University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Play First Home Game vs. Virginia Intermont on Saturday
11.19.2010 | Men's Basketball
Asheville (1-1) will be the third Big South Conference opponent that the Cobras (2-6) have faced this year. They played Liberty last Friday and lost 82-65 and then played at Gardner-Webb last night and fell, 78-42. However, VI trailed by just eight at 36-28 at halftime after trailing 17-1 to start the game.
"Virginia Intermont has a good club, and they played well at times against Liberty and Gardner-Webb," stated Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We'll need to be ready to play from the start and play 40 minutes of good basketball."
Asheville opened the season with two tough road games. The Bulldogs stunned Auburn to open the season last Friday, 70-69 in overtime. The Dogs trailed by 16 points at halftime, 37-21 but stormed back to send the game into OT. On Tuesday, Asheville got off to another slow start at Furman as it trailed by 14 in the first half. This time the Bulldogs fell just short as they lost, 69-67.
"We obviously need to start games better," admitted Biedenbach. "It was a great win at Auburn but you're not going to win too many games when you trail by 16 points at halftime. We got behind again at Furman and this time couldn't finish the comeback off and win. Getting behind early is not a pattern we want to continue."
This is the first ever meeting between the Bulldogs and Cobras. Virginia Intermont is a member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference on the NAIA level. The school is in the same conference as Montreat. They had a tough year last season as it finished with a 3-28 overall record but appear to be much improved in 2010-11.
Asheville will look to improve its shooting on Saturday. The Bulldogs are shooting just 35.6 percent (42-of-118) from the field in the first two games. Asheville is averaging just 23.5 points in the first half.
BULLDOG NOTES
John Williams needs 60 points (940) to reach 1,000 career points. He is school's all-time leader in blocked shots with 210. He is fourth on the Big South career list for blocks and needs just six to surpass Tyrone Travis (215) of Radford. In addition, Williams has grabbed 557 career rebounds and needs just 32 to pass Robert Watson (588) and move into 10th place on the UNC Asheville career list.
UNC Asheville enters Saturday's game with nine straight home wins.
Junior guard J.P. Primm has 320 career assists and is now in seventh place on the school's all-time career list for assists, passing Bamford Jones (1974-78) who had 319. Next up is Jeff Lippard (343) and sixth place.
Matt Dickey has led the Bulldogs in scoring both games and is averaging 22 points per game. He had 18 points at Auburn and then tied a career-high at Furman with 26 points. Dickey is shooting 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from beyond the arc and 88 percent (14-of-16) from the free throw line.
Sophomore center D.J. Cunningham is averaging 10.0 rebounds after two games. He has blocked four shots and now has 54 in his career, good for 10th place on the school's all-time career list.
Despite the shooting struggles of the first two games, Asheville has four players averaging in double figures. Matt Dickey (22.0), J. P. Primm (14.5), Jaron Lane (10.5), D.J. Cunningham (10.0).
