University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball at Winthrop Wednesday Night
02.17.2015 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's basketball team is on the road Wednesday night when the Bulldogs travel to Big South rival Winthrop for a key Big South Conference battle starting at 7 p.m.
Wednesday's game will be broadcast on the Big South Network and can be seen for free at this link. The game can also be heard on WWNC Radio (570-AM) or iHeartRadio with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m.
Asheville (13-12, 9-5 BSC) and Winthrop (14-11, 9-5 BSC) are tied for fifth place in Big South Conference standings but are just a half-game out of fourth place and a full game behind three teams in first place in High Point, Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina (10-4). The Bulldogs still have hopes to win the BC regular-season crown but those hopes took a hit last week with a 69-65 home loss to Presbyterian College.
“We still have a lot to play for down the stretch,” commented second-year coach Nick McDevitt. “We knew the league would be very balanced this year and it's proven to be. All you want at this point of the year is to have a chance to finish in first place. We have a chance right now but we have a tough schedule in front of us. Our guys just need to take one game at a time.”
Asheville has four games remaining in the regular-season starting with the Bulldogs date at Winthrop tomorrow night plus home games with Radford (Feb. 21) and High Point (Feb. 26). The Blue & White finishes the regular season at Liberty on Feb. 28.
The Bulldogs hope to play better than they did earlier this year against the Eagles. Winthrop dominated Asheville at Kimmel Arena back on Jan. 14, 84-69. It was just the fifth loss suffered by the Dogs against a league opponent at Kimmel and the second worst ever for Asheville in its arena. The Eagles dominated from start to finish, leading 38-21 at halftime. Keon Johnson torched the Dogs for 22 points.
“Winthrop beat us pretty soundly when it played here the last time,” commented McDevitt. “We did not do a good job of guarding them and they made us pay for it. We're going to have to play better in all areas of the game to have any chance of beating them Wednesday.”
The Bulldogs were plagued by another slow start last Thursday against Presbyterian. Asheville trailed 34-21 at halftime, roared back to take the lead in the second half but couldn't stop the Blue Hose down the stretch.
“We've got to play 40 minutes of good basketball the rest of the season,” declared McDevitt. “You can't be giving teams double-digit leads in the first half and expect to comeback. We made a nice comeback against PC but you make yourself vulnerable when you fall that far behind.”
Sophomore guard Andrew Rowsey leads the Bulldogs in scoring. He had 24 points against the Blue Hose last week, including 21 in the second half. His 18.8 average is seventh best in the Big South and he leads the league and is sixth nationally in free throw percentage at (107-116).922. He has made 22 straight free throws entering the game against Winthrop.
Sophomore guard David Robertson is second on the team in scoring with a 10.9 average. Senior center Jaleel Roberts tops the club in rebounding (5.3). He leads the Big South in blocked shots (2.63).
BULLDOG NOTES
Winthrop has won the last three meeting between the teams and holds a 37-32 series advantage. The Eagles started the winning streak in a 10-day period last year as they rallied for a 107-100 overtime win in Rock Hill as they wiped away an 11-point Asheville lead in the final 1:10 of regulation. Ten days later in the semifinals of the Big South Tournament, two last-second Bulldog lay-ups rimmed out as the Eagles edged the Dogs, 80-79.
One more BSC win will give Asheville its 10th league victory of the season. It will mark the eighth straight year the Bulldog program has posted double-digit league wins.
Asheville is 4-3 in Big South Conference road games this season. Three of those wins have come by a total of nine points.
Jaleel Roberts is 36-of-49 (.735) from the field in his last 10 games.
The Bulldogs have been slow getting out of the gates lately. In four of the last five games, Asheville has averaged just 24 points in the first half of its games. In two of those games, the Bulldogs were able to rally in the second half for wins.
Asheville returns home for its next two games with home dates against teams in front of them in the league standings, starting with Radford on Saturday (Feb. 21) and High Point (Feb. 26) next Thursday night. The game with the Panthers will be nationally televised by ESPNU.
