University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Host Liberty on Thursday Night in Key Big South Battle
02.10.2010 | Men's Basketball
Thursday's game will also be video-streamed and can be seen for a small fee at www.bigsouthsports.com. Bulldog head coach Eddie Biedenbach will coach in his bare feet against the Flames as part of the league's support of the "Barefoot for Bare Feet" initiative. Fans can support the cause by donating athletic shoes at the game. Each fan that donates a pair of athletic shoes will receive a free general admission ticket to a Bulldog women's basketball or baseball game this year.
Asheville (10-14, 7-6 BSC) and Liberty (12-12, 7-5 BSC) are in a virtual tie for fourth place in the latest Big South Conference standings. Finishing in the top four in the final league standings guarantees a quarterfinal Big South Tournament home game on March 2.
The Bulldogs had a seven-game winning streak going into last weekend's trip to the South Carolina coast and came out with a two-game losing streak. Asheville fell at Charleston Southern last Thursday, 62-54 and was then blitzed by league-leading Coastal Carolina, 98-62 Saturday afternoon.
"We didn't play very well last weekend," commented Biedenbach. "We just have to regroup and get ready to play a well-coached Liberty squad on Thursday. Nothing is going to be easy for us."
The Bulldogs defeated the Flames earlier this year in Lynchburg, 74-70. Matt Dickey scored 22 points in the victory. Biedenbach expects another tough game with Liberty on Thursday.
"We really had to battle to win up at Liberty, and I expect the same kind of game this time around," said Biedenbach. "Liberty is well-coached and does a lot of things well. They beat Radford at Radford and own some good non-conference victories this season."
Asheville really struggled on offense in its games in South Carolina. The Bulldogs shot just 34 percent from the field and 13 percent from the three-point line. Asheville also turned it over 36 times in the two games.
"There were a lot of things we didn't do well and offense was one of them," declared Biedenbach. "We had way too many careless turnovers and didn't grind things out on offense like you should."
NOTES - Junior forward John Williams became the school's all-time leader in blocked shots with a block against Liberty as he now has 191 career blocks....Williams needs just 10 rebounds to reach 500 in his career...the Bulldogs have won five straight home games...Asheville has been out-rebounded in nine of its last 12 games but has gone 5-4 in the games it was out-rebounded...sophomore guard J.P. Primm has 264 career assists and needs just seven to move into 10th place on the school's all-time career list.
