University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball Set to Face Liberty on Thursday Night
01.26.2011 | Men's Basketball
Asheville (10-9, 5-4 BSC) has won four of its last five games.? The Bulldogs are coming off a hard-fought 77-69 victory over Charleston Southern Saturday afternoon.? Asheville faces a tough challenge in a Liberty squad that is battling for first place in the league standings. The Flames are 8-1 in Big South Conference games with a 14-7 overall record.? They defeated the Bulldogs at Justice Center on Jan. 2, 59-55.
"Liberty has played very well this season and constantly been finding ways to win," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "They play great defense, have guys that can score and can beat you in a number of different ways.
"When we played them earlier this year, it wasn't the prettiest of games but they found a way to grind it out in the end," added Biedenbach. "We're going to have to be at our best to have a chance at winning on Thursday night."
Junior guard J.P. Primm leads Asheville in scoring (15.6), assists (91), steals (40) and three-pointers made (92). His backcourt partner, Matt Dickey is right behind him in all categories as he's second in scoring (14.9), assists (56), steals (33) and three-pointers made (34). ?
The Flames are led by guard Evan Gordon with a 14.2 scoring average.? Freshman John Brown is averaging a double-double with an 11.6 scoring and 10.2 rebounding averages. Guard Jesse Sanders, who hit some big shots against the Bulldogs on Jan. 2, averages 10.2 points per game and is leading the Big South in assists with 137.
Asheville plays at VMI on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. before returning home next weekend to host Presbyterian College (Feb. 3) and Winthrop (Feb. 5).
"We've let a couple of home games slip away so we need to try and get some wins on the road to make up for those losses," said Biedenbach. "This is a tough road trip as we'll face two good teams who always play well at home."
BULLDOG NOTES
The Bulldogs are 3-1 in league road games this season. All of the wins have been by 20 points or more. However, Asheville is 2-3 in BSC home contests.? Last Thursday, the Bulldogs lost at home to Coastal Carolina, 80-59 and the 21-point defeat was the worst home loss suffered by Asheville since a 97-75 defeat to VMI in February, 2008.
Asheville leads the all-time series between the teams, 27-19. Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach is 23-11 vs. the Flames.? The Bulldogs are 9-12 all-time vs. Liberty at the Vines Center. Coach Biedenbach has posted an 8-7 record against LU in the Vines Center. However, Liberty has won six of the last eight meetings against the Bulldogs in Lynchburg.
Liberty is attempting to sweep the Bulldogs for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
Asheville has shot better than 50 percent from the field in four of its last five games.
The Bulldogs are 8-0 this year when leading at halftime.
Asheville is just 10-of-39 (25.6%) from the three-point line in the last three games. ?
The Bulldogs are second in the Big South and tied for 10th nationally in steals with a 9.53 per game average. Asheville is tied with Georgia Tech and Memphis.
