ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team is back on the road this Saturday night when the Bulldogs travel to Liberty for a key Big South Conference battle at the Vines Center starting at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WISE Radio (1310-AM) and can be seen via video-streaming for a small fee at www.bigsouthsports.com. It will also be televised by MASN and can be picked up on Direc TV Channel 626 and Dish Network Channel 432.
UNC Asheville remained perfect in the Big South Conference at 7-0 with a thrilling 71-56 victory over defending league champ Winthrop Saturday afternoon before a sell out crowd of 1,198 at Justice Center. K.J. Garland scored a season-high 26 points in the victory as Asheville rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit.
“We played a great second half against Winthrop,” commented UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “It was a great effort by everybody, and I don't think we can play much better than we did on Saturday in those first 10 minutes.
“However, the Winthrop game is over,” added Biedenbach. “We know that we're going to have our hands full with the league the second time around starting with Liberty.”
The Bulldogs should have their hands full with a dangerous Liberty squad Saturday night. The Flames (12-11, 4-4 BSC) are unbeaten at home this season with a 10-0 record. Liberty gave Asheville all it wanted back on Jan. 12 at Justice Center before the Bulldogs, behind 31 points from Bryan Smithson, snuck past the Flames, 74-70.
“We played pretty good against Liberty the first time and we barely won,” commented Biedenbach. “I've been quite impressed at how Liberty has played this season. Ritchie McKay (Liberty head coach) has done a wonderful job in his first year. They have some very talented players and are quite athletic inside. We're going to have to be ready to play from the start against Liberty and it's going to take a great effort.”
Liberty is led by talented forward Alex McLean. McLean is averaging 16.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Anthony Smith has knocked down 59 treys and is averaging 14.5 points per game. Virginia transfer TeeJay Bannister is averaging 7.3 assists per game.
The Bulldogs continue to have four players scoring in double figures. Senior guard Bryan Smithson tops the club with a 17.6 average, while K.J. Garland has a 14.8 scoring average. Kenny George is averaging 13.1 points per game. Vincent James is at 11.1 points per game.
Garland is poised to become the school's all-time leader in assists. He has 457 and needs just four to pass George Gilbert (460). The Bulldogs are third nationally in field goal percentage at 50.6 percent (626-of-1237) and have shot at or better than 50 percent in 15 games this season.
BULLDOG NOTES ? UNC Asheville is ranked 12th in the latest edition of the College Insider Mid-Major poll that was released Monday night...Bryan Smithson has scored in double figures in eight straight games and 17 of 19 games this season...Smithson is shooting 51 percent (44-of-87) from the field in Big South Conference play...the Bulldogs have won 22 of their last 27 games dating back to last season...Asheville is 6-3 on the road this season and that's the most road wins for a Bulldog club during the regular season since the 1996-97 team won seven...Asheville is 5-1 in games decided by four points or less.
