University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville Men's Basketball Heads to Liberty Saturday Night
01.30.2009 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's basketball team is back on the road this weekend as the Bulldogs head to the state of Virginia for two key Big South Conference games. UNC Asheville faces a surging Liberty squad Saturday night at the Vines Center in Lynchburg before travelling to VMI Monday for a game against the league-leading Keydets. Both games will start at 7 p.m. and can be heard on WISE Radio (1310-AM) and be seen for a small fee on The Edge at www.bigsouthsports.com.
The Bulldogs (9-12, 5-5 BSC) are coming off a disappointing 56-49 defeat to Winthrop Wednesday night at Justice Center. Asheville trailed by 14 in the first half but battled back to lead 46-40 with eight minutes left but only scored three points the rest of the game.
“We fought hard against Winthrop and made a nice comeback but made too many turnovers and missed too many free throws to win a close game,” said Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. “We shouldn't have gotten so far behind in the first half as we didn't do a good of grinding things out on offense. Our effort was great, and our guys are playing hard but we're young and sometimes it shows.”
Asheville played Liberty in the third game of the season at Justice Center on Nov. 18 and played perhaps its best game of the season, winning 84-56. The Bulldogs led from start to finish in a game that was televised nationally by ESPN as part of its 24 Hours of Hoops. Freshman guard J.P. Primm led Asheville with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
The Flames have played very well since that day. Liberty knocked off Virginia a week later and has rolled to a 15-7 overall record. The Flames are in third place in league play at 6-4 and have won five of their last six games. Freshman guard Seth Curry is averaging 20.5 points per game, while senior forward Anthony Smith averages 19 points per game. Coach Biedenbach doesn't put much stock into the game on Nov. 18.
“Liberty is a young team, and they simply didn't play well back on Nov. 18,” commented Biedenbach. “That was a day where everything we did was right. We hit open shots, and they missed open shots. The ball bounced our way and it was a great win. However, you could tell Liberty was a good team.”
Biedenbach has been impressed with the Flames' performance since then.
“Richie McKay (Liberty's head coach) is a very good coach, and I really like the players he has on his team,” said Biedenbach. “Seth Curry is an excellent player and it's scary to think he's only a freshman. Anthony Smith is a terrific player who can hurt you in a lot of different ways.
“We're going to have to ready to play from the start,” added Biedenbach. “They're a team that shoots the ball very well from the outside, so we're going to have to defend the three-point line better than we've been doing lately.”
The Bulldogs are being led in scoring by senior forward Reid Augst with a 15.2 average. He has scored in double figures in 17 of Asheville's 21 games this year. Augst needs just 38 points to get to 1,000 career points. John Williams has an 11.5 scoring average and tops the club in rebounding with a 6.1 mark.
NOTES ? Asheville is 9-7 in league road games dating back to the end of 2006-07 season...the Bulldogs have been out-rebounded in seven straight games...John Williams needs seven blocked shots to get to 100 for his career...Asheville is 9-0 when its shoots better than its opponents from the field and 0-12 when its opponents shoot better...the Bulldogs have played 12 of their last 18 games away from home.
