University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens Exhibition Play Monday Night vs. Belmont Abbey
11.06.2010 | Men's Basketball
Asheville is coming off a 15-16 season last year. It was a tale of two seasons for the Bulldogs. Eddie Biedenbach's club got off to a 3-12 start and had two six-game losing streaks in the first part of the year. The Bulldogs caught fire in the second half of the year and went 12-4, finishing in fourth place in the Big South Conference and advancing to the semifinals of the league tournament for the fourth consecutive season.
Coach Biedenbach is hoping for a more consistent season in 2010-11.
"We didn't play well early in the year and it took awhile for us to get our bearings," commented Biedenbach. "Our guys did a good job battling back and having a good year but we want to be a lot more consistent from the start of the year."
Asheville returns four starters from last year's club, including senior forward John Williams, junior guards' J.P. Primm and Matt Dickey plus junior forward Chris Stephenson. Sophomore center D.J. Cunningham is also back. He started part of the year and was one of Asheville's first players off the bench when he wasn't starting.
"We've got a nice team back," explained Biedenbach. "I think our guards have a chance to be among the top backcourts in the Big South. A big key for us is we have to stay healthy, especially in the backcourt."
Asheville faces a Belmont Abbey squad that lost at Clemson Friday night, 96-57. The Bulldogs played the Crusaders two years ago to open the 2008-09 season as Asheville won 75-63.
"We don't know a great deal about Belmont Abbey except we had a tough game with them two years ago to open the season," said Biedenbach. "They'll have a game under their belts where we won't on Monday. We'll need to play well and try to avoid what happened to us last season."
The Bulldogs fell to Brevard, 73-69 in their only exhibition game.
