2021–22 Southern Conference men's basketball season

The 2021–22 Southern Conference men's basketball season started non-conference play on November 9, 2021, and began conference play on December 29, 2021. The regular season ended on February 27, 2022, setting up the 2022 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament from March 4 to March 7.

2021-22 Southern Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	10
Regular Season
2022 Southern Conference Tournament

2021–22 Southern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Chattanooga †	14	–	4		.778			27	–	8		.771
Furman	12	–	6		.667			22	–	12		.647
Samford	10	–	8		.556			21	–	11		.656
Wofford	10	–	8		.556			19	–	13		.594
VMI	9	–	9		.500			16	–	16		.500
UNC Greensboro	9	–	9		.500			17	–	15		.531
Mercer	8	–	10		.444			16	–	17		.485
East Tennessee State	7	–	11		.389			15	–	17		.469
The Citadel	6	–	12		.333			13	–	17		.433
Western Carolina	5	–	13		.278			11	–	21		.344
† 2022 SoCon Tournament winner

Conference Schedule

Each team is scheduled to play 18 conference games. Each team will play every team twice, once at home and once on the road.

Head Coaches

Coach Changes

East Tennessee State hired Desmond Oliver to replace Jason Shay who left for Wake Forest to become an assistant.

UNC Greensboro hired Mike Jones to replace Wes Miller who left for Cincinnati to become head coach.

Western Carolina hired Justin Gray to replace Mark Prosser who left for Winthrop to become head coach.

Coaches

Team	Head Coach	Previous Job	Years At School	Record at School	SoCon Record	SoCon Titles	NCAA Tournaments
Chattanooga	Lamont Paris	Wisconsin (Assistant)	5	60-63	29-41	0	0
The Citadel	Duggar Baucom	VMI	7	64-118	21-85	0	0
East Tennessee State	Desmond Oliver	Tennessee (Assistant)	1	0-0	0-0	0	0
Furman	Bob Richey	Furman (Assistant)	5	89-35	51-18	0	0
Mercer	Greg Gary	Purdue (Assistant)	3	33-25	19-16	0	0
Samford	Bucky McMillan	Mountain Brook HS	2	6-13	2-9	0	0
UNC Greensboro	Mike Jones	Radford	1	0-0	0-0	0	0
VMI	Dan Earl	Navy (Associate HC)	7	57-123	25-79	0	0
Western Carolina	Justin Gray	Winthrop (Assistant)	1	0-0	0-0	0	0
Wofford	Jay McAuley	Wofford (Assistant)	3	34-24	20-15	0	0

Notes:

• Year at school includes 2021–22 season.
• Overall and SoCon records are from the time at current school and are through the end of the 2020–21 season.
• NCAA Tournament appearances are from the time at current school only.

Preseason Awards

The Preseason Southern Conference men's basketball polls was released on October 26, 2021.^[1]

Preseason men's basketball polls

First Place Votes in Parentheses

Coaches Poll

1. Chattanooga (7) - 77
2. Furman (2) - 71
3. East Tennessee State - 59
4. Mercer (1) - 58
5. Wofford - 49
6. UNC Greensboro - 45
7. VMI - 32
8. Samford - 24
9. The Citadel - 23
10. Western Carolina - 12

Media Poll

1. Chattanooga (18) - 254
2. Furman (3) - 220
3. Wofford (1) - 191
4. Mercer (2) - 190
5. East Tennessee State - 186
6. UNC Greensboro (3) - 160
7. VMI - 104
8. The Citadel - 74
9. Samford - 57
10. Western Carolina - 49

Preseason Honors

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Hayden Brown, The Citadel
Preseason All-Southern Conference Team	Hayden Brown, The Citadel
	Ledarrius Brewer, East Tennessee State
	David Sloan, East Tennessee State
	Mike Bothwell, Furman
	Alex Hunter, Furman
	Neftali Alvarez, Mercer
	Felipe Haase, Mercer
	David Jean-Baptiste, Chattanooga
	Malachi Smith, Chattanooga
	Jake Stephens, VMI

Regular season

Source:^[2]

Conference standings

		Conference		Overall
Rank	Team	Record	Percent	Record	Percent	Tiebreaker
1	Chattanooga	14-4	.778	24-7	.774
2	Furman	12-6	.667	20-11	.645
3	Samford	10-8	.556	20-10	.667	1-1 vs Chattanooga
4	Wofford	10-8	.556	18-12	.600	0-2 vs Chattanooga
5	VMI	9-9	.500	16-14	.533	1-1 vs Mercer
6	UNC Greensboro	9-9	.500	17-13	.567	0-2 vs Mercer
7	Mercer	8-10	.444	15-16	.584
8	East Tennessee State	7-11	.389	15-16	.484
9	The Citadel	6-12	.333	12-17	.484
10	Western Carolina	5-13	.278	11-20	.355

Conference Matrix

	Chattanooga	The Citadel	East Tennessee State	Furman	Mercer	Samford	UNC Greensboro	VMI	Western Carolina	Wofford
vs. Chattanooga	–	0-2	0-2	0-2	0-2	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	0-1
vs. The Citadel	2-0	–	1-1	2-0	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	2-0
vs. East Tennessee State	2-0	1-1	–	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	2-0
vs. Furman	2-0	0-2	1-1	–	0-2	1-1	1-1	1-1	0-2	0-2
vs. Mercer	2-0	1-1	1-1	2-0	–	1-1	0-2	1-1	1-1	1-1
vs. Samford	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	–	1-1	1-1	0-2	1-1
vs. UNC Greensboro	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	2-0	1-1	–	1-1	0-2	1-1
vs. VMI	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	–	1-1	1-1
vs. Western Carolina	1-1	1-1	1-1	2-0	1-1	2-0	2-0	1-1	–	2-0
vs. Wofford	2-0	0-2	0-2	2-0	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1	0-2	–

Players of the Week

Week	Player(s) of the Week	School
Nov. 15	Mike Bothwell	Furman
Nov. 22	Malachi Smith	Chattanooga
Nov. 29	Max Klesmit	Wofford
Dec. 6	Jalen Slawson	Furman (2)
Dec. 13	Jake Stephens	VMI
Dec. 20	Malachi Smith (2)	Chattanooga (2)
Dec. 27	Ques Glover	Samford
Jan. 3	Jake Stephens (2)	VMI (2)
Jan. 10	Malachi Smith (3)	Chattanooga (3)
Jan. 17	Jake Stephens (3)	VMI (3)
Jan. 24	Malachi Smith (4)	Chattanooga (4)
Jan. 31	Jordan King	ETSU
Feb. 7	Nicholas Robinson	Western Carolina
Feb. 14	Jake Stephens (4)	VMI (4)
Feb. 21	Hayden Brown	The Citadel
Feb. 28

Players of the Month

Month	Player(s) of the Week	School
November	Hayden Brown	The Citadel
December	Jacksen Greco	Mercer
January	Malachi Smith	Chattanooga
February

Records against other conferences

Power 7 Conferences	Record	Power 7 Conferences	Record
ACC	2-5	American	0-1
Big East	None	Big Ten	None
Big 12	None	Pac-12	1-0
SEC	3-6	Power 7 Total	6-12
Other Division I Conferences	Record	Other Division I Conferences	Record
America East	2-1	Atlantic 10	1-3
ASUN	5-1	Big Sky	None
Big South	15-10	Big West	None
Colonial	2-2	Conference USA	1-4
Horizon League	2-0	Ivy League	None
MAAC	0-2	MAC	2-0
MEAC	3-1	MVC	1-0
MWC	None	NEC	None
OVC	5-4	Patriot League	2-1
Southland	1-1	SWAC	2-0
Summit League	None	Sun Belt	5-3
WAC	1-0	WCC	2-1
Other Division I Total			52-34
NCAA Division I Total			58-46
NCAA Division II Total			4-0
NCAA Division III Total			8-0
NAIA Total			6-0
NCCAA Total			2-0
Total Non-Conference Record			78-46

Conference Tournament

The 2022 Ingles SoCon Tournament will be held in Asheville, North Carolina at Harrah's Cherokee Center from March 4 to March 7.

	First round March 4 ESPN+					Quarterfinals March 5 ESPN+/Nexstar					Semifinals March 6 ESPNU					Championship March 7 ESPN
						1	Chattanooga	71
						9	The Citadel	66
	8	East Tennessee State	76
	9	The Citadel	84*
											1	Chattanooga	79
											4	Wofford	56
						4	Wofford	68
						5	VMI	66
																1	Chattanooga
																2	Furman
						2	Furman	80
						7	Mercer	66
	7	Mercer	81
	10	Western Carolina	53
											2	Furman	71
											3	Samford	68
						3	Samford	66
						6	UNC Greensboro	64