The college basketball rivalry between Wofford and Furman reached a fever pitch in Asheville on Monday night. A raucous crowd at Harrah’s Cherokee Center went back and forth for 40 minutes as two SoCon Tournament underdogs battled for a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
It was the Terriers who ultimately prevailed over the Paladins. And in doing so, they completely spoiled their biggest rival’s in-game promotion from back in January. The t-shirts aged like milk.
Furman and Wofford are both private Christian schools with a total enrollment of less than 2,500 students. Both campuses are located in South Carolina, separated by approximately 35 miles. Both schools compete on the Division-I level as members of the Southern Conference. They hate each other.
It is always going to be intense whenever the Terriers and Paladins get together on the hardwood. However, the college basketball game on Monday was even more so. The winner will get to play in March Madness. The loser saw its season come to an end.
Furman packed one half of the gym with purple.
Wofford packed the other half of the gym with black and gold.
It was the best neutral site atmosphere I have ever seen— not including the Big Dance. Certainly on the mid-major level. I digress.
The six-seed Terriers pulled away from the five-seed Paladins during the second half to win the SoCon Tournament and secure a bid to the NCAA Tournament behind 13 points from the most bizarre free-throw shooter in college basketball. They are dancing!
With the result established, this leads us to the now-infamous troll. Furman gave every one of its fans a t-shirt prior to its home game against its in-state rival in January. The shirts depicted Wofford’s adorable mascot as a hot dog and asked “WHO-FFORD?!”
The shirts themselves are actually pretty creative. And they’re a lot of fun… until they’re not.
Furman lost that specific game by 13. It also lost the rubber match on Monday, which meant far more than both of the first two games combined. So… yeah.
WHO-FFORD?!” is hilarious until Wofford makes March Madness while you’re forced to watch at home. Now it is a shirt that should immediately end up in the trash.