Men's Basketball Hosts Tusculum Tuesday Night

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team is back in action this Tuesday night when the Bulldogs host Tusculum at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WISE (1310-AM) and can be seen via video-streaming for a fee at www.bigsouthsports.com.

Asheville is trying to bounce back from its first loss of the season as the Bulldogs dropped a heart-breaking and frustrating 89-87 overtime loss to East Tennessee State at home Saturday evening. The Dogs trailed by 12 in the second half but rallied to send the game into overtime. Asheville led 87-85 and had the ball with 6.7 seconds left before the Buccaneers struck for four points in the final seconds to win the game.

It was a tough loss but there were plenty of bright spots in the game as the Bulldogs took on a team that has been picked to win the Atlantic Sun Conference down to the wire. Asheville had six players in double figures for the first time in 20 years. They held A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year Courtney Pilgrim scoreless for the first time in his career. The Dogs trailed most of the game but kept coming back before being in position to win the contest.

“We battled and fought hard on Saturday but at times down the stretch we made some mistakes that cost us dearly,” commented UNC Asheville head coach Eddie Biedenbach. “You can't make 25 turnovers against a team like East Tennessee and expect to win.

“However, we did a lot of good things on Saturday,” added Biedenbach. “East Tennessee is a team that beat us pretty handily last year and if we have a few less turnovers or get a couple of defensive rebounds we win the game.”

Biedenbach knows his club has to put the ETSU game behind them and get ready for a dangerous Tusculum club on Tuesday. The Pioneers are 1-3 on the season but in the preseason lost at Vanderbilt, 80-79.

“Tusculum is a well-coached team that shoots and makes three-pointers very well,” said Biedenbach. “Any team that goes into Vanderbilt and loses by one point is a good team. We can't feel sorry for ourselves after the ETSU game. We've got a busy week and it starts Tuesday night against Tusculum.”

The Pioneers are being led in scoring by talented forward Jordan Lear with an 18.8 average. Former Winthrop player Kyle Moore is averaging 14.5 points per game from his guard spot.

The teams played last year with the Bulldogs winning, 84-66 behind 26 points from K.J. Garland.

NOTES ? UNC Asheville has five players averaging in double figures and they include K.J. Garland (18.4), Bryan Smithson (15.0), Vincent James (13.5), Kenny George (12.3) and Reid Augst (10.3)...George is second in the nation and leads the Big South in blocked shots at 6.5 per game...the Bulldogs lead the Big South in field goal percentage at 52.4 percent...Garland moved into fourth place on the school's all-time career list for assists with 361...UNC Asheville is blocking 10.8 shots per game as a team and that leads the nation...the Bulldogs' 5-1 start is the program's best since the 1989-90 season as that team also started the year 5-1...James has scored in double figures in five straight games...Sean Smith has 14 field goals on the year with 13 of them being three-pointers.