to overtime, and the Eagles eventually earned an 86-80 victory.
Thursday’s game tips off at 7 p.m. and the first 300 students in attendance get free shirts. Fans are encouraged to wear garnet.
