University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Open Great Alaska Shootout Thanksgiving Night vs. Drexel
11.25.2015 | Men's Basketball
THE MATCHUPS
Great Alaska Shootout
Teams: Asheville (1-3, 0-0 BSC)
Drexel (0-3, 0-0 CAA)
Alaska-Anchorage (6-3, 0-0 GNAC)
Loyola Chicago (3-1, 0-0 MVC)
Middle Tennessee (1-1, 0-0 CUSA)
San Diego (0-3, 0-0 WCC)
San Jose State (1-2, 0-0 MWC)
Toledo (2-1, 0-0 MAC)
Location: Alaska Airlines Center/Anchorage, AK
Time: 8:00 p.m. AST/12:00 a.m. EST (vs. Drexel 11/26)
LIVE VIDEO (CBS Sports Network) - LIVE AUDIO (Bulldog Radio Network) - LIVE STATS - TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE
ANCHORAGE, AK – After a couple days for travel and sightseeing, the UNC Asheville men's basketball team turns its attention back to what it came to Anchorage for as the Bulldogs get set to open the 2015 GCI Great Alaska Shootout on Thanksgiving night with an 8 p.m. local tipoff (midnight EST) against Drexel in the tournament's first round.
All three of Asheville's games can be heard live on the Bulldog Radio Network on WWNC 570 AM in the Asheville area or online anywhere via the iHeartRadio app. The Bulldogs' opening round game Thanksgiving night against Drexel, as well as the winner's bracket games on Friday and Saturday's Championship game, will be available on CBS Sports Network.
Follow the link above to find out what channel CBS Sports Network in on through your specific cable provider.
NOTABLES
Bulldogs Get into Tournament Mode: Playing in the Great Alaska Shootout with three games over three days will be an adjustment for Asheville, as the Bulldogs have only played in Big South Conference Tournaments the last several seasons. The Bulldogs participated in the Preseason NIT during the 2013-2014 season, but their last true in-season tournaments came in back-to-back seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13) when they played in the Battle 4 Atlantis (2011-12) in the Bahamas and in the Puerto Rico Tipoff Tournament (2012-13).
Adjusting to the Times: The Bulldogs' trip out to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout will take some getting used to as far as the time differences. Asheville has played its fair share of games in the central time zone over the years, including at Texas A&M (11/21) to open the trip west, but you have to go all the way back to the 1996-1997 season to find a Bulldogs game played in the western-third of the United States. Asheville traveled to New Mexico State early in that 1996-97 season, their first year with former head coach Eddie Biedenbach, coming away with a 65-64 victory. Asheville's last game in the Western Time Zone was a 58-53 victory over California in the 1987-88 season, their final campaign under former head man Jerry Green. The Asheville program has never played in Alaska.
Scoring Gets Answered: A team left wondering where the scoring would come from entering the season, Asheville has received scoring contributions from all 12 players that have seen action in the first four games. Three players are averaging double-digit scoring numbers over those four games (Kevin Vannatta 12.5 points, Dwayne Sutton 11.8 points, Will Weeks 10.5 points). Part of the scoring can be attributed to the Bulldogs' 44.6 percent team shooting percentage from the floor.
Diaper Dandy: Freshman Dwayne Sutton has turned some heads with his opening collegiate performances for the Bulldogs, including being named the Big South Conference's Player of the Week on 11/23. Counting Asheville's exhibition contest, the Louisville native has a pair of double-doubles (vs. Brevard (Ex.) 17 points, 10 rebounds; at Texas A&M 14 points, 12 rebounds). In addition to the double-doubles, Sutton has scored in double figures in two of Asheville's other three contests this season, narrowly missing the mark in those games as well (at Western Carolina 12 points, 9 rebounds; vs. Mars Hill 16 points, 7 rebounds).
Not all Business: The Bulldogs arrived in Anchorage after a full day's travel on Sunday night, and spent parts of Monday and Tuesday touring the area. The team visited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center about an hour outside of the city on Monday, interacting with several native species while taking in the landscape. Tuesday featured a trip to the Anchorage Museum where they experienced a combination of art, history and science along with the history of Alaska and its people.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
On beginning tournament play: “We are certainly prepared for Thursday. We have been here since Sunday and were able to do some of the sightseeing stuff and tourist things. Now we are starting to approach game day and it's down to business.”
On opening round opponent Drexel: “Drexel has two post players who are athletic and can score with both hands in the post, so we certainly have our hands full with those two. Like most games it will come down to transition defense and forcing them to run some half-court offense and being able to rebound with them. I think we have done a nice job on the defensive end and rebounding the last couple games, and we will have to do that again on Thursday night.”
On the educational value of this trip for the team: “We are enjoying the experience and trying to broaden the team's horizons a little bit. This is one of those educational experiences that they get for being collegiate student-athletes, and we are certainly enjoying being out here in Alaska. It's an absolutely majestic scene – the animals, nature, the snow covered mountains – it's beautiful out here.”
