University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Set to Face WCU Sunday at Kimmel Arena
12.19.2014 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's basketball team returns home to Kimmel Arena on Sunday to face mountain rival Western Carolina at 2 p.m. in a game that will be televised locally on WMYA-TV.
Tickets are available at uncabulldogs.com/tickets.
Sunday's game can be heard locally on WPEK Radio (880-AM) and on-line at iHeartRadio. Bulldog fans can also watch the game on the Big South Network by hitting this link.
Both teams would like a win before the holidays. Asheville (4-6) is trying to snap a two-game losing streak suffered earlier in the week at UAB (79-71) and Jacksonville State (64-55). Slow starts doomed the Bulldogs in both contests. They fell behind 18-4 at UAB after seven minutes and were down 20-10 midway through the first half. Asheville battled back in both games and had chances to win but just couldn't push through.
Western Carolina has faced a grueling early-season schedule with games all over the country but not in Cullowhee. The Cats have only had two home games in the first two months of the season and enter Sunday's game with a 3-8 record. They've lost at Alabama, Mississippi State, Minnesota and Vanderbilt along with road losses to Charleston Southern and ETSU. WCU fell to Wright State at home on Thursday, 69-56.
Second-year head coach Nick McDevitt has plenty of respect for the Catamounts.
“Western Carolina has a good team that has played a tough schedule,” stated McDevitt. “And they've played everyone pretty close in those games. They've got four players averaging in double figures, and Larry Hunter is a very good coach. Western Carolina beat us pretty good last year in Cullowhee, and we know we're going to have to be ready to play on Sunday for 40 minutes.”
The Bulldogs are being led in scoring by sophomore guard Andrew Rowsey with a 22.6 average. He leads the Big South in scoring and was seventh nationally as of Friday. Rowsey also leads the league in free throw percentage (.906) and three-pointers made per game (3.80). Andrew was held to six points on Tuesday night at Jacksonville State due to foul trouble. The six points ended an amazing streak of 37 straight games where Rowsey had scored in double figures. He has accumulated 874 career points and is closing in on becoming the first sophomore in school history to score 1,000 career points.
Sophomore guard David Robertson has been brilliant in the backcourt for the Bulldogs in the past month. He has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games as he posted a career-high 22 points at UAB and 18 at Jacksonville State Tuesday night. Robertson is Asheville's second leading scorer with a 12.3 average.
Senior center Jaleel Roberts leads Asheville in rebounding (5.7) and blocked shots (25). His 2.78 per game average leads the Big South and is 23rd nationally.
After Sunday's contest, the Bulldogs have 10 days off before opening Big South Conference play at Radford on Dec. 31. Asheville's first home game in 2015 with be its Big South home opener vs. Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES
WCU leads the all-time series between the teams, 25-20 and has a 15-14 advantage in the Division I era. The Catamounts won last year's game in Cullowhee, 74-67.
This is the fourth year the Bulldogs have played home games in Kimmel Arena. Asheville has seemed to enjoy playing here. The Blue & White has posted a 39-9 overall record here and went 11-2 last season. The Bulldogs have led at intermission in the last 19 games played at Kimmel.
Asheville leads the Big South Conference in scoring (75.9), free throw shooting (.741), three-point percentage (.390), three-pointers made per game (8.90) and steals (8.60).
Andrew Rowsey has scored in double figures in 40 of 42 games he's played in his career. He has started in every game as a Bulldog.
David Robertson has averaged 14.7 points in the last seven games. He is shooting .500 (37-of-74) from the field during that stretch and .488 (20-of-41) from beyond the arc.
Asheville leads the Big South in steals with 86 and had produced at least 11 in six different contests, including a season-high 13 at Wake Forest (11-14).
