Mercer basketball teams looking to make noise in Southern Conference tournament
The Mercer women’s and men’s basketball teams are set to compete in the Southern Conference tournament this week with a berth in the NCAA tournament on the line.
The women’s team enters as the No. 1 overall seed after finishing with just one loss in conference play; the Bears are riding a nine-game win streak.
The men’s team has lost seven of its last 10 games and enters as the No. 7 seed. But all seven losses have come by single digits as the team has remained competitive in each game. Both teams will take on Western Carolina in the first round of the tournament.
Women
A year ago, Mercer entered as a No. 2 seed. This year, the Bears enter as the odds on favorite to win the SoCon title.
The Bears are led by a group of seniors looking to reach the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. Senior guard Amoria Neal-Tysor leads the team with 15.8 points per game. In conference play, Neal-Tysor has been even better, averaging nearly 19 points per game.
Mercer’s SoCon title defense was officially underway when Shannon Titus announced she was using her COVID-19 eligibility year to return to the team.
Titus has delivered as the team’s second-leading scorer with nearly 12 points per game, but she also leads the team in rebounds, steals and blocks. Titus was named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year and joined Neal-Tysor on the All-SoCon first team.
The Bears face Western Carolina in the first round, a team Mercer swept in the regular season, Thursday morning. But in the last meeting, the Bears nearly blew a double-digit lead as the Catamounts closed the deficit to five.
Mercer can’t allow Western Carolina to hang around in the conference tournament matchup or it could face an early exit. But look for this group of seniors and SoCon Coach of the Year Susie Gardner to lean on experience in big moments to bring home another title. But they also have youth in the form of SoCon Freshman of the Year guard Erin Houpt.
Men
A year ago, the Mercer men’s team made a run through the conference tournament as the No. 7 seed before losing in the conference title game to UNC-Greensboro.
It looked as if the momentum might carry over to this season as the Bears started 4-1 in conference play and looked poised to fight it out for one of the top seeds.
But the late-season skid has Mercer back in a familiar spot entering the tournament as a No. 7 seed. The big question is can the Bears recapture last season’s March magic and make another run.
Mercer takes on Western Carolina in the first round Friday evening, a team they split the season series with but most recently lost to on the road.
The Bears are led by Felipe Haase, who leads the team with 14.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Haase has scored in double figures in all but four games this season.
At times, Mercer has struggled to find a secondary option to help Haase but Jalen Johnson has been the most consistent, averaging 13.6 points per game.
Johnson will need to get back on track though, as he struggled in the Bear’s final two games of the regular season, scoring just nine points combined across the two contests.
How to watch:
Mercer women: Thursday at 11 a.m. on ESPN+
Mercer men: Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 3:52 PM.