University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball Heads to Winthrop for Key Big South Battle
02.22.2010 | Men's Basketball
Asheville (13-14, 10-6 BSC) can clinch a Big South Tournament quarterfinal home game with a victory against the Eagles on Tuesday. The Bulldogs could finish as high as second place but are currently in fourth place in the latest league standings. Asheville finishes the regular season on Saturday against Gardner-Webb at home. The quarterfinals for the tournament will be played on Tuesday, March 2 at home sites of the top four finishers in league play.
In addition, Bulldog head coach Eddie Biedenbach enters the Winthrop game tied with former Eagle coach Gregg Marshall for the most wins as a coach in the Big South. Both have 194 wins. Earlier this year, Biedenbach became the all-time winningest coach in Big South Conference games and he has now registered 116 league wins.
"The only thing we're worried about right now is playing Winthrop," stated Biedenbach. "They're playing excellent basketball since we played them last month. We know it will be a very tough game, and we're going to have to play better than we did when we beat them at our place last month."
The Bulldogs downed the Eagles (15-11, 11-4) on Jan. 23 at Justice Center, 66-53. Winthrop has not lost in Big South Conference play since that game. They did lose on Saturday at Eastern Kentucky, 77-57 in an ESPN Bracketbuster game. The Eagles have won seven straight BSC games since losing to Asheville.
"Winthrop plays excellent defense like it always does," commented Biedenbach. "They're a well-coached team that has a lot of different players that can hurt you. They're going to be fired up with their last home game plus Winthrop still has a chance to finish in first place. We've got our hands full Tuesday night at Winthrop."
NOTES - UNC Asheville has won 10 league games for the third year in a row...the Bulldogs have out-rebounded their last three opponents...Asheville is 4-4 on the road in league play this season...the Bulldogs have lost 11 of their last 13 games against the Eagles at the Winthrop Coliseum...J.P. Primm has scored in double figures in 15 of the last 17 games...Asheville has not played since a 69-66 overtime win at Presbyterian College last Tuesday night.
