University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Head to USC Upstate Monday Night
11.28.2010 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville Bulldogs head to Spartanburg Monday night to battle USC Upstate in a non-conference battle that will start at 7 p.m. Monday's game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio (1310-AM) starting with the pre-game show at 6:30 p.m.
Asheville (2-3) is in the middle of a five-game road trip. Last week had the Bulldogs playing at #25 North Carolina on Tuesday and #16 Georgetown Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs played well in spurts in both places before falling to the Tar Heels, 80-69 and the Hoyas, 87-72.
The game with the Spartans starts another busy road week for Asheville. The Bulldogs open Big South Conference play at Radford (Dec. 2) Thursday night and then play at league foe High Point (Dec. 4) on Saturday evening. Both games start at 7 p.m.
However, Asheville's attention is with USC Upstate. The Spartans are 0-6 on the season but have faced a very difficult schedule to open the year as they've faced Michigan, Virginia, Wofford, South Carolina, Coastal Carolina and East Carolina. Monday's game will be their home opener.
"USC Upstate has a good team but has faced a pretty tough schedule to open the season," commented Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "They've faced some big-time teams and been in the game with most of those teams. We're going to have to be ready to play 40 minutes to get a win."
Asheville fell behind 30-7 at Georgetown on Saturday midway through the first half but made some nice runs in the first and second halves to get back in the game. The 72 points was the most allowed by the Hoyas this year. J.P. Primm led the Bulldogs with 17 points.
"We just didn't play well enough for 40 minutes to beat a team the caliber of Georgetown," explained Biedenbach. "Our guys learned some things in that game that hopefully will make us better as the year goes on."
Ironically both Georgetown and USC Upstate competed in the same tournament last weekend in Charleston, S.C. The teams were a part of the eight-team tournament called the Charleston Classic.
This will be the first meeting between the schools since the 1984-85 season when the teams split road victories. Both schools were NAIA programs and USC Upstate was known as USC Spartanburg. The Bulldogs were coached by Jerry Green, while the then Rifles were coached by Jerry Waters. Asheville won at Spartanburg, 61-60 before the Rifles won at Justice Center, 70-68.
Matt Dickey leads Asheville in scoring with an 18.0 average. J.P. Primm is averaging 16.6 points per game.
The Spartans are led by freshman guard Torrey Craig with a 10.2 average.
NOTING THE BULLDOGS
UNC Asheville has out-scored all of its opponents in the second half this year, including North Carolina and Georgetown.
The Bulldogs have played four of their first five games away from home. Asheville's next home game is on Dec. 11 vs. Montreat.
Junior guards J.P. Primm and Matt Dickey have scored in double figures in every game this season.
Senior forward John Williams did not play against Georgetown due to an injury suffered at North Carolina. He is questionable for the USC Upstate game.
The Bulldogs have 61 steals on the year and are fifth nationally in that category with a 12.20 average.
USC Upstate assistant coach Bill Burrows was once an assistant at UNC Asheville. Burrows served with the Bulldogs during the 1989-90 season and helped get Asheville to the Big South title game.
