Get to Know A Marquette Basketball Opponent: Presbyterian College

Name: Presbyterian College (PC)

Location: Clinton, South Carolina

Huh? If you look at Clinton on a map, it forms the left cup of a very skinny diamond re-rack in beer pong with Augusta southwest, Columbia to the southeast, and Charlotte to the Northeast.

Um okay...? So basically an hour northwest of Columbia, SC

Founded: 1880

Why does that date sound familiar? If you’re a loyal fan, you know that Marquette was founded in 1881.

That’s a looong time ago... Yessir! Originally it was called Clinton College (makes sense) but at some point early in the school’s history they changed their name to Presbyterian College. It’s not really clear as to when the name change happened though the PC website seems to suggest it was in 1904 when the First Presbyterian Church in Clinton voted it through.

Clinton just sounds like a small town: Yep, just over 8,000 inhabitants as of the 2010 census. Essentially PC is all there is in Clinton.

Okay, let’s give Clinton some respect: It also has the Musgrove Mill State Historic Park. Why is it historic? Because that’s where the Battle of Musgrove Mill took place in 1780 where the Patriots defeated the Loyalists. This one’s for you history buffs out there. I also heard the Clinton Museum is a nice spot as well.

Enrollment: 1,016 undergraduates.

WOAH. Yeah, super small. To give you some perspective, that’s not even half the size of Marquette’s record breaking current freshman class of 2,162. PC seems very proud that one-third of their student body participates in intercollegiate athletics. You know what, good for them.

Nickname: Blue Hose

Hose As In “Socks?” Of course. As these things tend to go, local newspaper writers nicknamed the football team “Blue Stockings” and “Blue Hose” because of the socks they wore back around the turn of the 20th century. It kind of stuck, and the student body officially adopted the nickname in the 1950s. It’s a little weird they haven’t come up with a new nickname because this one seems a bit dated and silly.

You must have suggestions? Always. Blue Hornets (because they have close neighbors with that nickname), Blue Bumblebees (save the bees!), Blue Hammerheads (only about 180 miles from the Atlantic...), and Blue Herons. Those are only the ones that still have the initials B.H. Some other good ones are Blue Stallions, Blue Warhawks, and Blue Destroyers. Very powerful and dominant nicknames. It would also be too difficult to change the school colors.

Every good school has a statue right? You betcha! Marquette has the legendary Father Marquette Statue in front of the equally famous St. Joan of Arc Chapel. PC has a 15 foot bronze statue of their mascot Cyrus at the entrance to their football stadium. It’s believed to be the largest bronze statue of a Scotsman on the planet. COOL!!!

Notable Alumni: Jim Samples, president of the HGTV television network; George L. Mabry, Jr., US Army Major General and Medal of Honor recipient; Kimberly Nicole Hampton, US Army Captain and first female US military pilot to be killed by hostile fire; Tim Scott, United States Senator.

That’s it?! All the important ones that I’m aware of, yeah. If you know a PC grad, please email us and we’ll update the article.

Last Season: 11-21, with a 4-14 record in the Big South.

This Season: 3-1 overall, but only two of their games have come against Division 1 opponents. They are 1-1 against D1 competition.

Current KenPom Ranking: #301

Hey, wait a minute.... Yeah, we shouldn’t be playing sub-300 opponents. At all. Ever. As a rule. However, this game is supposed to be Marquette’s second on-campus game as part of the Preseason NIT Tip-Off, and those jerkwads couldn’t figure out how to arrange a game for MU. Hence, at the last minute, the staff at the McGuire Center had to 1) get a waiver from the NCAA and 2) find an opponent. This game gives Presbyterian a stop-over on their way to Los Angeles to play UCLA on Monday, so it works out for everyone involved. It is what it is. There’s no sense in being upset about it.

KenPom Projection: 14-17, with a 7-9 record in the Big South. That would have them as ninth in the 11th team league.

Stats Leaders

Points: Francois Lewis, 16.8 points
Rebounds: Tie between Francois Lewis and Armel TeTe with each bringing down 20 thus far
Assists: Davon Bell, 5.5 assists

Bigs? Not quite... Francois Lewis is their tallest starter at 6’9” but has taken 24 shots from behind the arc, and that’s the second most on the team. Freshmen Corey Hightower is more of a true big as all but four of his shot attempts have come inside the arc and he’s hitting 51% of shots. However he’s only 6’7” and is still listed as a Forward. They only have one player listed as a center on their roster. That honor goes to Armel TeTe who’s playing 12.5 minutes per game.

Shooters? The aforementioned Lewis is PC’s best shooter with 16.8 points per game averaging 53% from the field and 37% from three point land. Aside from him, the number two guy is freshmen Adam Flagler who is averaging 11.3 points per game hitting 45% of his shots and is 9-23 from behind the arc.

Head Coach: Dustin Kerns, in his second year as the PC coach. In his first season he finished 11-21 with the Blue Hose. Before that, he spent seven season with the Wofford Terriers and had a 79-53 record as an assistant there. Yep, coach Kerns had the honor of coaching one of the best shooters in the nation in Fletcher Magee. Who knows why he left.

All Time Series: Marquette is 3-0 against Presbyterian. The most recent contest came three years ago when they beat the Blue Hose 84-66. Before that they played them in two consecutive seasons, with Marquette taking an 84-45 win in December 2008, as well as a 102-62 victory in December 2009.

FUN FACT TIME: Davon Bell was on the Presbyterian roster back in 2015, too. He’s the only one, even though the freshman that year should in theory still be on the team. That’s what happens with coaching changes, I guess. Bell played 17 minutes in that game coming off the bench, finishing with four points, six rebounds, and an assist. There’s probably a long conversation to be had about how a 5’10” guy grabbed six rebounds while going against Luke Fischer and Henry Ellenson.

Prediction: Let’s feel better about ourselves and run up the score against the Blue Hose shall we? I don’t ask for much.