UNC Greensboro men's basketball coach Wes Miller walked out of the Greensboro Coliseum with a smile after a recent win over the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
"We needed that one," he said.
With the way the Southern Conference race is shaping up so far, he's not wrong.
Southern ConferenceSix league teams have at least nine wins overall this season, led by East Tennessee State with 13. The Buccaneers are 3-0 in the SoCon, but four teams are 3-1 and The Citadel is 2-3.
Not included in that group are Mercer and Wofford, who have quality teams led by successful coaches - Bob Hoffman and Mike Young - who are off to slow starts but should be in the thick of things by the time the league season is over.
"It's tough, man, it's tough," Furman coach Niko Medved said after his team lost to UTC last week. "This is my fourth year and it's the best it's ever been, is as deep as it's ever been. Every night out is a war.
"Home court is critical, but every game is critical, and if you've got a chance to steal one, you've got to."
Not many teams have been able to steal one so far, which has made winning on the home court that much more important in setting up seeding for the conference tournament in March. With the 18-game league schedule and teams getting nine opportunities in their own friendly confines, protecting those games and trying to get a couple away from home will be huge as the season goes on.
UNCG's lone league loss was at home to Samford, which lost by 10 points to Furman a few days later. ETSU, UTC and Furman are the only teams to have "protected their house" thus far.
"This league has got more balance," UTC coach Matt McCall said. "It's every night: It's ETSU; it's Furman; it's Wofford; it's Samford; it's Mercer. You've got so many good teams that you've got to bring it every single night."
Walker named POW
Samford sophomore Wyatt Walker was named the SoCon men's player of the week for his averages of 21.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the Bulldogs' 1-1 week. Against Wofford he had 25 points and eight rebounds and tipped in the winning shot.
UTC's Justin Tuoyo, who averaged 16.7 points, eight rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game; The Citadel's Leandro Allende, ETSU's T.J. Cromer; Mercer's Ria'n Holland; and Wofford's Ryan Sawvell were listed as other top performers for the week.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.