University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Travel to Western Carolina Wednesday Night
12.27.2011 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville Bulldogs are back in action Wednesday night when they travel to Western Carolina for a date with the Catamounts starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday's game will be broadcast locally on WWNC Radio (570-AM) with the pre-game show beginning at 5:30 p.m. An audio stream of the broadcast can be obtained at www.uncabulldogs.com.
Asheville (6-5) starts a busy stretch on Wednesday as the Bulldogs play three road games in three different states over the next six days. The men of Eddie Biedenbach play at Big South rival Winthrop on Dec. 31 and then head to Radford on Jan. 2. Asheville's next home game at Kimmel Arena is on Jan. 5 against VMI.
The Bulldogs hope to shake off a disappointing 72-68 loss at Tennessee on Dec. 20. Asheville led for most of the game and had chances late but came up short in trying to defeat the Volunteers for the first time ever.
"We played hard at Tennessee and did a lot of good things but just not enough to win," commented Biedenbach. "We simply didn't make enough plays to win the game. This was a disappointing loss as we had a great chance to win the game.'
Asheville looks ahead to playing a talented Western Carolina (6-6) team at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee. The Catamounts are coming off an exciting 68-67 win at Bradley on Dec. 21.
"Western Carolina is a very good basketball team," declared Biedenbach. "We have our work cut out for us. Larry Hunter (WCU head coach) is a very good coach and his guys play very hard for him. They do a lot of things well."
The Bulldogs won a thriller last year over the Catamounts as they edged WCU in overtime, 85-79 behind a career-high 26 points from J.P. Primm.
"We've always had great games with Western Carolina," commented Biedenbach. "I would expect another barn-burner Wednesday night. We'll have to be ready to play good basketball for 40 minutes or beyond."
BULLDOG NOTES
Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach has posted 222 victories as Asheville head coach. He needs one more to tie Bob Hartman as the all-time leader in victories at Asheville.
Senior guard J.P. Primm scored a season-high 25 points at Tennessee. Senior guard Matt Dickey scored a season-low seven points against the Volunteers. It marked the first time this season that Dickey had been held below 10 points.
J.P. Primm needs just six career assists to become the school's all-time leader in that category. He enters the WCU game with 515 assists, just five behind the all-time leader in K.J. Garland (520).
Quinard Jackson tied a career-high with nine rebounds at Tennessee.
The Bulldogs are 5-8 all-time at the Ramsey Center. Asheville has dropped four of its last six games in Cullowhee and fell 87-76 two season ago. The Bulldogs last win came in the 2007-08 season as Asheville won, 83-73.
Asheville is 1-2 on the road this year.
The game with the Catamounts will be the Bulldogs second against a team from the Southern Conference. Asheville lost to College of Charleston, 68-66 on Nov. 25 in the Bahamas.
