University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball Will Travel to VMI Thursday Night
01.13.2010 | Men's Basketball
The Bulldogs play at VMI Thursday night at 7 p.m. and then battle Liberty Saturday evening also at 7 p.m. Both games will be broadcast locally by WISE Radio (1310-AM) with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m. The games will also be video-streamed and can be viewed for a small fee at www.bigsouthsports.com.
Asheville (3-12, 1-4 BSC) hasn't played poorly as of late but just hasn't been able to find a way to get a win. The Bulldogs last three losses have come by a combined eight points. In the last two losses against Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern, Asheville led with less than a minute to go in the game only to see the other team hit go-ahead baskets.
"We're playing hard and battling, but we've got to find ways to start winning games," commented Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We're coming close but one area we have to do better on is our defense. Charleston Southern shot 50 percent from the field against us on Saturday, and you're not going to win many games allowing teams to shoot 50 percent.
"There's other things we're not doing either," added Biedenbach. "We're not getting to the free throw line enough and when we do get there we're missing too many free throws."
One Bulldog who has played well as of late has been sophomore guard J.P. Primm. Primm has scored in double figures in five straight games, the longest stretch of his career. He's Asheville's leading scorer with a 10.5 average and tops the club in assists (64) and steals (29). Primm had a great game against Charleston Southern Saturday with 16 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
The Bulldogs face a VMI team that is looking to get a Big South Conference win. The Keydets are 1-4 in league play and 5-8 overall. VMI ended a six-game losing streak with a 99-88 victory over Randolph College Monday night.
"VMI is always tough to beat at home and they really shoot the three-pointer very well," said Biedenbach. "VMI can score a lot of points in a short amount of time. We're going to have to play better defense than we've been playing on Thursday."
The teams played two wild offensive shootouts last season. VMI held off the Bulldogs 114-105 at Justice Center on Dec. 6. Asheville set a school-record with 16 three-pointers made that night. However, the Keydets knocked down 15 in winning their third straight game at Justice Center.
The Bulldogs picked up one of their best wins of the year on Feb. 2 when Asheville defeated VMI in overtime 103-95 at Cameron Hall. The Dogs had four players score more than 20 points in the victory.
NOTES - Sean Smith has made 162 three-pointers in his career and is tied for second place on the school's all-time career list with Willie Black...freshman center D.J. Cunningham is questionable for the VMI game with a leg injury...the Bulldogs had two players record double-doubles against Charleston Southern on Saturday as Cunningham had 15 points and 15 rebounds, while John Williams had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
