Men's Basketball | November 08, 2022

Each week, the University of South Carolina Aiken will produce notes. This week, USC Aiken plays at Tusculum and takes on No. 6 Lincoln Memorial in a neutral-site game. 

Preseason Honor

Junior guard Tehree Horn was named to the PBC preseason all-conference team. The standout garnered all-league honors a season ago and looks to pick up where he left off. Horn earned second-team honors in 2022. 

Top Three In The PBC

Head coach Mark Vanderslice's team was picked to finish in a tie for third in the PBC preseason coaches poll. Augusta earned the top seed while Columbus State was second in the poll. The Pacers were tied with Lander in the rankings.

Early Tests

USC Aiken's season-opening weekend is one of the toughest in the nation and should give fans a chance to see where the team stands with a game at ever-tough Tusculum before playing No. 6 Lincoln Memorial in a neutral-site game the following afternoon.

Against No. 6

Since moving to Division II, the Pacers are 21-37 against nationally-ranked opponents. The program is 1-1 against the No. 6 team in the nation during that time. The squad won a game against No. 6 Augusta on Jan. 25, 2010 but lost to No. 6 Lincoln Memorial on Nov. 9, 2019.  

Core Group 

Pacer Nation will see several familiar faces once again on the court for USC Aiken. This includes redshirt-senior Samba Ndiaye (6-9 center), juniors Melvin Archie (6-2 guard), Demitrios Dixon (5-10 guard) and Tehree Horn (6-3 guard). It also includes sophomores Tyler Johnson (6-2 guard) and Jalen McCoy (6-5 guard). 

Meet The Newcomers

This year, head coach Mark Vanderslice's team has nine newcomers on the roster.  It includes redshirt-senior DeShawn Thomas (6-10 forward), redshirt-junior Devin Evans (6-9 forward),  juniors Daniel Parrish (6-4 guard) and Jammy Pierre-Louis (6-0 guard) and rookies Karon Boyd (6-5 forward), Christopher Brown (6-4 guard), Dwight Canady Jr. (6-0 guard), Chedlet Delva (6-10 center/forward) and Jameel Rideout (6-2 guard).  

Inside The Numbers

This week, USC Aiken hits the road Friday, Nov. 11 for the season-opening game at Tusculum before playing a neutral-site contest Saturday, Nov. 12 against Lincoln Memorial. Since moving to Division II, the Pacers are 27-27 (50 percent) in Friday games and 220-173 (55.9 percent) in Saturday contests. During the same time, the squad is 1-0 on Nov. 11 and 3-1 on Nov. 12. 

Against The Opponents

This week, USC Aiken hits the road Friday, Nov. 11 for the season-opening game at Tusculum before playing a neutral-site contest Saturday, Nov. 12 against Lincoln Memorial. The Pacers trail the all-time series to the Pioneers 5-2. USC Aiken trails the all-time series to the Railsplitters 2-1.