Hampton, Winthrop meet in Big South finals

Hampton (15-18, 10-10) vs. Winthrop (23-10, 17-3)

Big South Conference Tourney Championship, Winthrop Coliseum, Rock Hill, South Carolina; Sunday, 12 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Hampton and Winthrop are prepared to face off in the Championship of the Big South tournament. The teams split the regular season series at one win apiece. The teams last met on Feb. 22, when the Pirates shot 54.4 percent from the field while limiting Winthrop’s shooters to just 42.4 percent en route to a six-point victory.

SAVVY VETERANS: Senior leadership could play a big role in this game’s outcome. Hunter Hale, Chandler Vaudrin and Josh Ferguson have combined to account for 41 percent of Winthrop’s scoring this season and 50 percent of the team’s points over its last five games. For Hampton, Jermaine Marrow, Greg Heckstall and Dondre Griffin have collectively scored 42 percent of the team’s points this season, including 49 percent of all Pirates points over their last five.

FACILITATING THE OFFENSE: Marrow has either made or assisted on 60 percent of all Hampton field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has accounted for 31 field goals and 21 assists in those games.

UNDEFEATED WHEN: The Eagles are 14-0 when holding opponents to 41.7 percent or worse from the field, and 9-10 when opponents shoot better than that. The Pirates are 6-0 when the team blocks at least six shots and 9-18 when they fall short of that total.

ASSIST RATIOS: The Pirates have recently created buckets via assists more often than the Eagles. Winthrop has 52 assists on 94 field goals (55.3 percent) over its previous three contests while Hampton has assists on 49 of 86 field goals (57 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The Hampton offense has scored 77.8 points per game this season, ranking the Pirates 27th among Division I teams. The Winthrop defense has allowed 71.6 points per game to opponents (ranked 204th overall).