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Wofford lost 75% of its scoring but adds D-II stars Lowe, Daniels and Ramsey. More size boosts its SoCon hopes, though shooting remains a concern.
Written By
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Wofford tied for second in the Southern Conference in Kevin Giltner's first season. The Terriers went 19-13 and 11-7, won at Furman and at ETSU, and then lost to UNCG in the quarterfinals in Asheville, 75-72. All three of their all-conference players left for bigger programs. So did six others.
The league's coaches still picked Wofford third, with 78 points. Lowe and Watley both made the preseason all-conference team. Lowe was a Division II All-American last season. Watley was a freshman who came off the bench for half the year. Only Furman, Wofford, and VMI have two players on the team.
Nine players from last year's roster are gone. Together they scored 1,879 of Wofford's 2,520 points, about 75 percent. They also made 233 of the team's 293 threes and had 355 of its 450 assists.
Kahmare Holmes was the best player in the program. He averaged 19.5 points and 5.7 rebounds in 26 games, led the team with 53 steals, and made first-team All-SoCon. He transferred to DePaul.
Nils Machowski started all 32 games and averaged 17.2 points and 5.7 rebounds. He made 91 threes at 38.2 percent and made second-team All-SoCon. He transferred to UConn.
Cayden Vasko was the glue. He averaged 10.4 points and 4.5 rebounds, led the team with 131 assists, and made 54 threes. He made third-team All-SoCon. He transferred to UCF.
The bench turned over too. Rex Stirling, a 6-foot-8 forward from Melbourne, averaged 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds and started nine games. He transferred to Jacksonville. Jayden Tyler averaged 5.4 points as a freshman and made 47.5 percent of his threes. He transferred to Youngstown State. Brendan Rigsbee averaged 4.2 points and went to Division II Nova Southeastern. Maximo Ortega averaged 3.3 points and transferred to Loyola (Md.). Callum Richard, a 6-foot-10 center, played seven games and went to Division II USC Aiken. Alessandro Perotti did not play and transferred across town to USC Upstate.
That is the three best scorers, the point guard, and the best shooter off the bench. Wofford has to replace nearly all of its offense.
Watley is the reason the coaches still trust Wofford. The 6-foot-2 sophomore from Minneapolis played all 32 games, started 15, and averaged 9.7 points. He led the freshmen and was fourth on the team in scoring. He had 16 double-figure games and a career-high 19 against ETSU, on his 19th birthday. He started the year as the first man off the bench and moved into the lineup after an injury. He shot 39.8 percent, so there is room to grow as a scorer.
Brian Sumpter is the inside piece. The 6-foot-9 sophomore started 21 games as a freshman and averaged 6.6 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 59.9 percent. His 39 blocks were the fourth most in a season in program history. He had 21 points and 11 rebounds against Milwaukee in his second college game and 14 rebounds at Furman.
Luke Flynn has played 55 career games with 19 starts. He started 18 games last season and averaged 5.7 points and 3.9 rebounds before an injury at Chattanooga on Jan. 14. He played in only three more games. He scored a career-high 16 at Bellarmine. He was also on the 2025 team that won the SoCon tournament and played Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament.
Cannon Richards, a 6-foot-7 junior, played two games before an injury against Milwaukee ended his season. Grayson Collins and Davis Miller, the only senior, round out the returners. They played 14 games between them.
Giltner added four transfers and five freshmen. Three of the four transfers come from Division II, which is a bet on production over pedigree.
Lowe is the headliner. The 6-foot-6 redshirt junior averaged 17.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists at Black Hills State and started all 35 games. He shot 47.5 percent, was the RMAC Player of the Year, and made the NABC Division II All-America team. The year before, he shot 49.8 percent overall and 42.1 percent from three and averaged 8.1 rebounds. He sat out 2023-24 at Colorado State.
Jacob Daniels is the point guard candidate. He started 34 of 36 games as a freshman at Lander and averaged 13.6 points and had a team-high 201 assists. He was the Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year. Lander went 30-6 and reached the Division II national championship game.
Evan Ramsey is the center Wofford did not have. The 7-footer started all 31 games at UVA-Wise and averaged 14.1 points and 7.8 rebounds with 57 blocks. He made first-team All-SAC. The year before, he averaged 14.5 points and 10 rebounds.
Chris Arias is the only Division I transfer. The 6-foot-6 junior averaged 7.3 points in 30 games at Jacksonville and was on the preseason All-ASUN team. He scored a career-high 24 against VMI. He made the ASUN All-Freshman team the year before.
The freshman class is deep. Jemon Price was the Virginia 6A Player of the Year. Misho Kalinov, a guard from Bulgaria, averaged 16 points and 5.5 assists for BC Botev 2012 in the Bulgarian NBL. Jhett Carter is a three-star guard from Hargrave Military Academy. Jyi Dawkins won a North Carolina 3A state title. Cutter Sisk is a 6-foot-9, 265-pound forward from Tennessee.
The shape of the team is different. Last year's offense ran through three guards and wings who could all score. This one starts with Lowe, who is a 6-foot-6 forward who rebounds, and Ramsey, a 7-footer who blocks shots. Sumpter gives Giltner a second shot blocker. Opponents shot 46.7 percent against Wofford last season. More size at the rim is the most direct fix.
The ball goes to Daniels. Two hundred assists in Division II is a lot, but the jump to the SoCon is real. Watley and Flynn can help run it.
The shooting is the risk. The players who left made 233 of the team's 293 threes. Watley shot 30.6 percent from deep. Lowe's best three-point season was in Division II. If nobody can stretch the floor, Ramsey and Sumpter will play in a crowded paint.
Wofford plays an exhibition against Virginia Tech on Oct. 16. The real games open on the road at Tennessee on Nov. 3 and at North Carolina on Nov. 6. After that come Allen, Voorhees, Winthrop, Georgia Southern, and Virginia University of Lynchburg at home, and trips to Queens, Charleston Southern, Purdue Fort Wayne, and La Salle.
League play opens at Mercer on Dec. 5. The Terriers play at Samford on Dec. 19 and host Western Carolina and Tennessee Tech before the new year. They go to UNCG on Jan. 2, the team that ended last season.
January is the stretch that will define them. Wofford hosts Chattanooga on Jan. 16, plays at Furman on Jan. 18, and hosts The Citadel and ETSU the next week. Samford visits on Jan. 30. In February the Terriers play at ETSU on Feb. 13, host UNCG on Feb. 18 and Furman on Feb. 20, and finish at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 24.
Wofford lost three all-conference players and still got picked third. That is a vote for Giltner, for Watley, and for a Division II All-American who has not played a Division I game yet.
Third is reasonable but not safe. The Terriers have more size than last season and a real point guard prospect. They do not have a proven Division I scorer outside Watley. If Lowe and Daniels translate, Wofford can push for a top-two finish. If they need time, this is a team that will be dangerous in March after a bumpy January.
