BUIES CREEK, N.C. – March Madness begins Monday in Buies Creek, when Campbell hosts Gardner-Webb at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN3 in the Hercules Tires Big South Championship quarterfinal round.
 
Riding a school Division I era (since 1977-78) record seven-game win streak, third-seeded Campbell (15-9, 11-6) has not lost since a 67-61 setback vs. Radford on Jan. 20. CU's streak matches the program's longest set during the 1993-94 season and equaled two years later.
 
Campbell closed the regular season Tuesday with a 68-48 win over High Point.  The Camels shot 53 percent from the floor and never trailed against the Panthers to secure their ninth victory in the last 11 outings.
 
Gardner-Webb (11-14, 10-10) won its last three games - all on the road - to secure the sixth seed in the Big South tourney.  The Runnin' Bulldogs swept a two-game set at Radford Feb. 17 (69-57) and 18 (77-49) before closing the regular season Monday with a 69-58 victory at USC Upstate.
 
The winner of Monday's contest will advance to Thursday's semifinal against either second-seeded Radford, seventh-seeded Hampton or 10th seed Presbyterian.  The championship game is set for Sunday, Mar. 7 at 12 p.m. on ESPN.
 
CU and GWU split a pair of contests in January at Boiling Springs.  On Jan. 4, Campbell hit 10-of-22 threes and Messiah Thompson scored a then career-high 15 points on 5-of-8 triples to lead foru Camels in double digits in a 70-61 victory.
 
One day later, Jacob Falko led five Runnin' Bulldogs in double figures with 17 pointsand GWU claimed an 85-70 victory.  Thompson again led CU with 18 points, including 4-of-7 beyond the arc.
 

• Campbell continues to lead the Big South and rank 15th in the nation in field goal percentage (.498).  Cedric Henderson, Jr. (.513) and Jordan Whitfield (.496) rank 1-2 among the league individual FG% leaders.  Henderson (16.0) and Whitfield (14.5) also stand 6-7 among Big South scoring leaders.
• CU is 8-3 at Gore Arena this season, 7-2 vs. Big South schools at home.  CU's only two league losses in Buies Creek were a pair of 6-point setbacks vs. Radford on Jan. 19 (97-91 in 3OT) and Jan. 20 (67-61).  Gardner-Webb is 4-10 away from home this year, 4-6 at Big South opponents.

 
HENDERSON, WHITFIELD, McCULLOUGH EARN BIG SOUTH HONORS

• Cedric Henderson, Jr. and Jordan Whitfield were named to the Big South All-Conference second team in voting by league coaches and media members, while Austin McCullough was named to the Big South All-Academic team by league Athletics Communications officials.
• Henderson, a junior forward from Memphis, has started all 24 games and ranks 6th among Big South scoring leaders (16.0), 1st in FG% (.513), 6th FT% (.748), 9th steals (1.4), 5th blocks (1.0).  He has scored in double figures 21 times, including a career-high 26 at Jacksonville, where he was named to the all-tournament team at the Dolphin Classic.  He has grabbed a season-high 9 rebounds twice. Henderson has scored in double digits in 13-straight games, leading CU to 10 wins in that span.
• A senior guard from Raleigh, Whitfield has started all 24 games and rates 7th among Big South scoring leaders (14.5), 2nd in FG% (.496), 14th in assists (2.8) and 10th in 3FGM (2.0).  He was also named to the Dolphin Classic all-tournament team after CU won the team title.  Whitfield has scored in double figures 17 times, 11 times vs Big South teams, including a career-high 28 points vs. Radford.  He led CU to a 3rd place finish in the Big South standings, and is an 81% free throw shooter, 83% in Big South games.  Whitfield hit the game-winning shot vs. Upstate and scored 20 points in a comeback win at Hampton.
• McCullough, a senior guard from Birmingham, Ala., owns a 3.659 grade-point average as a health communication major.  A Dean's List student in the Spring and Fall 2020 semesters, he has named to the 2020 Big South Presidential Honor Roll.  McCullough will present a paper on health systems, corporate social responsibility, social media, and COVID-19 at the Southern States Communication Association Convention in April.  A Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative for men's basketball, McCullough is averaging 7.3 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 53% from the floor and 40% from 3-point range.  He started 10 of CU's first 11 games before missing 6 contests with a sprained wrist.  He scored a career-high 26 points (9-13 threes) vs. Florida National at the Dolphin Classic and had 16 points at Winthrop.

 
CAMPBELL vs. GARDNER-WEBB NOTES

• Gardner-Webb had 11 games postponed and two cancelled since Nov. 25 due to COVID-19 protocols.  The Runnin' Bulldogs were the last Big South team to open the 2020-21 season and did not play their first game until Dec. 10 at Western Kentucky.
• With Ludovic Dufeal (1.6) and Kareem Reid (1.5) standing 3-4 individually, GWU stands 2nd in the Big South (and 19th in the nation) in blocked shots per game (4.9).  The Runnin' Bulldogs rate 2nd among league leaders in defensive field goal percentage (.416).
• Gardner-Webb leads the league in 3-pointers made per game (9.0) and is 5th in 3-point accuracy (.36).  GWU also stands 2nd in the Big South in free throw shooting (.718) and field goal defense (.411).
• In addition to ranking 8th among Big South leaders in scoring (14.3), GWU senior guard Jaheam Cornwall rates 3rd in 3FG% (.420) and assist-turnover ratio (1.7), 4th in assists (3.8) and 3FG made (2.5) and 6th in steals (1.4).
• Campbell has won two of its last three trips to Paul Porter Arena, including a 76-60 decision in 2017 and a 78-70 victory in 2018.  CU did not travel to Boiling Springs in 2019's unbalanced league schedule, then dropped a 73-61 decision on Feb. 22, 2020 at GWU.
• Under head coach Tim Craft, the Runnin' Bulldogs have not endured a losing season in Big South Conference play in his seven seasons. Craft's teams own an 81-61 record vs. the Big South, reaching at least 10 wins in six of his eight seasons.
• Over the last eight seasons, Gardner-Webb has five wins over Power 5 Conference schools - Clemson, Purdue, Nebraska, Georgia Tech (Dec. 17, 2018) and Wake Forest (Dec. 29, 2018).
• The Runnin' Bulldogs defeated both top-seeded Campbell (79-74) and second-seeded Radford (76-65) on the road en route to claiming their first Big South title and NCAA tournament appearance in 2019.  GWU fell to number one seed and eventual national champion Virginia 71-56 in the first round of the Big Dance.
• Campbell and Gardner-Webb have played each other on three different levels.  The teams squared off twice as junior college members in the '50s, then played 3 times as NAIA members in the late '60s-early '70s.  The teams also met as rivals in the Atlantic Sun Conference before GWU joined the Big South in 2008-09.  Campbell, which was a Big South charter member from 1984-94, returned to the league in 2011-12.
• Seven Gardner-Webb standouts have gone on to play in the NBA, including Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore and All-Star John Drew.

 
LIMITED NUMBER OF FANS ALLOWED FOR BIG SOUTH TOURNEY

• Due to the impact of COVID-19, Campbell University began its 2020-21 men's and women's basketball seasons without spectators at home events. As of Mar.1, a limited number of Campbell students and faculty/staff will be allowed at indoor sporting events, including Fighting Camel men's and women's basketball games, as well as volleyball matches. All preregistered students and faculty/staff must enter through front doors of Pope Convocation Center and sit in their assigned seats. Doors will open one hour prior to start of each event.  Fans will be required to wear a mask and follow social distancing protocols at all events, as dictated by Campbell University policy.  Fans are also able to watch all home Campbell Basketball games and road Big South contests on ESPN+ or ESPN3.

 
 
BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

• Due to COVID-19 precautions, the entire 2021 Hercules Tires Big South Championship will be played on the campus of higher seeded teams from the first round through the Mar. 7 title game.
• In 2019, for the first time in the program's Division I history, Campbell was the top seed in its conference tournament.  CU was last seeded in the top two in 1996 when it was the 2nd seed in the Atlantic Sun Championship.
• Campbell hosted the Big South Championship in 2019 for the second time in four seasons.
• Campbell owns a 14-17 record in Big South tourney play, 5-1 in the semifinal round and 1-4 in the finals.
• Since returning to the Big South from the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2011-12, Campbell owns a 5-9 record in league championship tournament play.
• Campbell hosted the Big South Conference men's basketball championship in 2016 for the first time in the league's history, which dates to the inaugural 1986 tournament.
• Campbell has made five appearances in the Big South Conference Tournament championship game (1987, 1989, 1992, 1994, 2017).
• The Camels won the 1992 tournament – defeating Charleston Southern 67-53 in the final at Anderson, S.C. – and earned the Big South's first automatic bid in men's basketball in 1992.
• In addition to his Big South tournament single-game tournament records for points (51), field goals (18) and three-pointers (8, tied) set in the 2017 quarterfinals against UNC Asheville, Chris Clemons also broke the Big South full tournament marks for total points (140), field goals (48) and three-point field goals (20).
• Campbell's run to the 2017 Big South final marked the 1st time since 2012 (VMI) that the 7th seed reached the Big South title game.
• The lowest seed to reach a Big South title game was Liberty, which won the 2013 crown as the 5th seed in the North Division (9th or 10th seed overall) over the South Division champ Charleston Southern 87-76.