University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Arrive in the Bahamas
11.22.2011 | Men's Basketball
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The Bulldogs (2-2) have won two straight after a comfortable 89-48 victory over Brevard College Monday night at Kimmel Arena. However, Asheville faces a much bigger challenge when it faces the fourth-ranked Huskies on Thursday. UCONN is 4-0 on the season and has won 15 games in a row dating back to last season's magical run to winning the national championship.
Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach is looking forward to competing in the tournament.
"We're honored that the people at Atlantis asked us to be in the tournament," stated Biedenbach. "This will give our school and our program some great exposure this week. We're going to be rubbing shoulders with some great college basketball programs and this week's tournament can only make us a better basketball team no matter what happens."
Biedenbach is very impressed with the Huskies. Ironically, Connecticut started its march to a national title in the same venue the Bulldogs played in last year's NCAA Tournament. Both schools played at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Asheville lost to Pitt, while the Huskies knocked off Bucknell and Cincinnati.
"Connecticut is extremely good and could win another national title this season," commented Biedenbach. "Jim Calhoun (UCONN head coach) is one of the best coaches in the nation. His teams always play great defense and are solid in every phase of the game. We're going to have a tremendous challenge playing them but it's one we welcome."
While Connecticut heads the field at the Battle "4" Atlantis, there are plenty of other good teams here. Also in the tournament are Central Florida, College of Charleston, Florida State, Harvard, Massachusetts and Utah. The Bulldogs will play either College of Charleston or Central Florida on Friday. If Asheville wins on Thursday, it will play at 2 p.m. against the winner of Charleston and UCF on Friday. A loss to the Huskies would have the Bulldogs playing at 7 p.m. against the loser of that game.
All of the tournament games will be televised. Afternoon games will be televised by VERSUS, while night games will be televised by HDNET.
BULLDOG NOTES
The Battle "4" Atlantis Tournament is the first in-season tournament the Bulldogs have participated in since the Coca-Cola Classic in Chattanooga in December of 1997. It is the first eight-team tournament Asheville has participated in since going Division I 25 years ago. This is the Bulldogs first neutral regular-season game since playing Richmond in the first round at Chattanooga in December of 1997.
Asheville is 0-2 vs. Connecticut, losing 98-68 in the 1999-00 season and 117-67 in the 2002-03 season.
This is not the highest ranked team the Bulldogs have played this season. Asheville played its first home game in its new Kimmel Arena against top-ranked North Carolina on Nov. 13 and fell 91-75.
Asheville is 9-3 in its last 12 games dating back to last season's Big South Conference championship run. The only losses have been to Pitt, N.C. State and North Carolina.
This will be the first time the Bulldogs have played the defending national champion since playing North Carolina in December of 2005 when Asheville lost 89-47 to the Tar Heels in the Smith Center.
Junior forward Jaron Lane is questionable for the UCONN game after suffering an ankle injury vs. Brevard on Monday. He will be a game-time decision.
The Bulldogs have had 10 different players score in double figures this year.
Senior guard Matt Dickey had a perfect night shooting against Brevard. He went 6-for-6 from the field, 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Senior guard J.P. Primm has 17 assists in the last two games. He enters today's game with 486 career assists and needs just 35 to surpass K.J. Garland (520) as the all-time leader. Primm is also second all-time at Asheville in career steals with 193 and needs 31 to pass former Bulldog great Andre Smith (223).
