ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team will try to go 4-0 for the second straight year when they make their first road trip of the season at Campbell on Saturday starting at 3:15 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WISE Radio (1310-AM).
The Bulldogs posted one of their most impressive wins in recent memory Tuesday when they rolled past Big South Conference rival Liberty, 84-56 in a game televised nationally by ESPN. Freshman guard J.P Primm led the way for UNC Asheville with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
The Bulldogs would like to make it four straight but a tough Campbell (1-1) squad waits for Asheville in the Camels new arena. The teams played twice last year with the Dogs winning each time, 83-71 and 79-76. In the second game in Asheville, Campbell forward Jonathan Rodriguez was unstoppable with 34 points and 15 rebounds.
“We were fortunate to win both games against Campbell last season,” stated Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. “In the first game, Kenny George had a triple-double (20 points, 12 rebounds & 10 blocked shots) and hit some shots in the second half. The next time we played we had no answer for Rodriguez and we're lucky to hold on at the end. They will be tough to beat this year.”
Asheville has good balanced scoring this season. Four different players are averaging double-figures in points. Senior Reid Augst tops the club with 14.3 per game, followed by sophomore John Williams at 13.3. Williams leads the Dogs in rebounding (9.0) and blocked shots (12). Primm has an 11.7 scoring average and is averaging seven assists per game. Sean Smith is averaging 11.3 points per game.
“We have a long way to go but I like the way this team has played,” declared Biedenbach. “They've really played hard in all of our games and that's always good to see.
“We've done a nice job at home but now we'll see what we're made of on the road,” added Biedenbach.
The game with Campbell starts a four-game road trip for Asheville. The Bulldogs are at Wofford on Tuesday night before heading to top-ranked North Carolina (Nov. 30) and SEC power Tennessee (Dec. 3).
Campbell is being led in scoring by Rodriguez with a 22.0 average. The Camels beat Chowan 79-64 and fell at East Carolina 86-65 Wednesday night.
NOTES ? UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach has 198 career victories with 169 of them at Asheville...the Bulldogs are just 2-9 at Campbell in their last 11 trips as last year's victory broke a four-game losing streak...Asheville has won 31 of its last 42 games dating back to the 2006-07 season.
