University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville Hosts Gardner-Webb Saturday Afternoon
01.14.2011 | Men's Basketball
Asheville (8-8, 3-3 BSC) hopes to snap a two-game Justice Center losing streak on Saturday. The Bulldogs are coming off two great road wins last week as they defeated Winthrop (88-67) and Presbyterian College (74-48).
"We played very well on the road last week," commented Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "Everything really came together and our guys competed hard for 40 minutes. We shot the ball well but we also defended for 40 minutes in each game. It will take a similar effort like that against Gardner-Webb."
The Runnin' Bulldogs (6-12, 1-5 BSC) have had some injuries and lost eight games in a row heading into Saturday's game. Gardner-Webb was the early surprise in the league as it opened the season with a victory at Charlotte and had wins against Western Carolina and Mercer. They fell at Winthrop on Saturday, 63-48. Forward Jon Moore leads the Runnin' Bulldogs with a 15.5 scoring average. He has missed the last five games for Gardner-Webb with an injury.
"Gardner-Webb is a good team that's had some injuries and some bad luck," stated Biedenbach. "The same night we beat Auburn, they beat Charlotte at Charlotte which was a terrific victory for them. We expect a tough battle from them from start to finish."
J.P. Primm continues to lead Asheville in scoring (16.3), assist (70), steals (34) and three-pointers made (33). Matt Dickey is second in scoring with a 14.9 average. Sophomore center D.J. Cunningham, who has missed the last three games with a knee injury, is averaging 12.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. He is questionable for Saturday's game.
The Bulldogs continue their homestand next week when they host league-leading Coastal Carolina Thursday (Jan. 20) at 7 p.m. and Charleston Southern on Saturday (Jan. 22) afternoon at 2 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES
UNC Asheville has lost two straight home games. The Bulldogs have not lost three straight home games since last season when they lost three straight to Wofford, Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern.
Asheville is 4-0 vs. Gardner-Webb since the Runnin' Bulldogs joined the Big South. However, all four of those games have been close with three going down to the final possession of regulation. The Bulldogs won last year, 58-56 on the road and 89-86 at Justice Center.
Senior forward John Williams needs just six points this afternoon to become the 25th
player in school history to record 1,000 career points. He has 584 rebounds and needs just five rebounds to move into 10th place on the school's career-rebounding list. John is already the school's all-time leader in blocked shots with 219. When he reaches 1000 points, he will be just the third player in Big South Conference history to have more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 blocked shots.
