University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball Set to Take on Duke
12.16.2008 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team will meet Duke for the first time in school history when the Bulldogs take on the sixth-ranked Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN 2 and broadcast on WISE Radio (1310-AM).
UNC Asheville (4-5) broke a five-game losing streak Saturday afternoon when the Bulldogs whipped previously unbeaten Catawba 84-67 at Justice Center. Reid Augst led Asheville with 20 points, while Jason Ridenhour added a career-best 17 points. Eric Stubbs made his first career start a good one with 12 points and eight rebounds.
“We did a lot of good things against Catawba,” stated UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “We played with a lot of intensity right from the start and kept it up for 40 minutes. However, we weren't perfect as we turned it over way too much and didn't finish the game as well as we should have.”
The game with Duke starts a pretty tough three-game road swing for the Bulldogs. Asheville follows the Duke game up with a date at Buffalo on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The Dogs finish up at defending NIT champion Ohio State Monday evening at 7 p.m.
Asheville has a very tough assignment against Duke. The Blue Devils won their first eight games of the year before falling at Michigan on Dec. 6.
“Our young team will have its hands full against Duke,” commented Biedenbach. “Duke plays hard for 40 minutes and comes at you with a lot of different weapons. We're going to have to be at our best to have a chance to be in the game.
“We have a great deal of respect for Duke's program,” added Biedenbach. “Mike Kryzewski is one of the top coaches in the country and it's an honor for our program to play Duke in Cameron. We'll play as hard as we can and see what happens.”
A young UNC Asheville team is getting good balance in its scoring. The Bulldogs are being led in scoring by senior forward Reid Augst with a 14.7 average. Junior forward John Williams is averaging 11.3 points per game. Sean Smith, Jason Ridenhour and J.P. Primm are all averaging 10 points per game.
NOTES
Eddie Biedenbach has 199 coaching victories, 170 at UNC Asheville...after playing Duke, the Bulldogs will have played every ACC team with the exception of Boston College...freshman guard J.P. Primm leads the Big South in assists with a 6.1 average...John Williams leads the Big South in blocked shots with a 2.3 average.
