2025 Big South Tournament Preview & Conference Awards

CBB Review prepares you for every conference tournament leading up to Selection Sunday on Mar. 16. Up next: The Big South Tournament.

The Big South was won easily by High Point, finishing 14-2 to put them three games ahead of second place. They ended the season on an 11-game win streak and even received AP Poll votes in the most recent polls.

This same High Point team won the regular season last year, but is was Longwood who took home the conference tournament championship as the five seed, stunning High Point in the semis.

In the past two seasons, a five seed or lower has made the championship game. High Point is looking for their first ever conference tournament championship, while the three seed, Winthrop who has 13 championships, seven more than the next best, looks to increase the gap.

The Big South tournament takes place over four days, with a one-game first round between the bottom two seeds taking place on March 5th.

2025 Big South Conference Awards

Player of the Year: Kezza Giffa, High Point

Freshman of the Year: Mister Dean, USC Upstate

Transfer of the Year: Jordan Marsh, UNC Asheville

Coach of the Year: Alan Huss, High Point

First Team:

• G: Jordan Marsh, UNC Asheville (19.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.6 APG, 2.0 SPG)
• G: Kezza Giffa, High Point (14.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.5 APG, 0.4 SPG)
• F: Kimani Hamilton, High Point (13.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.0 SPG)
• F: Kelton Talford, Winthrop (15.8 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 0.9 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.7 BPG)
• F: Taje’ Kelly, Charleston Southern (20.8 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 0.8 SPG)

Second Team:

• G: Kobe Stewart, Presbyterian (15.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.2 SPG)
• G: D’Maurian Williams, High Point (14.5 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.4 APG, 0.8 SPG)
• G: Darryl Simmons II, Gardner-Webb (17.4 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.7 BPG, 0.6 SPG)
• G: Josh Banks, UNC Asheville (15.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.6 SPG)
• F: Toyaz Solomon, UNC Asheville (15.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.7 BPG)

2025 Big South Tournament Simulation

First Round – Wed., Mar. 5

8. Gardner-Webb (10-19, 5-11) vs. 9. USC Upstate (6-25, 2-14) – 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Gardner Webb scored an average of 96.5 PPG in the two matchups with USC Upstate this season. Don’t expect anything different this time around.

Ariel’s pick: 8. Gardner Webb

Quarterfinals – Fri., Mar. 7

1. High Point (26-5, 14-2) vs. 8. Gardner-Webb – 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+

These two teams played twice this season. The first time, High Point won 96-55. The second time, 90-67. Maybe this time, Gardner Webb can keep it within 20, but this one will be all High Point.

Ariel’s pick: 1. High Point

4. Radford (19-12, 9-7) vs. 5. Presbyterian (14-17, 7-9) – 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+

The two split the season series, where interestingly, the road team won both times. Presbyterian ended the season hot, beating Radford and UNC Asheville, the two seed, on the road. As mentioned earlier, a five seed or lower has made the final in back-to-back years, and this Presbyterian team is capable of doing so.

Ariel’s pick: 5. Presbyterian

2. UNC Asheville (20-10, 11-5) vs. 7. Charleston Southern (10-21, 6-10) – 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Both teams enter this game on multiple-game losing streaks, which is a bit of a concern. We might get to see two thirty-point performances in this one from Jordan Marsh and Taje’ Kelly, who can get there with ease. If Charleston Southern is going to win, though, they might need even more from Kelly, and he just might not have enough in the tank.

Don’t expect this to be a blowout because of the seed differential though, this one could easily finish as a five-point game or less.

Ariel’s pick: 2. UNC Asheville

3. Winthrop (21-10, 11-5) vs. 6. Longwood (18-13, 7-9) – 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Longwood shocked the entire conference last year, winning the tournament as a five seed. That started with a 69-56 win over Winthrop in the quarterfinal. This Longwood team is nowhere near as good as last year’s, though. They haven’t beaten a team outside of the bottom two in the conference since January 22, and lost their two games against Winthrop this season by a combined 45 points.

Griff Aldrich is an elite coach who is very capable of shocking Winthrop again, but Mark Prosser and co. won’t let this happen again.

Ariel’s pick: 3. Winthrop

Semifinals – Sat., Mar. 8

1. High Point vs. 5. Presbyterian – 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+

High Point won both games by double digits this season and got 20-point performances from D’Maurian Williams and Kimani Hamilton. This team is just too deep for Presbyterian, and with the momentum they have, the only way they lose this game is if they let Presbyterian control the pace and keep this a close game.

Ariel’s pick: 1. High Point

2. UNC Asheville vs. 3. Winthrop – 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+

These two teams played in the final game of the season, and the final score was 103-90. Both teams are going to come out firing, and this could easily be a first-to-100 situation again. Winthrop has four guys who average 12 or more points a game, UNC Asheville has three who average 15 or more a game.

This will come down to who can get a few stops at the end of the game, and Winthrop is more capable of doing so than UNC Asheville. This will be must watch TV, though, so make sure you sign up for ESPN+ before tip.

Ariel’s pick: 3. Winthrop

Finals – Sun., Mar. 9

1. High Point vs. 3. Winthrop – 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2

A good ole one vs three matchup. Can High Point finally make the big dance for the first time in school history, or will Winthrop play spoiler and win the Big South for the 14th time, but first since 2021?

High Point dominated Winthrop in their two matchups, winning by 22 points both times. While this game will be closer than that, don’t expect it to be by much. This High Point team is just so much better than the rest of the conference, and they will get the chance to pull off an upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and make history.

Ariel’s pick: 1. High Point