University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Drexel
Bulldogs Down Drexel on Thanksgiving, Face Middle Tennessee Friday
11.27.2015 | Men's Basketball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 85, Drexel 66
Teams: Asheville (2-3, 0-0 BSC)
Drexel (0-4, 0-0 CAA)
Location: Great Alaska Shootout/Alaska Airlines Center/Anchorage, AK
FRIDAY:
LIVE VIDEO (CBS Sports Network) - LIVE AUDIO (Bulldog Radio Network)
LIVE STATS - TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE
ANCHORAGE, AK – Four players finished with double-figure scoring nights to lead the UNC Asheville men's basketball team past Drexel with an 85-66 victory in the opening round of the 2015 GCI Great Alaska Shootout on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs now move forward in the tournament and face Middle Tennessee State on Friday at 8 p.m. AST/midnight EST. Middle Tennessee was a three-point winner earlier on Thursday night over host Alaska-Anchorage. Friday night's game will be on CBS Sports Network and on the Bulldog Radio Network.
THE TURNING POINT
Down 38-34 at the half, Asheville came out of the break and used a 6-2 run over the opening two and a half minutes to knot the game at 40-all. David Robertson's three-pointer on the next Bulldog possession gave the team a lead it would never give back, as Asheville pushed the lead out to double-digits at the 10-minute mark.
NOTABLES
-Senior Sam Hughes finished with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting to lead the Bulldogs in the win. Hughes tallied an 8-of-10 mark at the free throw stripe and filled his stat line with five rebounds, two assists and a block in addition to his point total in 33 minutes of action.
-Freshman Dwayne Sutton just missed out on another double-double effort as he finished with 14 points for the second consecutive game and added nine rebounds and two assists.
-Ahmad Thomas collected 14 points, six rebounds and three assists, while David Robertson finished with 13 points and four assists.
-Asheville went to the free throw line 36 times Thursday, finishing the night shooting at a 72 percent success rate from the stripe (26-of-36).
-The Bulldogs forced Drexel into eight turnovers, turning those into 13 points. Asheville outrebounded Drexel 35-29 and finished with 16 second chance points.
-Asheville came out hot and ran off to a 12-0 lead in the game's first five minutes before Drexel clawed back into the game. Drexel's largest lead was their four-point halftime advantage. In total, the game was tied seven different times and the lead changed four times. The Bulldogs led for 29:23 of the game's 40 total minutes.
-Hughes was named GCI Player of the Game by the tournament committee and was also named Mighty Moose of the Game by the CBS Sports Network telecast.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
On the game – “I'm really proud of our effort, particularly in the second half, on the defensive end of the floor. To only give up 28 points in a half to a team of that quality took a team effort to accomplish. The other part that was key for us was only having four turnovers for the game and valuing the basketball. We talk about pass and catch all the time. It sounds simple but when you turn the ball over a lot it makes it difficult to win. The combination of taking care of the ball and the way we defended them was the key to the game.”
On getting scoring from multiple players – “We were able to move the ball and move our bodies. When you become stagnant with the ball or stagnant with yourself, you become easy to guard and you end up having to take contested shots against good athletes at this level. When you can move the ball and move around on the floor, you start creating driving angles. We did that tonight and got some of our bigs, Ahmad and Sam, to the free throw line. I thought it was a total team effort.”
On the quick turnaround – “This is tough for any team, but for our young team with Middle Tennessee coming is a challenge. We look forward to it. It's important they take care of their bodies in between the games with treatment and rest and we have to be smart with how we handle the time in between games. It'll take this same effort (Friday) to beat Middle Tennessee to get to the finals.”
Initial thoughts on Middle Tennessee – “They do some things differently on the defensive end of the floor. Looking out there (Thursday) they were in a 1-3-1 gap and then falling back into a 2-3 zone in the same possession. That's something a little bit unusual, but something we have seen in the past. Coastal Carolina has done that before. But it can keep teams off balance if you struggle to recognize it. When you have three freshmen guards like we do, sometimes playing a defense like that can keep you off balance and trick you offensively. We'll have to make sure we recognize what they are doing on the defensive end of the floor so that we can continue to attack the defense all night.”
UP NEXT
-Following Thursday's win, the Bulldogs turn around and play Middle Tennessee State on Friday night at 8 p.m. AST/midnight EST. Friday night's game will be on CBS Sports Network and on the Bulldog Radio Network.
