Wofford has often been referred to as a “basketball school” due to its appearances in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and its wins against other known “basketball schools” like UNC-Chapel Hill.
This season is already looking promising with their first win against Bob Jones University, the final score being 120-48. With many new players joining the team, that win shows a lot of promise.
Wofford has always had a strong home-court advantage in basketball, and the Terrier Tip-Off got the students back into the groove of being in Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
“After a couple of years of limited students in the stands due to COVID, watching the student section full again was great. It really adds to the atmosphere of the game,” said Jay McAuley, head coach of the men’s basketball team.
Each of Wofford’s players on the court for more than one minute scored during the game against Bob Jones. Seniors Messiah Jones ’23 and B.J. Mack ’23 continued to dominate the court, scoring a combined 29 points. Newcomers Jackson Paveletzke ’26 and Kyler Filewich ’24, transfer students from Southern Illinois University, led with the most points, each scoring 16 points.
Other notable plays from the first game included Carson McCorkle ’25, a transfer from the University of Virginia, who was one of the starters for the game and raked in 9 points for the Terriers from his three 3-point shots.
After the strong home win on Nov. 7, the Terriers went on the road to High Point University on Nov. 12 and to Drake University on Nov. 14.
At High Point University, the Terriers lost 80-91. Mack and Paveletzke made up nearly half of Wofford’s points, shooting a combined 39 points. The Terriers scored 58 of their points in the second half; however, it was not enough to pull out a win against High Point.
While at High Point, Amari Tice ‘26 scored 8 points for Wofford but received a technical foul. As a whole, the Terriers made 29.6% of their three-point shot attempts and 39.7% of all shot attempts.
The Terriers hit the road again and headed to Des Moines, Iowa to play against Drake University. Wofford lost 72-80 against Drake, leaving the team 1-2 in the first three games of the season.
Tripp and Paveletzke earned the most points for the Terriers, scoring a total of a combined 33 points, with 18 of those points coming from three-point shots. Also putting three-pointers on the scoreboard were McCorkle and Tice.
With the Terriers making 42% of their three-point shots at Drake, it is easy to say that this team has a bright future of three-point shots ahead of them, especially with players like McCorkle and Tice consistently shooting three-pointers this season.
Only time and practice will tell how the rest of the season will play out.