UNC Greensboro Spartans men's basketball
The UNCG Spartans men's basketball team represents the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in NCAA Division I. The school's team currently competes in the Southern Conference.
History
The school, formerly The Women's College of The University of North Carolina, allowed male students beginning 1965-66 and started a men's basketball program the following year. The first coach was an instructor in the Physical Education program, the assistant was an administrator in the Chancellor's office, with some limited experience from the University of Kansas basketball program. Games were scheduled with Belmont Abbey, Elon, Guilford, and a few other small colleges. Players came from already-enrolled students, responding to on-campus ads. No records of results are available.On March 2, 1996, men's basketball knocked off Liberty, 79–53, to claim the Big South Tournament Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Division I. The Spartans lost to Cincinnati in the NCAA Tournament, 66–61. The five seniors from the team had their numbers honored. Scott Hartzell finished his career as the men's basketball's all-time leading scorer with 1,539.
On March 4, 2001, the men's basketball team won its first Southern Conference championship on David Schuck's buzzer-beating layup. The team went on to play top-ranked Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, its second trip to the "Big Dance" in five years. Guard Nathan Jameson was named first-team Verizon Academic All-America.
On December 31, 2005, UNCG hosted top-ranked Duke at the Greensboro Coliseum in front of a record crowd of 21,124. The near capacity crowd was the largest to ever see a UNCG athletic event.
Mike Dement era
served as the architect of the program in its move to Division I. He was the Spartans' head coach from 1991–95, leading them from a team with no conference affiliation to the top of the Big South Conference regular season standings in just four seasons. In his last two seasons at UNCG, Dement's teams went 38–18, including a school-record 23 wins in 1994–95. That year, his team won the Big South Conference's regular season title and was the runner up in the conference tournament. The team received votes in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls for the first time in school history during that record-setting season.Randy Peele era
In 1991, Peele accepted an assistant's job at the UNC-Greensboro. After four years with the Spartans, Peele was promoted to replace former head coach Mike Dement, who had left to take over the men's basketball program at SMU.In Peele's first season, only the second year in which UNC-Greensboro was eligible for Division I postseason competition, the Spartans won the Big South Conference regular season and tournament championships. In the NCAA tournament, UNC-Greensboro were the 15th seed in the Southeast region, and fell in the first round to the Cincinnati Bearcats.
After 1996, however, Peele had little success with the Spartans. UNC-Greensboro followed up their Big South championship with a 10–20 regular season, and then left the Big South in 1997 to join the Southern Conference. The Spartans finished at or near the bottom of their division in both of their first two seasons in the SoCon, and after four years in Greensboro, Peele left the Spartans and took an assistant's job with the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Fran McCaffery era
guided UNC-Greensboro from 1999 to 2005, where he posted a 90–87 record in six seasons. In his first year at the helm, Greensboro compiled a 15–13 record overall and a 9–7 Southern Conference mark, good for third place in the North Division. It was the 18th-most improved record nationally among NCAA Division I teams.In McCaffery's second season, he guided the Spartans to success with a 19–12 record and the 2001 SoCon Tournament Championship. The Spartans defeated Chattanooga, 67–66, in the finals and received the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The following year McCaffery led the Spartans to their first 20-win season since joining the conference. It marked the first time the program claimed a share of the SoCon North Division title as well. After falling to eventual tournament champion Davidson in the conference tournament semifinals, the Spartans were awarded a berth into the 2002 NIT, where they lost to eventual champion Memphis.
In his final year in Greensboro, McCaffery brought the Spartans to the brink of the NCAA Tournament before a SoCon Championship game loss to Chattanooga. He led UNCG to a victory over Davidson in the semifinals, defeating a team that had been 16–0 in conference play. A big part of that success was SoCon Freshman of the Year Kyle Hines. Hines set UNCG and SoCon records for blocked shots, and also broke several other UNCG single-game and freshman single-season marks.
Return of Mike Dement
In his first season back at UNCG, Dement led a young Spartan squad to a 12–19 mark. He had two players earning all-conference status in Ricky Hickman and Kyle Hines, and another earning SoCon All-Freshman honors. Early in the season, UNCG won on the road at East Carolina and at home against a Gardner-Webb team that had gone right down to the buzzer with North Carolina two weeks earlier. But like many young squads do, the Spartans had their struggles down the stretch and a 7–3 start—one of the best in school history—was forgotten with February's fumbles. Yet still, 10th-seeded UNCG knocked off seventh-seeded Western Carolina in the opening round of the conference tournament and then had three shots at the end of regulation to beat second-seeded Elon, only to fall in overtime in the SoCon quarterfinals.In 2006–07, Dement guided the Spartans to a 16–14 mark, including a second-place finish in the Southern Conference's Northern Division. Hines, only a junior, earned Southern Conference Player of the Year and Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention status – a pair of firsts in the history of the UNCG program. The Spartans were considered by many to be the most dangerous team in the SoCon Tournament, but were upended in the final seconds by Furman in the quarterfinal round.
In 2007–08, the Spartans began the season and ended the season with a bit of history. A season-opening win at Georgia Tech gave the Spartans their first-ever win over an ACC team. UNCG also picked up big road wins out of conference at Fordham and UNC Wilmington.
In 2008–2009, with a roster that had no seniors on it, the Spartans finished with a 5–25 mark. Still, the Spartans swept the season-series with backyard rival Elon and split with Appalachian State.
Move to Greensboro Coliseum
Beginning with the 2009–10 season, the men's basketball team plays all of their home games in the Greensboro Coliseum. The arena, which holds over 23,000 seats, is configured to hold around 7,500 spectators for most games.As part of the move, the Coliseum remodeled a floor to become a Spartan home floor and also completely renovated a massive locker room space for the team, complete with training room, meeting facilities, coaches offices and a players' lounge.
The UNCG men's basketball program is taking advantage of the opportunity by playing against ACC teams, Southern Conference opponents, UNC system schools and other nationally ranked programs in the Coliseum.
Wes Miller era
enters his ninth season as the UNCG men's basketball coach in 2019-2020, after taking over the reins of the program in December 2011 on an interim basis. As of the 2019-2020 season, he is longest tenured coast in the Southern Conference. During Miller's tenure UNCG has seen an unprecedented run of success, reaching 25 wins for three successive seasons between 2016 and 2019, winning two Southern Conference championships, reaching the NCAA tournament in 2018, and recording the program's first postseason victory in 2019.Under Wes Miller, guard Francis Alonso became UNCG's all-time leader in made 3-pointers and was a two-time first-team All-SoCon selection. The Spartans have boasted two consecutive Southern Conference Defensive Players of the Year in forward James Dickey and guard Isaiah Miller. Dickey was also named to the All-SoCon second-team in 2018, while Miller received first-team honors in 2019.
The 2018-2019 season was arguably the most successful of Wes Miller's career. The Spartans went 29-7, finishing 2nd in the Southern Conference and receiving the #1 overall seed in the NIT Tournament where they beat Campbell in the First Round before losing to eventual tournament runners-up Lipscomb.
Retired numbers
The Spartans have retired three jersey numbers.| 5 | Scott Hartzell | PG | 1992–96 |
| 23 | Courtney Eldridge | G | 1998–2002 |
| 42 | Kyle Hines | PF | 2004–08 |
Kyle Hines #42
In the 2006–07 season, Kyle Hines became the first player in UNCG history to receive the Southern Conference Player of the Year honor and to be named to the Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention. He became only the sixth player to score 2,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds and block 300 shots in his college career. He joined the ranks of David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, Tim Duncan, Pervis Ellison and Derrick Coleman.Courtney Eldridge #23
Eldridge led the Spartans to the 2001 Southern Conference Tournament championship against University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and their second NCAA Tournament appearance.During the 2001–2002 season, he was ranked 9th in the Nation and 1st in the SoCon in steals, 23rd in the nation and 3rd in the conference in assists, UNCG All-Time leader in steals, 2nd All-Time leader in assists, and 5th
All-Time Leading Scorer. The Spartans won the 2002 Southern Conference regular season title and earned a bid to the NIT.
Scott Hartzell #5
Hartzell was inducted into the UNCG Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. He led UNCG in three-point field goals, three-point shooting percentage, and free throw shooting percentage all four seasons. He graduated in 1996 as the school's all-time leader in points 1,539 and assists with 552. His scoring mark now sits fifth on the all-time list, while his assist total sits second. He still holds the UNCG records for career three-pointers made, attempted and shooting percentage.In 1995–96, Hartzell led the Spartans to its first NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament appearance. He led UNCG to the 1996 Big South Championship, crushing Liberty by 26 points in the title game on its home floor. During that memorable run, Hartzell ran his streak of consecutive games with a three-point field goal to 42 straight. The Spartans gained a first round match-up with Cincinnati in the NCAA Tournament, nearly knocking off the No. 7-ranked Bearcats before falling, 66–61.
Season-by-season results
Postseason
NCAA Division I Tournament results
The Spartans have appeared in the NCAA Division I Tournament three times. Their combined record is 0–3.| 1996 | #15 | First Round | #2 Cincinnati | L 61–66 |
| 2001 | #16 | First Round | #1 Stanford | L 60–88 |
| 2018 | #13 | First Round | #4 Gonzaga | L 64–68 |
NIT results
The Spartans have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament three times. Their combined record is 1–3.| 2002 | First Round | Memphis | L 62–82 |
| 2017 | First Round | Syracuse | L 77–90 |
| 2019 | First Round Second Round | Campbell Lipscomb | W 84–69 L 69–86 |
CBI results
The Spartans have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational one time. Their record is 1–1.| 2016 | First Round Quarterfinals | Houston Baptist Ohio | W 69–65 L 67–72 |