University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Campbell
Defense Helps Bulldogs to Big South-Opening Victory
12.13.2015 | Men's Basketball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 80, Campbell 60
Teams: Asheville (5-4, 1-0 BSC)
Campbell (5-3, 1-1 BSC)
Location: Kimmel Arena/Asheville, N.C.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville held visiting Campbell to just 19 first half points Sunday afternoon on the way to opening Big South Conference play with a victory for the 11th consecutive season in an 80-60 win over the Camels.
The Bulldogs will now sit in a tie atop the conference standings for the remainder of December, as Asheville will play its final four non-conference games of the schedule before getting back into Big South action on December 31 at Longwood.
THE TURNING POINT
The Bulldogs scored the afternoon's opening bucket on a David Robertson jumper and never looked back as they held Campbell to 22 percent shooting from the floor (6-of-27) in the opening 20 minutes as the hosts fired off a 53 percent shooting first half.
NOTABLES
-Four Bulldogs finished in double-figures and 10 total players scored as Asheville continued to get contributions from everyone. Freshman Dwayne Sutton tallied a team-high 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Sam Hughes collected 15 points and blocked two of Asheville's four total shots. Kevin Vannatta finished with 12 points and Dylan Smith scored 11 points to finish out the top performers.
-Ahmad Thomas finished with 10 rebounds – all on the defensive glass – as the Bulldogs pulled down 45 total rebounds while holding Campbell to 33 boards. All but nine of Asheville's rebounds came on the defensive end of the floor.
-Nearly half (38 total) of Asheville's points came in the paint in the win, while the hosts also finished with 12 second chance points. The Bulldog bench finished with 26 points, one of the few categories Campbell bettered Asheville in, as the visitors tallied 33 points from the bench.
-Today's victory moves Asheville to 7-0 against Campbell since the Camels returned to the Big South Conference for the 2011-112 season. Asheville is the only team in the Big South that Campbell hasn't recorded a victory over. The Bulldogs are now also 3-0 in the series since the opening of Kimmel Arena.
-The Bulldogs have opened Big South Conference play with a victory in each of the last 11 seasons dating back to the 2005-2006 campaign. Prior to today's win, Asheville started the league schedule with wins on the road the last six seasons.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
On opening Big South play with a win – “To start conference play with a win is nice. I thought our guys were locked in tonight on things we needed to do to win the game. I know I have talked about it several times, but we are locked in on the defensive end of the floor right now. To give up 19 points in the first half, I am very pleased.”
On team scoring – “When you have balanced scoring and multiple guys who can have a good night each and every game, it makes you tougher to guard. When you can't key in on one or two guys, it makes you tougher to guard. We are also sharing the ball well right now as a team.”
On another quick turnaround – “We have faced this situation several times already and will face it in conference play as well. Short turnaround, but that is good for our team to get used to these quick turnarounds like this. In Alaska we had quick turnarounds like the Big South Tournament will be and now we have another situation of two games in three days. We will enjoy this one tonight and then it's back to work tomorrow for East Tennessee State.”
UP NEXT
-After today's win, the Bulldogs will use tomorrow to prepare for East Tennessee State, who will come into Kimmel Arena on Tuesday night in a game that can be seen locally on WMYA MY40 television in the Asheville area. Tuesday's game will be a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.
