Mercer Bears to take on UNCG in conference championship Monday after semi-final win
The Mercer Bears men’s basketball team is heading to the Southern Conference title game for the first time in program history after a 73-69 win over the VMI Keydets.
Mercer is the seven seed in the tournament and has taken on the role of the Cinderella story with upset wins over No. 2 seed Wofford and No. 6 seed VMI after winning the opening round game over Samford.
Here are three takeaways from Mercer’s run in the SoCon tournament and a look ahead to the Bears showdown with UNCG at 7 p.m. Monday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
With a win, the Bears would be heading back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years. The Mercer women’s basketball team has already clinched its spot with a SoCon title win on Sunday over Wofford.
1. Mercer relying on great defense
The Bears’ offense has been solid throughout this tournament run, but the defense has held all three of its opponents to 61 points and under. The turnaround on the defensive side of the ball gives Mercer a puncher’s chance against UNCG on Monday night. In the Spartan’s two tournament games, they have scored 80 and 77 points.
In the two meetings this year between Mercer and UNCG, Mercer allowed 77 and 81 points. If Mercer is able to hold UNCG to under 70 points, then the Bears have a good shot at pulling the upset and punching a ticket to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2013-2014 season when it beat Duke.
2. Avoiding the scoreless runs
Over the last few years, the Bears have routinely gone cold in the worst possible moments on the offensive side of the ball. Time and time again, the team would go through five minutes (or longer) of not being able to score. In the quarterfinal game against Wofford, Mercer got off to a hot start and had a 17-point lead at halftime.
But this issue cropped up again and the Bears gave the lead away late. Mercer managed to close out the game with some timely buckets in what might be the gutsiest win of Head Coach Greg Gary’s tenure at Mercer as the Bears held on for a 62-61 win. The big first half lead allowed them to endure that stretch, but against the top seed this type of play could spell the end of the Bears’ tournament hopes.
3. Adapting to the big stage
Mercer hasn’t been to a conference tournament final since winning the Atlantic Sun in 2013-2014. UNCG is back in the title game for the fourth time in the last five seasons. This really is the battle of David versus Goliath when it comes to these two teams and recent track records. But Mercer is peaking and playing its best basketball at the right time.
If Mercer doesn’t let the spotlight of the big game overwhelm them, then fans could be in for another trip to the NCAA tournament — one that Gary is familiar with. Before joining the Bears last season, Gary was an assistant coach for the Purdue Boilermakers who reached the Final Four during the 2018-2019 season.
This was one of the reasons that Mercer targeted Gary as its head coach. On Monday night, it could pay off if the Bears can shock the conference for the third straight game and upset UNCG in route to the title.