As one of the nation’s premier undergraduate liberal arts colleges, Furman is a rigorous academic institution that demands a great amount of time and hard work from its students. However, spending over 30 hours a week at practice, workouts, team talks, and film sessions, student-athletes have more to juggle than many could imagine. Having already invested four years into the Furman Men’s Basketball program, Paladin Forward Clay Mounce is back for his fifth year, eager to leave it all out on the basketball court in his last season.

Speaking about his decision to return for a fifth year, Mounce reflected on the abrupt end to the 2020 season: “Once we realized that the postseason was officially cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic and we would not play in the postseason tournament, we were disappointed because we felt like we had more we could accomplish as a team.” The untimely end to last year’s season   fuelled Mounce’s drive to achieve more on the basketball court this year. Setting his standards high, his goals for this season are “to make another All-Conference team and to make the All-Tournament team.” Furman Men’s Basketball is aiming to win the SoCon Regular Season Championship and the Tournament Championship, and to play in the NCAA Tournament. However, The Paladins suffered another gruelling road loss on January 23rd, this time to ETSU. The Paladins will need to bounce back and find some consistency if they are going to make the run that they intend to.

However, Mounce knows that this season is and will continue to be a challenging one for him and his team. Having had “games and practices cancelled,” just getting out to play basketball is a win on its own. Offering The Paladin insight into what competing during a pandemic looks like, Mounce explained that his team “have to get tested multiple times a week.”. They also have contact tracing devices that “count how much time [the players] spend around each other.” For Mounce, navigating all of the protocols has been frustrating at times, but he maintains a positive outlook and affirms that these are obstacles that he and his team are willing to face in order to have the opportunity to play this season. Presented with countless challenges, Mounce believes that his experience as a student-athlete has helped him grow in “many different areas,” one being in his ability to manage his time well. He has also learned a valuable lesson that he believes all student-athletes learn throughout their careers: “that you are capable of giving more of yourself than you realize, it just takes being pushed by your coaches and teammates.” This has taught Mounce to push his limits and aim high, exemplified by his  plans of playing professionally. When his career as a player is over, he hopes to enter the coaching world in order to teach other athletes the numerous athletic and life skills he has learned during his time as a student-athlete.

There is no doubt Mounce has left an indelible mark on Furman’s program, but the fifth-year Paladin wants to cement that mark with a trip to the NCAA tournament and a Southern Conference Championship. Mounce and The Paladins have a plethora of upcoming chances during Southern Conference regular season play, to show what they’re made of.

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