UNC-Greensboro Basketball - Learn and Laugh with Keith Spillett

12/7/2025

UNC Greensboro Report Week 5:  Up on the Downside Edition

UNC Greensboro came into the week needing to get a win.  They had fallen to 1-8, but had not played particularly poorly to start the year.  However, the “Team Sybil” vibe is very real with them and it has been hard to guess what version of the Spartans were going to come out from half-to-half.  Consistency for 40 minutes was key this week. Also, getting a win was huge, because as much as they believe they can compete for the SOCON championship and a bid to the Dance, looking down the barrel of a 1-10 start is daunting.  Norman Vincent Peale couldn’t put a positive spin on having one win halfway through December.

On both fronts, Greensboro took some significant steps in the right direction this week.  They started off on Tuesday against UNC Asheville and played an outstanding back-and-forth game against the Bulldogs, losing an 82-77 squeaker.  Nursing a minor injury, Cal-Penn transfer Donald Whitehead Jr. came off the bench and was a model of offensive efficiency, going 4 for 6 from the field and 3 for 5 from three along with 5 critical assists in 20 minutes.  Whitehead shot roughly 80 percent from the line and 40 percent from the field last season, so it’s not surprising to see him making something outstanding happen every time he touches the ball.  The trip to Asheville did not end in a win, but certainly was a more consistent effort against a quality opponent.  

There is no such thing as a must-win game in December in basketball and one would have to stretch the limits of human imagination to put Greensboro versus East Carolina in that category, but winning this one would help get the team out of the Sisyphus Mode of expending maximal energy over and over again to roll a rock up the hill, only to watch it roll back down only steps away from the precipice.  For all of you non-Greek myth lovers or folks who don’t spend afternoons pondering the essays of Albert Camus, think of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown over and over again for an entire month and you can properly imagine the position Greensboro was in.  

They responded with a phenomenal performance that made the faithful feel like they are betting on the right horse in the SOCON.  Desperate times call for senior leadership, and Justin Neely was as big as the moment against ECU.  He dominated the paint and led the Spartans with 23 points and 8 rebounds as UNCG staved off a late rally to win 82-78.  Lillian Marville had his best game of the young season with 22 points, including 8-8 free throw shooting.  Clutch free throw shooting made the difference in this one as the Spartans shot 88 percent from the stripe.  Marville and Whitehead were perfect on six free throw attempts over the last 15 seconds, sealing the game and making the bus ride back to Greensboro much more comfortable.

The UNC Greensboro Report Week 4:  Robert Louis Stevenson Couldn’t Make This Up Edition

I had hoped to attend the Jacksonville Classic to watch all three of UNCG’s games, but instead, I got a last minute call from my touring Yacht Rock Band “Male Pattern Blandness”.  We had gotten a 5-night-gig at different locations throughout the greater Columbus, Ohio area.  As the group’s stand-in Micheal McDonald vocalist, I immediately switched up my plans and decided to watch the Spartans from the semi-comfort of a Holiday Inn in Ostrander, Ohio.  I do back up vocals on all of the Steely Dan and Kenny Loggins songs, and even front the group for “I Keep Forgettin’” and “Only A Fool Believes”, so they really needed me and the game was going to be televised on something called the Pass The Ball network.  I could have the best of both worlds.

Those of you who have an affinity for mid-major sports know that sometimes you have to be relatively internet savvy to locate games online, but almost anything is available for those willing to spend an hour or two winding through vast networks of Russian troll farms in order to find a live feed.  Having nursed myself through a ten-year-long Drake addiction, I knew the ropes.  Oddly, this is the only area of tech wisdom I have.  It takes me 5 minutes to find the torch on my phone, but 10 minutes to find Chaminade playing a scrimmage against Alaska Anchorage.  Alas, the PTB network required me to purchase a subscription of 25 bucks to watch what I thought was going to be three UNC Greensboro games.  That was pretty much my meal money for the week, so bit down hard and forked over the green.  Instead of actually buying food, I figured I could raid the all-you-can-eat breakfast for the equivalent of three meals everyday (two of which I neatly stashed in my suitcase) and settled in for some mid major madness with a side of powdered eggs.  

People often use the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde as a metaphor to describe all sorts of erratic behavior.  I’m not much for cliches, so I often eschew the use of such low hanging metaphorical fruit.  But, one simply cannot help noticing the resemblance UNCG bares to the suave and sophisticated Dr. Jekyll in one half, and the chaotic indecency of Hyde during the other.  Probably a more apt description of the team would be "Dr. Jekyll and Hide your Eyes for 20 minutes".  

Exhibit A would be the game against Youngstown State on Sunday night.  Youngstown figured to be one of the tougher early season opponents, picked to be one of the best teams in a strong Horizon Conference.  And they certainly looked that way early.  They defenestrated the Spartans in the first half, jumping out to a 21-point-lead and making me wonder if UNCG had gotten off the bus yet.  

I’m not sure what Coach Mike Jones said at the half, but I would have to imagine he made a speech that rivaled General Patton addressing the troops a few hours ahead of D-Day.  The Spartans came out in the second half on a mission and played inspired basketball.  They chipped away at the lead little by little on the strength of some great minutes off the bench from Noah Norgaard.  By the 6:24, Donald Whitehead Jr. nailed a jumper to cut the lead to five.  Whitehead contributed his customary outstanding performance on defense and offense, scoring 14 and causing absolute mayhem with his quickness and brilliant positioning on defense.  After a few huge stops, Justin Neely’s bucket close to the three-minute-mark made it a one point game.  Neely has made a habit of racking up double doubles and finished with 16 and 16 on the night showing the leadership and determination of a grizzled 5-year-veteran.  

The capacity crowd of about 134 were rocking at this point.  Could the Spartans come all the way back and tally their first win in dramatic fashion?  They would need someone to step up.  Surprisingly, that someone was a freshman who had barely cracked the floor all year. Assane Mandian, I saw the number and immediately had to look up his name, nailed a three to take the lead with a little over a minute left.  Next possession, KJ Younger wisely found Mandian for another three.  After a Youngstown basket, Norgaard found Madian immediately and he scored again.  His one man 8 point run helped lift the Spartans to a huge comeback victory, 68-62.  It felt like the winless Spartans had broken through.  There was light at the end of the tunnel.  Little could anyone have guessed, that light was the headlamp of an oncoming train.

Momentum is a funny thing.  It’s one of those terms of art in sport..the sort of thing you say to describe a phenomena you feel like you are experiencing but really aren’t.  Like the man once said…momentum is as good as your next basket.  UNCG’s complete second half collapse against the Delaware Blue Hens on Tuesday afternoon was a textbook example.  The Spartans sprinted out to a 14-point-lead against what appeared to be an overmatched Delaware team.  Delaware is not known for much, and you can certainly add basketball to that list.  Mike Brey once coached there.  Tubby Raymond was outstanding with the football program back in the day. Delaware is the only state in the Union where there are more registered corporations than citizens.  If it feels like I’m changing the subject, it’s because to describe the second half of this game would require reliving it and I just don’t have it in me.  The floor of the gym looked like it was finger painted by a hyperactive 7-year-old with access to only colors used on the TV show Miami Vice.  The only thing uglier was the second half.  Delaware couldn’t miss, but Greensboro sure could.  Marville finished with 17.  Delaware won 73-60.

I was so discouraged by the game, I went out to our gig at Fatty’s Barbeque Shack that night and I completely blew the falsetto high notes on the Kenny Loggins classic “This is It”. The Spartans second half game of Hyde and seek had left me deeply shaken and confused.  

Expecting the worst on Wednesday against one of the top shooting mid major teams in the country in Miami of Ohio, I did three or four shots of day old sausage gravy and slammed my shoe on the computer, cursing the PBT network for deciding that my 25 bucks was not worth giving me the final day of the tournament.  I found a livestream on something called the SIAC network, which featured no announcers and a nifty halftime show featuring a guy named Doug dry mopping the floor, and watched Greensboro come out playing Jekyllball.  They went shot for shot with the Redhawks and edged out to an 11-point-lead early in the second half.  Mandian again played a huge role racking up 11 points off the bench and making me almost believe that the Spartans were going to pull this off.  But, they quickly reverted to Tuesday’s version of George Thorogood’s “Delaware Slide” in the last 15 minutes and Miami closed them out 81-74.  

UNCG is probably the best 1-6 team in America for what it’s worth, which is like being the most handsome resident of a leper colony. If they can just play two consistent halves of basketball on a regular basis, this team can contend for the SOCON title.  We’ll see who shows up on Tuesday as they face UNC Asheville.  Jekyll?  Hyde? Long John Silver?  Your guess is as good as mine.

11/23/2025

UNC Greensboro Report Week 3 (Alternative Facts Edition)

Greensboro played a great game on Thursday night against Queens College.  Chances are, if you wanted to watch it you would have already. Or you might have read through the box score and maybe looked at a few highlights.  If you can find it online, I highly recommend streaming it.  Both teams looked fantastic offensively.  Queens won 101-94.

I really wanted Greensboro to win.  I know as a member of “the media” I’m supposed to be impartial, but c’mon!?!  Does anybody REALLY do that? I don’t want to linger on feelings of disappointment.  This is the internet!  Anything can be true if we just say it enough.  

Why do I have to be stuck telling the “objective truth” anyway?  It’s 2025 folks!   The truth is completely out of style. Walter Cronkite is not walking through that door!!!  Instead of wasting your time with “facts”, I’m just going to imagine how I thought the game should have gone and I’ll tell you about it.  It’s better that way. 

As a consumer and journalist, I know my rights!  I refuse to bend a knee to the constraints and limitations of “reality”!  I will not be suckered into the whole “journalism is about telling people what is actually happening” thing!  

On Thursday night, Greensboro rolled into Charlotte for a matchup against a high scoring, uptempo team from Queens’ College, a squad picked by many to win the Atlantic Sun Conference.  As most of you probably remember, back in 2002 Charlotte seceded from the union over a dispute around New Orleans stealing their professional basketball team, the so-called Hornets.  They have since gotten another pro team since then but hostility has lingered between the People’s Republic of Charlotte (PRC) and the rest of the United States, marring plans for a potential reunion.

Instead of fighting the secession, the US blithely accepted the decision, choosing to focus intently on important things like controversy around the first season of American Idol.  However, the US has done all sorts of passive aggressive things to make the Charlotte locals miserable.  Unleashing gigantic laboratory-created cephalopods and rabbits into the PRC on a regular basis has been the preferred method of trying to woo and intimidate the city back into the greater nation.  As a result, over 100,000 people are now trapped in the Curry Arena, trying to stay safe from the marauding packs of beasts that have decimated the city’s infrastructure and housing market. 

As a gesture of goodwill to attempt to win the hearts and minds of the citizens of the PRC, the US has permitted a handful of teams to play against Queens College again this season.  UNC Greensboro was escorted into the building by the Fifth Air Cavalry Division, but things got a little bit dicey when they arrived at the arena.  Freshman guard KJ Younger was captured by a giant octopus as he disembarked from a chopper, but he was saved by forward Justin Neely, who is averaging an impressive 14 points and 11 rebounds per game.  Neely pried Younger free of the tentacles of the monster before a swarm of killer rabbits descended on the bus. It’s a good thing too, because Younger had his best night as a Spartan, tallying a career high 22 points.

When they finally made it into the arena they were greeted with cheers by PRC citizens who appreciated their bravery in traveling to the city.  Many of these fans have been living in the Curry Center since the Great Cephalopod Incident of 2023.  The rigors of their terrifying journey caused the Spartans to come out slightly lethargic.  Queens stormed out to an early 17-6 lead. The Royals tormented Greensboro all night from behind the arc, nailing 15 of them at a 47 percent clip.  Senior Chris Ashby was particularly lethal, throwing five daggers in from international waters.

The lead ballooned to 15 in the second half, but slowly the Spartans salted away at it by pounding the ball in the paint to center Valentino Pinedo and working the ball around the perimeter to Neely and Younger.   With a minute and 15 seconds remaining, the Spartans had cut the lead to two.  After a huge defensive stop, Donald Whitehead Jr. flashed a nifty high low pass to 6 '10 forward Domas Kauzonas, who beat his defender to the basket for a picture perfect layup.  Tie game.  Queens immediately inbounded the ball and hit Yoav Berman in the corner for a corner three. Greensboro came right back down, working a series of quick perimeter passes to KJ Younger who buried a three to tie the game again at 94.

Queens had the ball with 34 seconds remaining.  After working the ball up top, Berman found Ashby in traffic from 17 feet out and he glanced a great look off the rim.  Neely swiped his 8th rebound of the night and fired ahead to Whitehead who dribbled through two defenders and found CJ Younger streaking to the basket.  Younger fired an off-balance shot that banked off the glass, rolled around the rim and dropped through the cylinder as the buzzer sounded.  Greensboro stormed off the bench and erupted in celebration after a thrilling 96-94 victory.  The capacity crowd of 102,786 sat in stunned silence.

As the Spartans left the court, the horrific reality of having to return to “normal life” in a country where an estimated 1 in 5 citizens are likely to be attacked by mollusks in the coming year was almost too much to bear.  Greensboro’s players were extracted from the arena using cephalopod and lepus resistant drones and airlifted to Florida for next week's Jacksonville Classic and a matchup against a tough Youngstown State team at 5:30 pm on Monday.

11/16/2025

After a challenging first week, UNC Greensboro went to Raleigh to play an outrageously talented NC State team.  This is not your garden-variety middle of the pack Wolfpack.  After years of playing in the shadows of behemoths North Carolina and Duke, it’s very possible that the best team in the Raleigh-Durham area is NC State this year. Will Wade arrived after a remarkable tenure at McNeese State where he unleashed an unholy terror of a defense on the college basketball world. His team was downright nasty, nearly holding Clemson to single digits in a remarkable first half as they pressed and trapped their way to the second round of last year's tournament. 

Wade not only brought his two best players with him to NC State, he put together a downright grotesque group of transfers, highlighted by arguably the most impressive kid in the portal, a 6-6 rock of a forward with one of the softest touches in the country, Darrion Williams.  While Wade’s teams are always relentless on defense, he’s never had a squad with this sort of offensive firepower.  Greensboro was likely seeing the best team they are going to face this year on Wednesday night.

All things considered, they held their own pretty well early against the Pack.  They hung around in the first half and kept them within 10, before a 26-2 run in the second half wiped Greensboro off the map. Donald Whitehead Jr. had another outstanding performance, dropping a season high 21 points against an NC State team that often seemed like they had 8 defenders on the floor. 

The key issue for Greensboro early in the season has been giving up three point baskets at a horrifying clip.  NC State came into the game with sophomore Paul McNeil shooting a quasi-comedic 47 percent from three point range.  He went 6-13 from beyond the arc, which would have been significantly more impressive if Darrion Williams hadn’t one-uped him by going 6 for 8 from netherworld, finishing with 32.

Saturday’s game lacked the panache of the showdown with the Wolfpack.  In spite of being in front of a home crowd, the Spartans came out a bit flat against an aggressive Austin Peay squad.  The first half was more reminiscent of Chuck Wepner’s boxing career than the game Dr. Naismith invented.  Lots of clutching, grabbing and bleeding.  At least neither team finished up the game by having to fight a bear.  

Austin Peay seemed to solve Greensboro’s three point defensive problem by opening 1-12 from beyond the arc, but settled into a groove in the second half by running the same exact clear out play to Collin Parker for something like 435 consecutive possessions.  Parker finished with 22 and the Govs snuck out of the building with a 69-63 win.  Justin Neely kept the Spartans in the game with a stellar performance for Greensboro, racking up his 2nd double double of the season with 15 points and 14 boards.  

As November drags on, getting into the win column is starting to develop some real urgency.  They matchup against a tough Queens College team on Thursday night.

11/10/2025

UNC Greensboro Spartans Season Preview and Week 1 Report

If the 2025-26 season is anything like the first week for Greensboro, it’s going to be a white-knuckle roller coaster ride the whole way.  They opened playing against a fantastic power conference Kansas State squad on the road and followed that with what could easily be considered the most exciting game of the young college basketball during their home opener.  In a highly competitive SOCON conference, it’s hard to know where they’ll end up, but they certainly will not be boring.

Coach Mike Jones returns to Greensboro after three consecutive 20-win seasons where his teams have regularly been on the brink of winning the SOCON.  Jones has the most generic name in all of college sports.  I believe there are at least 11 other D1 coaches who go by that name along with a Houston born rapper from back in the day best known for putting his cellphone number on an album cover.  But, nothing about Jones’ teams ever feels ordinary. He has continued to put together rosters that play fast, intelligent basketball year after year.  

This year he is dealing with the issue that roughly 300 other programs are facing in The Era of the Portal.  How do you take a team of mostly strangers and have them coalesce into a league champion in four months?  Things have never been more challenging for coaches who no longer have the option of keeping a group together for four years and building towards a greater purpose, the former blueprint for success in mid-major conferences.  Coaching has become about teaching the game at warp speed and turning talented individuals into a coherent team overnight.   Luckily for Greensboro, Jones has brought together a truly impressive set of players from as far away as Lithuania and France.  If Mike Jones can find a way to “chop and screw” this team together into a whole greater than its parts, they could contend with last year’s NIT winning UT Chattanooga squad for the conference berth in the NCAA tournament.  

Greensboro certainly didn’t take the easy road in week one.  They went into Manhattan, Kansas, which has been a house of horrors for many midmajor teams early in the season, and took on a Kansas State team featuring PJ Haggerty (or “Swaggerty”, as the kids like to call him) the Memphis transfer many writers and coaches picked pre-season as a National Player of the Year.  

UNCG came flying out of the gate completely undaunted and raced to a significant lead using fantastic ball movement and stellar defense.  The bigger and faster Kansas State squad were on the ropes early as returning Lithuanian marksman Domas Kauzonas seemed to score at will on a series of mid-range jumpshots made possible by sublime interior passing. Freshman KJ Younger also found his groove early and managed to make critical shots.  Fifth year University of Albany transfer Justin Neely, a Swiss Army knife of a player who seems to find ways to contribute significantly in every statistical category, did a fantastic job of moving the ball and keeping the offense in rhythm.  He finished with a team high 15 points and was a major reason Greensboro went into the locker room up one as the panicked Kansas State faithful felt an upset brewing.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, Kansas State, who had struggled to score around the basket, took their game out to the perimeter and the Jerome Tang Clan exploded from three point range, finishing the game shooting a nearly impossible 51 percent from beyond the arc and running away with the game in the second half.

The Spartans came home on Saturday tilt against a hot shooting Elon team who lives and dies behind the three point arc.  Greensboro again struggled to keep Elon in check from three point range in the first half, but settled in during the second and forced the Phoenix into a pedestrian 32 percent from three for the game.  But, the Greensboro team seemed to have improved by leaps and bounds from their first game due to the arrival of a player that could follow in the long and storied tradition of transcendent undersized mid major guards going back to Mouse McFadden at Cleveland State.  His name is Donald Whitehead Jr. and the Elon game served as a coming out party for this remarkable D2 transfer.  At 5 '10 160 pounds, it might be hard to find him during warmups, but once the game gets going, it’s hard to take your eyes off of him.  He had a solid first game at Kansas State, but on Saturday he gave us a glimpse of the greatness that lies ahead.

Whitehead’s electric first step, feather light shooting touch and turbo button speed helped Greensboro overcome a hot shooting start by Elon.  There is just something about this kid that is different.  His feel for the flow of the game, honed last season in season at University of California-Pennsylvania where he was an NABC All-American and PSAC Player of the Year, helped him become a poised athlete who balances the teams offense while keeping the opponent perpetually off-balance. Watching him play, you would never have guessed this was a kid playing in his first D1 home game.  He was Cool Hand Luke all afternoon…a kid with the grace and vision of a natural leader.  The team seemed to respond to his energy in his 36 minutes on the floor and particularly flourish when he was at the point.

The Spartans took a 3-point lead into the last ten seconds of the game, but inexplicably decided not to foul Elon and send them to the line eliminating their chance to tie it.  It was a surprising decision by a coach with great instincts.  Kasper Klacsek, the talented Polish scorer and guy on the court who most looks like he should be fronting a Journey cover band, splashed down a three to tie it.  With three seconds left, the Spartans put the game in the hands of Whitehead and asked him to win it for them.  

Showing the guts of a cat burglar, Whitehead sprinted down the floor Tyus Edney style and threw up the game winning basket in traffic as the buzzer sounded.  Whitehead was mobbed by his teammates and the building erupted.  It should have been one of the most magical moments the program has witnessed in years.  But, it wasn’t.

This perfect ending to a truly well-played back and forth battle between two hard fighting teams was marred by a terrible officiating mistake.  The officials, who had called the basket good on the floor, looked at the monitors and, after a long period of deliberation, took the basket off of the scoreboard because the shot was supposedly released .1 seconds too late.  Having watched the replay with the ferocity of Jim Garrison scanning the Zapruder film, I have absolutely no idea what the officials saw that made them decide to not count the game winner.  It was an egregiously bad use of instant replay as there certainly was no definitive evidence to overturn the call, let alone the outcome of the game.  But, the officials decided to legislate poorly with their whistles, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for the Spartans.  Both Greensboro and Elon were exhausted after the frenetic last minute of the game and Elon managed to squeak out a 92-90 overtime victory.  A fantastic win for the Phoenix, but a game marred by one truly shameful call.