Blog with Bryan Smithson

It all started last week with a home game against charleston southern.  Our homecoming game and another sellout crowd.  My ankle has been feeling much better and I have been working extremely hard to get back to shape- physically and mentally.  Our team had a meeting about how we needed to treat the last 3 game stretch like it is the big south tournament and prove to ourselves that we could indeed take it all.  Anyway, I came out of the gates in this one fast and hit 5 threes in the first half off of 5 attempts.  This gave us a huge spark as I finished the first half with 19 points.  From there my teammates stepped up as Reid Augst had a huge second half and finished the game with 21.  Charleston got close a couple times but we had an answer everytime they made a run.  Including big Kenny George who is getting back to being himself once again.  After the game we cleared are heads and immediately got ready for Coastal Carolina and senior night.

First off, senior night was great and very emotional for me in particular because it has been such a long road to get to where I am today.  It was great watching Garrett, Vincent, and KJ enjoy the moment with me.  I wouldn't trade those guys for anybody.  However, it was very important for us 4 to keep mentally focused as all the celebration was going on.  We did a very good job of this because we didn't start the game off slow (as most seniors on senior night do) and we just began to chip away at coastal.  We went into halftime with a 10 point lead riding on great play from Kenny George.  Coastal came back from halftime and made a couple runs but none more significant than the one with 5 minutes left that got them within striking distance.  We held them off and made plays and free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.  Congratulations to Jack Leasure for hitting the 400 mark for three pointers made.  VERY impressive jack!  Just like after the first game we needed to switch are attention immediately to a very tough road game at winthrop for the regular season title.

This game started out with the celebration of Winthrop's seniors.  There is not a group of guys in the conference who have more to celebrate than these guys.  Congrats to Chris, MJ, Taj, and Harris for unbelievable careers at Winthrop.  Just like at our senior night it was important for us to stay focused and not let any of the celebrating affect OUR play.  This game started out just like everybody would imagine- dogfight, struggle to gain control.  There was one play in the first half that I know will stand out in my mind for a long time- Everybody was diving on the floor trying to get the ball and it popped out to Jenkins who dunked it for winthrop.  I have played at UNC, Tennessee, Va tech, Cincinatti, Wyoming, louisville, etc and there is very few times I can remember it being that loud in an arena.  Although they had the homecourt advantage, we were able to slowly pull away in the second half to gain the victory.  KJ really controlled the pace of the game and Kenny George impacted the game like no other as usual.  I scored 21 points in the second half and my team really rallied behind this and everybody did their part in order for us to win the game.  REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS.

This game was very important to me because I don't have any championships that I can tie my name to.  Also, Vince, KJ, and Garrett all deserve to have this after paying the price for so long.  The championship guarenteed us a post season regardless of what happens in the Big south tournament.  For me, that is not enough though.  I want to go to the NCAA tournament and have a good time with my team.  From here, our team has to stay focused on the task at hand (Charleston Southern).  I am going to the training room soon to do some rehab and try to get as close to 100% as possible.  Since I will be in Asheville for the tournament I will be updating the blog daily if not 2x a day so check back later and I will be updating again.  tHANKS TO ALL THE UNCA FANS THAT CAME TO WINTHROP AND CHEERED LOUD!!!! YALL ARE A PART OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS! 

*Pictures are being updated