University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Hoops Plays at Gardner-Webb Monday Night
02.08.2015 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's basketball team will attempt to break out of seven-way tie for first place in the Big South Conference when the Bulldogs travel to Gardner-Webb Monday night starting at 8 p.m.
Monday's game will be televised by the American Sports Network. However, the game will not be telecast in the Asheville area or on the Big South Network. Fans can listen to the game on WWNC Radio (570-AM) or on iHeartRadio with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs defeated Longwood Friday night, 71-56. Asheville rallied from a 13-point first-half deficit to pull out the victory. Andrew Rowsey led the Dogs with 22 points, while sophomore center Giacomo Zilli posted a career-high 16 points and 14 rebounds. He scored all 16 of his points in the second half along with 12 rebounds to lead the Bulldog comeback.
Asheville's win along with a couple of other results on Friday pushed seven teams into a first-place tie in the Big South at 8-4. The Bulldogs are tied for first with Gardner-Webb, High Point, Radford, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina and Winthrop. Asheville will play five of those six teams over the final three weeks of the season starting with Monday's game at Gardner-Webb.
The Bulldogs defeated the Runnin' Bulldogs back on Jan. 3 at Kimmel Arena, 80-55. Second-year Asheville coach Nick McDevitt doesn't expect that kind of game on Monday.
“We played very, very well against Gardner-Webb the first time we played them last month,” stated McDevitt. “It was one of those days where everything went well for us, and they (Gardner-Webb) had a bad day.
“Gardner-Webb has beaten Coastal Carolina twice. They beat Clemson and Purdue in non-conference play. This is a very good basketball team,” explained McDevitt. “We've always had tough games with them at their place and I expect Monday night to be no exception. One thing we don't need to do is get off to a slow start against them like we did Friday night against Longwood.”
Sophomore guard Andrew Rowsey continues to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with an 18.5 average. He leads the Big South and is sixth nationally in free throw percentage at .919. Rowsey has made 25 of his last 26 free throws. Sophomore guard David Robertson is averaging 11.3 points per game. Senior center Jaleel Roberts tops the Dogs in rebounding with a 5.5 mark and leads the Big South in blocked shots (2.59).
In Asheville's win over Gardner-Webb on Jan. 3, the Bulldogs got a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds from Sam Hughes plus a career-high 17 points from Chudier Pal. Pal had only scored 15 points the entire season. He had 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field in the first half.
After Monday's game, the Bulldogs return to Kimmel Arena to host Presbyterian College on Thursday night before having next weekend off.
BULLDOG NOTES
UNC Asheville is 11-2 against Gardner-Webb since the Runnin' Bulldogs joined the Big South Conference in 2008. The Bulldogs are 5-1 at Porter Arena but none of those wins have been by more than 10 points with the last four victories here coming by an average margin of three points. Of Asheville's 11 wins, only three have come by 10 points or more.
Asheville hopes to get off to a better start than it has the past three games. The Bulldogs have averaged just 24 points in the first half of the last three games. Asheville has trailed by double figures in the opening half of two of those games but managed to rally to win. The Dogs trailed 27-11 late in the first half to Campbell on Jan. 31 but came back to win, 70-63. Friday vs. Longwood, Asheville fell behind 30-17 in the first half before coming to win 71-56.
The Bulldogs are 11-2 when they out-rebound their opponents. Asheville used a huge rebounding advantage to beat Longwood Friday night. The Dogs had a 51-25 rebounding edge over the Lancers. For the first time this season, Asheville had two players in double figures in rebounds as Giacomo Zilli had 14 and Will Weeks grabbed 10.
Asheville is 3-3 on the road in Big South Conference play this season. The Bulldogs went 3-5 a year ago and starting Monday will have three chances to win one more than last season. In five of Asheville's BSC road wins over the last two years, the average margin of victory has been four points. The only win that was by more than four points was a 74-64 win at Longwood on Jan. 28.
Andrew Rowsey became the first sophomore in school history to score 1,000 career points when he sank a jumper against Coastal Carolina on Jan. 22. He is enjoying another great season and is third in the league in scoring with an 18.5 average. However, Gardner-Webb has given Andrew a tough time in his short career. In three games against the Runnin' Bulldogs, Rowsey is only averaging 9.3 points per game. That's the only team in the Big South he's averaging below double figures. His top game was 12 points here last season. One of the more amazing stats in Asheville's 80-55 win against Gardner-Webb last month was the fact Rowsey was held to five points though he did have six rebounds and four assists.
