After going toe to toe with statistically the worst team in the conference on Saturday, Winthrop emerged with yet another win, defeating Charleston Southern, 92-86.
The victory marked the team’s 13th at home this season, which along with no home losses, made for Winthrop’s first perfect season at home since the 2006-2007 season.
“We have a group that, given the opportunity, can step up and make some big plays,” said head coach Mark Prosser. “DJ was great down the stretch, Cory made a huge three, Drew Buggs made a huge step back three.”
Redshirt junior DJ Burns finished Saturday’s game with a team-high 22 points while also collecting 11 rebounds to notch his first double-double in his collegiate career.
“He goes and makes plays down the stretch, he’s difficult to match up with, and even out of a double team, he can still be effective,” Prosser said. “He was for us really what we needed him to be.”
Prosser pointed out that both times Winthrop faced Charleston Southern this season, the team did so with just one day of preparation. He said he thought the quick turnaround may have had something to do with Winthrop’s less than stellar performance on defense early in the game.
“The things that we tried to emphasize over the course of the last 36 hours, we weren’t very good at it in the first couple wars,” Prosser said. “I felt like they were really, really comfortable on the offensive end.”
Winthrop also appeared comfortable on offense, with graduate transfers Drew Buggs and Patrick Good tallying 17 and 15 points, respectively. The duo was recognized Saturday during a pregame Senior Day ceremony along with Micheal Anumba, who recorded 7 points, and walk-on Nate Buss, who started for the first time in his Winthrop career and recorded an assist.
“The things that our seniors have done in a Winthrop uniform for however long they’ve been here has been remarkable really across the board —- whether it’s two years, one year, four years, whatever it’s been —- and it was about celebrating them,” Prosser said. “I think we did that and we enjoyed that.”
Winthrop finished the regular season with a 14-2 record versus Big South opponents. The Eagles are the two-seed in the conference tournament, falling short of the one-seed, which was earned by 15-1 Longwood.
Winthrop faces either Hampton or High Point on Friday at 6 p.m. A semifinal match would be Saturday at 2 p.m. and the Championship is Sunday at noon.
