University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Set to Open Season at Auburn
11.11.2010 | Men's Basketball
AUBURN, ALA. - The UNC Asheville men's basketball team opens the 2010-11 season Friday night when the Bulldogs travel to Auburn. Game time is 9 p.m. EST. It will be the first game ever played at Auburn Coliseum. Bulldog fans can listen to the game via audio-streaming at www.uncabulldogs.com for a small fee.
Asheville played once in exhibition play and defeated a strong Division II foe Belmont Abbey, 94-70 Monday night at Justice Center. Junior guard Matt Dickey scored 30 points in the win, while J.P. Primm added 22 points. John Williams finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.
"We played well in spurts on Monday but not as consistent as I would have liked," commented Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "I thought our guys did a good job at the outset and build a nice lead. We coasted for awhile and Belmont Abbey made a nice comeback. To our guys' credit, they buckled down and took care of business in the second half, but we're going to have to play much better against Auburn."
The Tigers are under the direction of first-year coach Tony Barbee. Barbee previously coached at UTEP and he led the Miners to the Conference USA championship last season. Auburn went 1-1 in exhibition play and lost to Division II power Columbus State Monday, 54-52.
"Auburn has some really good athletes, and they play great defense," stated Biedenbach. "I know they lost on Monday but they had a tough night shooting and you can't put much into exhibition games. One thing I've seen on film on them is how good they are on defense. We're going to have to protect the basketball and work hard for good shots."
Asheville is hoping to start off much stronger than it did last season. The Bulldogs lost their first six games of the year and went 3-12 in the first half of the year. Asheville rebounded and went 12-4 in the second half of the season to finish 15-16.
"We want to be a lot more consistent from the start this season," declared Biedenbach. "Last year we really struggled to find our stride for much of the first half of the year. We're already a little better than last season with a win in an exhibition game (the Bulldogs lost their only exhibition game last season to Brevard). Hopefully, we can build on that and get some wins early in the year."
It won't be easy as Asheville plays seven of its first eight games away from home, including games at North Carolina (Nov. 23) and Georgetown (Nov. 27).
"We have a tough road schedule early in the season but it will prepare us for Big South Conference play," commented Biedenbach.
Asheville's home opener is with Virginia Intermont next Saturday (Nov. 20) at 2 p.m. The game will be the first regular-season home game for the Bulldogs in their final year of play at Justice Center.
NOTING THE BULLDOGS
Asheville is 3-11 in opening games under Eddie Biedenbach. However, most of the losses have come against BCS teams. The Bulldogs have opened the season against programs such as East Tennessee State, Syracuse, Purdue, Missouri, Campbell, West Virginia, Michigan State, N.C. State, Texas Tech, Georgia Tech and Charlotte.
Eddie Biedenbach needs just four wins to reach 200 for his coaching career at UNC Asheville. He is 196-218 during his 15 years as head man of the Bulldogs.
Friday's game is a homecoming for junior guard Matt Dickey. Matt is from Trussville, Alabama and went to high school at Hewitt Trussville. He has been Asheville's starter in the backcourt for much of the past two seasons. Dickey was Asheville's second leading scorer last season with an 11.5 average.
Asheville is 2-24 all-time against teams from the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs two wins have come against South Carolina, once in the 1996-97 season and the second in the 2007-08 campaign.
Junior guard J.P. Primm has 311 career assists and is tied for eighth place on the school's all-time career list with Vincent Krieger (1994-98).
The Bulldogs have lost their last 14 non-conference road games. The last win came at South Carolina on Jan. 5, 2008, 61-58.
Senior forward John Williams is Asheville's all-time leader in blocked shots with 209. He is fourth all-time in the Big South in blocked shots and needs just seven to pass Tyrone Travis (215) of Radford. Williams also has 930 points and needs just 70 points to become the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
