WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's basketball team heads to Franklin College for a non-conference contest on Thursday evening. Tip-off from the Spurlock Center is slated for 7 p.m.
The Teams: Wilmington and Franklin. The Quakers enter the matchup with a 2-0 record having won the Purple & Gold Tournament hosted by Defiance College over the weekend. WC defeated Spalding University 84-60 and beat Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) member and host Defiance 81-72. The Grizzlies are 1-2 on the season. After losing to both Berea College and Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) member Otterbein University by single digits, Franklin beat DePauw University 63-62 on the road on Tuesday.
The Coaches: Micah Mills enters his eighth season with the Wilmington men's basketball program with the 2022-23 campaign being his first as head coach. He helped WC to a 17-8 record during the 2018-19 season and came within a game of the program's first OAC regular season championships. Mills, a graduate of Ohio Valley University, spent three seasons as an assistant coach at fellow OAC member Otterbein University before coming to Wilmington. Chris Hamilton, formerly an assistant coach at regional powers Nebraska Wesleyan University and Randolph-Macon College, is in his first season as the Grizzlies' head coach.
The Players: A quartet of Quakers - Abdul Kanu, Obed Achirem, Lucas Doty and Bryce Bird - score in double figures with Kanu and Achirem, both of whom were named to the Purple & Gold All-Tournament Team, leading the way. Achirem averages a double-double with 11 rebounds a contest while Bird assists on 4.5 WC baskets per contest. Carter Crowe leads Franklin averaging 14.7 points per game.
Tale of the Tape: Points per game – Wilmington 82.5, Franklin 60.0; opponents' points per game – Wilmington 66.0, Franklin 63.3; field goal percentage – Wilmington 50.4, Franklin 37.4; three-point percentage – Wilmington 40.0, Franklin 29.1; free throw percentage – Wilmington 55.6, Franklin 72.4; rebounding margin – Wilmington +8.5, Franklin -2.0; assist-to-turnover ratio – Wilmington 0.75, Franklin 0.80.
Recent History: Wilmington is winless in eight meetings with Franklin since becoming an NCAA Division III member in the early 1990s. The most recent meeting between the two teams was 2008. More information on the series history can be viewed by visiting the link above.
Coverage: Live statistics and live video of the game will be available – visit the links above.
Social Media: Wilmington athletics is represented on Facebook (Wilmington College Athletics), Twitter (@DubCQuakers) and Instagram (@DubCQuakers). Follow all the happenings of Wilmington College on social media by using the hashtag "#WeAreDubC".
Up Next: Wilmington hosts Kenyon College in the Quakers' home opener on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
