University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
2003 Men's Basketball Team Featured on Big South Web-Site & Halftime on Saturday
11.04.2008 | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? As part of the Big South Conference's 25th Anniversary celebration in 2008-09, which is presented by Royal Purple, the Conference is profiling each week the Top 25 “Best of the Best” moments in League history. This week's feature is the 2003 UNC Asheville Men's Basketball Team.
A video vignette around the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament season, featuring a retrospective from head coach Eddie Biedenbach, can be viewed on the Big South's website, www.BigSouthSports.com, under the 25th Anniversary Media Center banner. In addition, video vignettes around all the Top 25 “Best of the Best” moments are available for viewing online. Also, former Bulldog Chad Mohn will be the halftime guest on Saturday's Coastal Carolina at Gardner-Webb football game broadcast on MASN (live at 3:30pm) and SportSouth (tape-delayed at 7:00pm).
The 2002-03 men's basketball season was one of the most memorable in UNC Asheville history. The Bulldogs ended the up-and-down regular season with a 11-16 overall record. But as with every season under Eddie Biedenbach, UNC Asheville prepared itself for postseason play with a challenging non-Conference schedule. The Bulldogs opened the season with a 14-point loss at Michigan State and a six-point defeat at Minnesota. Asheville started Big South play 2-0 with wins over Liberty and Charleston Southern, but suffered four consecutive losses. The Bulldogs bounced back to win six of their next seven games before dropping four-straight games to conclude the regular-season.
UNC Asheville finished with a 7-7 record in Conference play, securing the No. 5 seed in the Big South Tournament and drawing No. 4 seed Elon in the quarterfinals. The Big South began its new home site format for the Basketball Championship in 2003, which was used just in the quarterfinals. Therefore, Asheville would have to travel to Elon, N.C. on March 4 to try and win its first Conference Tournament game since 2000.
Against the Phoenix, the game went back-and-forth with 11 ties and eight lead changes. Asheville center Ben McGonagil, a First-Team All-Conference selection, hit two free throws with :50 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 59-59. In overtime, baskets by First-Team All-Conference pick Andre Smith and Alex Kragel gave the Dogs a 63-59 lead. But Elon roared back to move ahead, 66-65 with :33 seconds remaining. Asheville came down and tried to take the lead when Smith's 25-footer with :15 seconds left fell short. But Kragel forced a jump ball alternate possession, which was in favor of the Bulldogs, and made another key play with :10 seconds left when he drove the baseline, drew three defenders and then made a perfect pass to a wide-open Smith. Smith buried the three-pointer with five seconds left in overtime to lift the Bulldogs to a 68-66 victory.
The Bulldogs moved onto Lynchburg, Va., where the Big South Tournament Semifinals were staged at the Vines Center on the campus of Liberty University. The No. 5-seeded Dogs had a date with No. 1 seed Winthrop, which had defeated Asheville the last eight previous meetings.
Winthrop enjoyed an 11-point lead with less than 10 minutes remaining. But Asheville would not go away and Bulldog freshman Chad Mohn tied the game with :20 seconds left in regulation with a three-pointer to make the score 71-71. Winthrop had a chance to win at the end of the regulation, but Mohn partially blocked the attempt to force another extra session. In overtime, the Bulldogs surged to a five-point lead behind the play of Smith. He scored seven points to help give Asheville a 78-73 lead with 1:45 left. The Eagles came back and hit a three-pointer with 7.8 seconds on the clock to regain the lead at 80-79.
After a Winthrop timeout, Asheville got the ball to Bryan McCullough, who then passed it to Kragel. Kragel rushed up the court and sank a 15-footer as the buzzer sounded, giving the Bulldogs one of the most dramatic victories in Big South Conference Tournament history. The 81-80 win sent UNC Asheville to the Big South Championship game. It was also Biedenbach's 100th win as Asheville's head coach.
On March 8, 2003, UNC Asheville's wait to advance to the NCAA Tournament was over, as the Bulldogs defeated No. 6 seed Radford, 85-71 in the Big South championship game. Smith was named Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Kragel, McGonagil and McCullough, and the Bulldogs were the first No. 5 seed to ever win the Big South Tournament championship. The victory gave UNC Asheville athletics its first ever berth in the NCAA Tournament in any sport.
UNC Asheville was sent to the Opening Round game in Dayton, Ohio ten days later against Texas Southern on March 18. The Bulldogs made their NCAA Tournament debut a successful one as they outlasted the Tigers in overtime, 92-84 to win the first NCAA Tournament basketball game in Big South history. Smith scored a season-high 28 points, including 10 in overtime, to lead Asheville. The Bulldogs led by four late in regulation only to see the Tigers get a last-second shot with 3.4 seconds left that tied the game at 75-75. But Smith took charge right away in overtime. He sank a long trey 10 seconds into the extra session to give Asheville the lead for good, 78-75. Mohn also hit a clutch three-pointer to pull the Dogs ahead, 86-79. Smith sealed the game with a layup with :40 seconds left and added two free throws for the final margin.
The Bulldogs moved on in the NCAA Tournament to Birmingham, Ala., to face No. 1 seed Texas in the first round. The game was a reunion for Biedenbach and Texas head coach Rick Barnes, as it was Biedenbach who gave Barnes his start in coaching when he hired him as a volunteer assistant at Davidson back in 1978. Unfortunately, UNC Asheville's improbable run ended with a 82-61 loss to the eventual Final Four participants.
Asheville did not go down without a fight. While Texas jumped out to a 29-10 lead, the Bulldogs slowly crept back in the game. The Dogs scored on five of its last seven possessions of the first half to cut the lead to 10 at 36-26, with McGonagil scoring eight points in the final five minutes of the first stanza. Kragel opened the second half with a basket and suddenly the Bulldogs were within eight at 36-28. But the Longhorns scored on 10 of their next 12 possessions to slowly expand the lead and keep Asheville at bay. Smith led all scorers with 19 points, including two impressive dunks in the second half. McGonagil added 14 points and Kragel finished with nine.
UNC Asheville's 2002-03 men's basketball team was 5-0 in overtime games, and 11 of its 14 Conference games were decided in the final minute of play, including seven determined on the final possession. During the season, the Bulldogs played the 17th toughest schedule in the nation, which featured two Final Four teams (Kansas, Texas) and NCAA Tournament participants Oklahoma, Connecticut, Michigan State, East Tennessee State, Holy Cross and Mercer.
The 2003 UNC Asheville Men's Basketball season is one of the Top 25 “Best of the Best” moments in League history. The Conference is conducting an online fan poll to help determine the Top Moment in the first 25 years of the Big South Conference. Voting is open on www.BigSouthSports.com and continues through March 25. Fan voting will be combined with the 25th Anniversary Committee's votes to come up with the official rank order of the “Best of the Best” moments. The countdown will be unveiled at the concluding 25th Anniversary banquet in May 2009.
