University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Visit High Point Saturday Night
01.23.2015 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's basketball team hits the road again as the Bulldogs journey to defending Big South Conference regular-season champion High Point Saturday night for a 7 p.m. league contest at the Millis Center.
Saturday's game can be seen for free on the Big South Network by clicking this link. Fans can also listen to the game on WWNC Radio (570-AM) or on-line at iHeartRadio with the pre-game show beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Asheville earned a great win Thursday night when the Bulldogs (9-9, 5-2 BSC) downed defending BSC champion Coastal Carolina at home, 75-65 before a crowd of more than 2,000 at Kimmel Arena. Thursday's game was televised nationally by ESPNU. Sophomore guard Andrew Rowsey scored his 1,000th career point become the first player in school history to reach 1,000 points as a sophomore.
The Bulldogs do not have much time to enjoy the great win over Coastal as a very good High Point team awaits the Blue & White Saturday. There's a five-way tie for first place in the league with Coastal Carolina, High Point, Asheville, Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern all tied for first at 5-2.
“We played great against Coastal Carolina, especially with our defense and rebounding,” stated second-year coach Nick McDevitt. “I thought we had a wonderful crowd that really energized us last night.
“But that game is behind us now. We have a big challenge at High Point on Saturday,” added McDevitt. “We know how tough it is to play there. High Point has a great team this year, led by the defending Big South Player of the Year in John Brown. We're going to have be at our absolute best to have a chance at winning here.”
High Point fell at Radford Thursday night, 73-66. The Panthers have a 14-5 overall record and like four others are 5-2 in league play. Brown is averaging 19.1 points per game and is considered an NBA prospect. HPU enjoyed a great non-conference season as it won the Rainbow Classic by beating Hawaii in the championship game. They own victories at Winthrop and Gardner-Webb in league play.
The Panthers blitzed the Bulldogs last season at the Millis Center, 78-67 behind Brown's 26 points. He scored 18 points in the first half as High Point led 45-31 at halftime and cruised in the second half.
“High Point beat us pretty decisively a year ago,” declared McDevitt. “We'll need to play a lot better than how we played there last season.”
The Bulldogs are in a stretch of playing four of five games away from home. High Point is the third of those games as Asheville split two contests last weekend with a win at Campbell and loss at Charleston Southern. The Dogs finish the road swing at Longwood Wednesday night.
BULLDOG NOTES
Saturday's game will feature the first two players to score 1,000 career points by their sophomore year in Big South history. John Brown did it last year for High Point, while Andrew Rowsey accomplished that on Thursday night.
UNC Asheville leads the all-time series between the teams, 27-18. But the Millis Center has been a tough place for the Bulldogs to win over the years. Asheville is 2-8 here in its last 10 meeting dating back to the semifinals of the 2004 Big South Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs have won six of the last seven meetings against High Point but only one of those wins has come at the Millis Center.
Andrew Rowsey became the 31st player in school history to reach 1,000 points in his career. He is tied with former teammate D.J. Cunningham with 1,000 points. Rowsey needs two points to move past Cunningham (1,000) and Lee Shuster (1,001) into 29th place on the career's scoring list.
Andrew Rowsey is ranked in numerous Big South statistical categories. He's second in the league in scoring (19.6), first in free throw percentage (.906), second in three-pointers made per game (3.17), third in steals (1.72), fourth in three-point percentage (.352), seventh in assists (3.50), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.70) and 10th in field goal percentage (.398).
Senior center Jaleel Roberts continues to lead the Big South Conference in blocked shots (2.94) and is 14th nationally in that category. He has recorded 50 on the season and has 102 for his career. Jaleel is the 36th player in Big South history to record at least 100 blocks. Roberts has come along offensively in his last three games by going 15-of-19 (.789) from the field.
The Bulldogs are 8-1 when they out-rebound their opponents.
In Asheville's five BSC wins, the Bulldogs have allowed just an average of 59.4 points per game. In their two losses, Asheville has allowed an average of 83 points. The Blue & White tops in the league in conference games in scoring defense (66.4), three-point percentage defense (.313) and is second in field goal percentage defense (.407).
Asheville is 2-1 on the road in league play. The Bulldogs went 3-5 last season. Asheville's five BSC wins the last two years have come by an average margin of 3.2 points per game.
