Bulldogs head to South Carolina for pair of road games

Gardner-Webb (12-7, 2-2 Big South) at Winthrop (12-6, 4-1 Big South); at Charleston Southern (7-10, 1-3 Big South)

When: Thursday 7 p.m. (ESPNU), Saturday 5:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

Last meetings: WU 90-67, 90-71, 72-68: CSU 83-68 GWU 63-61

Tip-ins: It’s been a roller coaster of a conference season so far for the Gardner-Webb men’s basketball team. They have won both games in Paul Porter Arena, but dropped both road contests.

According to coach Tim Craft, that road record has to improve.

His team will get the chance to do just that as they face pivotal matchups in Rock Hill and Charleston.

“It’s so hard to win conference games on the road in this league or really any league,” Craft said. ”You have to come together as a team and limit your mistakes. That’s what we are going to have to do this week.”

Up first is a game with Winthrop, a team Gardner-Webb has not beaten in the last nine tries including three conference tournament games. But Craft points out that most of those contests have been very competitive.

“Yes they have won the last several games, but I don’t think that tells the whole story,” he said. Most of those games went down to the wire and were one-possession games or went into overtime.”

Still, the Bulldogs will have their work cut out for them as the Eagles are lethal from beyond the arc as part of an offense that ranks sixth in the country in efficiency while averaging 86.4 points per game as of Sunday.

“We are really going to focus on our transition defense,” Craft said. “They like to get out and run. We also have to get out and put a hand up on their outside shooters. About half of their offense comes from three and they shoot at about 39 percent.”

Gardner-Webb doesn’t seem to mind playing at a faster pace, however as they are 11-2 when scoring at least 73 points this season versus 1-5 when they don’t.

“We don’t try necessarily to play at a faster pace,” Craft said. “We just play our game. We will tack advantage of fast breaks when they are available, though.”

In the end, Craft says the winner of the Winthrop game will be determined by who best can execute two basketball fundamentals: Rebounding and turnovers.

“There are going to be a lot of long rebounds because of the number of 3-pointers they shoot. We have to box out and get to those balls. Offensively, we can’t over penetrate because that’s what leads to most of our turnovers. If we can rebound well and limit turnovers, we have a chance to get a big road win.”