University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens the Season Against Belmont Abbey on Friday
11.11.2008 | Men's Basketball
A young UNC Asheville team will take the floor on Friday night. The Bulldogs have just one senior on this year's club and 11 players who are either freshmen or sophomores.
“We're pretty young but I really like the enthusiasm that we're showing and the effort we're giving,” commented UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “There's still so much to learn and we're going to have some tough times but I believe we can be a good basketball team before the year is over.”
The Bulldogs played one exhibition game and played well in spurts as they recorded an 83-65 win over Lees-McRae on Nov. 3.
“We played hard for 40 minutes against Lees-McRae and that was good to see,” stated Biedenbach. “However, we showed our youth at times and turned the ball over way too much. We battled and for a first game with so many young players we really did pretty well.”
The Bulldogs face off against Belmont Abbey for the first time since the 1985-86 season when both were members of the NAIA District 26. The Crusaders went 16-12 last year and have four starters returning.
“We have our work cut out for us on Friday against Belmont Abbey,” said Biedenbach. “They have a talented team back plus added a 7-1 transfer from
Belmont-Abbey went 1-1 in exhibition play as the Crusaders fell to Elon, 87-72 and then downed Prime Time Players, 51-41 on Nov. 7.
NOTING THE BULLDOGS ? UNC Asheville head coach Eddie Biedenbach is in his 13th year as head coach and has 195 career victories (29 at Davidson and 166 at Asheville)...the Bulldogs shot at or better than 50 percent in 20 of their 33 games last season...Asheville has won two straight opening games after losing 10 straight...the Bulldogs open the season with three straight home games as they'll host Montreat on Sunday (4:30 p.m.) and then Liberty on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m....the Liberty game will be televised nationally by ESPN as part of its “College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon”...the last time the teams played in 1984-85 the coaches were Jerry Green at UNC Asheville and Eddie Payne at Belmont-Abbey.
