University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Set to Play at Presbyterian College Saturday Night
01.07.2011 | Men's Basketball
The Bulldogs (7-8) are coming off perhaps their best game of the season on Thursday night when Asheville roared past Winthrop on the road, 88-67. J.P. Primm scored 24 points, while Matt Dickey added 19 points in the victory. John Williams played his best game since coming back from an injury as he had 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. The Bulldogs shook off a recent shooting slump by shooting 52 percent (29-of-56) from the field and a season-high 66.7 percent (10-of-15) from the three-point line. Asheville got contributions from everyone who played in winning at Winthrop in the regular season for just the second time in the last 13 years.
"We played an outstanding basketball game at Winthrop last night," explained Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "Our guys were really ready to play from the start and executed on offense and defense. We weren't perfect and had too many turnovers (22) but overall it may have been our best game of the year."
There's not much time to enjoy the victory over the Eagles as a very strong Presbyterian College squad looms on Saturday. The Blue Hose (8-8, 2-2 BSC) are coming off an impressive 78-44 win over Gardner-Webb Thursday night. PC owns wins over Auburn, Wake Forest, Princeton and Navy this season. Junior forward Alonzo Coleman leads the Blue Hose attack as he's averaging 14.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Khalid Mutakabbir is averaging 13.0 points per game.
"Presbyterian College is a very good team with veteran players," commented Biedenbach. "We've got an extremely tough game in front of us on Saturday at Presbyterian. They've played a demanding non-conference schedule and have had some success in some of those games. They won at Auburn and Wake Forest and gave Kansas State and Missouri competitive games."
J.P. Primm leads Asheville in scoring with a 16.9 average, while Matt Dickey is at 14.9 points per game. Chris Stephenson is averaging 10.5 points per game. Sophomore center D.J. Cunningham is averaging close to a double-double with a 12.2 scoring and 9.3 rebounding average. However, he is questionable for the PC game with a knee injury.
The Bulldogs and Blue Hose have played just four times since Presbyterian joined the Big South Conference. Asheville holds a 3-1 edge in those games but had close games with them every time with the exception of two years ago at PC. The Blue Hose routed the Bulldogs, 76-61 in the final regular-season game of the year in game that wasn't that close.
"We remember what happened here two years ago," declared Biedenbach. "Presbyterian College beat us as bad as anyone did that year. They red-shirted some of those players from that team last year but they're all back this season. We better be ready to go from the start."
BULLDOG NOTES
Asheville is 2-1 on the road in Big South Conference play this season and 6-6 in its last 12 league road games. Both of the Bulldogs road wins have come by at least 20 points and that's the first time Asheville has ever won two league road games in a season by 20 points or more.
J.P. Primm has scored in double figures in 14 of 15 games this year. Primm's 24 points on Thursday at Winthrop was a Big South-career high. He has scored 21 points or above in four different games this season. Primm enters Saturday's game third in the league in scoring (16.9), fifth in field goal percentage (43.2%), third in assists (4.5), first in steals (2.3) and seventh in free throw percentage (78.4%).
The Bulldogs shot a season-high 66.7 percent (10-of-15) from the three-point line. In the previous seven games, Asheville had shot just 24 percent (26-of-109) from beyond the arc.
John Williams had a season-high 15 points at Winthrop. He now has 980 career points and needs just 20 to become the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
The Bulldogs are third in the Big South and ninth nationally in steals with a 10.1 per game average. Asheville had 10 steals at Winthrop and has had at least 10 steals in 11 different games this season.
