UNC Asheville Men's Basketball Hosts Unbeaten Catawba on Saturday

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team is back on the court Saturday afternoon at Justice Center when the Bulldogs host Division II power Catawba starting at 4:30 p.m. The game will be video-streamed for a small fee on The Edge at www.bigsouthsports.com.

The Bulldogs (3-5) will once again have their hands full with a tough opponent. The Indians are unbeaten on the season at 8-0 and are ranked 10^th in the latest Division II poll. UNC Asheville has had the week off for exams, and Saturday's game starts a tough four-game stretch for the Bulldogs prior to Christmas. The Bulldogs play at Duke Wednesday night (Dec. 17), travel to Buffalo (Dec. 20) before finishing up at Ohio State two days (Dec. 22) later.

UNC Asheville last played on Saturday and fell to Big South rival VMI, 114-105 in a wild offensive show that had the Bulldogs setting a school-record for three-pointers made at 16 and have five players score in double figures. It still wasn't enough as Asheville made 20 turnovers that led to 32 Keydet points.

“We played hard against VMI on Saturday and did a lot of good things, especially on offense,” admitted UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “But we turned it over way too much, and our defense just wasn't good enough. We'll get better and the VMI game will make us better.”

Biedenbach is quite impressed with Catawba.

“Catawba is a good basketball team with some impressive victories,” stated Biedenbach. “This is a well-coached team by Jim Baker. They know how to play the game, and we better be ready to compete and play well when they come to play us on Saturday.”

The Indians are led by junior forward Antonio Houston with a 20.1 scoring average. He has scored more than 20 points in six games this year. Junior guard Ron Fields comes off the bench and is averaging 16 points per game. He was named SAC-8 Player of the Week on Monday.

The Bulldogs are being led in scoring by senior forward Reid Augst with a 14.0 average. The Richmond, Va. native scored a career-high 29 points against VMI last Saturday and began to regain his shooting touch from the outside. He went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and 8-of-10 from the foul line. Junior John Williams tallied a career-high 18 points. The Raleigh native has an 11.9 per game scoring average. He has 19 blocked shots on the season and his 2.4 per game average leads the Big South. Junior forward Jason Ridenhour continued his marvelous season with his first career double-double as he scored 15 points and collected 13 rebounds. Freshman guard J.P. Primm had his first double-double with 14 points and a career-high 13 assists. Primm continues to lead the Big South in assists with a 6.5 per game mark.

NOTES ? Catawba leads the series 4-1 and this is the first meeting between the teams since the 1983 District 26 championship game, won by the Indians 74-55...Primm is the leader in assists nationally among freshmen...UNC Asheville has won 20 of its last 24 games at Justice Center...the Bulldogs play six of their next seven games away from home...Sean Smith is second in the Big South and 25^th nationally in three-point percentage at 51.6 percent...Eddie Biedenbach has 198 coaching victories.