University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Welcome Gardner-Webb in First Place Showdown
01.15.2016 | Men's Basketball
THE MATCHUP
Teams: Asheville (12-6, 5-1 BSC)
Gardner-Webb (10-8, 5-1 BSC)
Location: Kimmel Arena / Asheville, N.C.
Time: 4:30 p.m.
VIDEO (Big South Network) - AUDIO (Bulldog Radio Network)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville looks to bounce back from its first conference loss of the year when it welcomes Gardner-Webb to Kimmel Arena Saturday afternoon in a battle between teams tied at the top of the Big South Conference standings.
Asheville and Gardner-Webb, along with High Point, are all knotted at 5-1 in conference play. Saturday's game can be seen locally on WMYA MY40 television in the Asheville area.
NOTABLES
Boarding the Big South: The Bulldogs are at or near the top of the Big South in multiple rebounding categories, including leading the league in percentage of total rebounds coming on the defensive glass (75.2% of total). Asheville is second in the BSC in rebounding margin (+4.2) and in defensive rebounding, pulling down 27.06 boards off the defensive glass a night. Individually, Dwayne Sutton is third in the BSC in total rebounding (7.9/game) and is tops in the conference in defensive rebounding (5.67 defensive boards/game).
Logging Minutes: Asheville has seven players averaging 20 or more minutes per night, with Kevin Vannatta's 33.94 minutes/game leading all BSC players. Dwayne Sutton's 31 minutes/game is the seventh-most in the conference. In Big South play, the Bulldogs have three players logging 30+ minutes per game: Vannatta (35.7), Sutton (31.8) and Ahmad Thomas (30.0).
In the Series: Thursday's meeting will be the 44th meeting all-time between Asheville and Gardner-Webb, with the Bulldogs trailing 17-26 in the series. The Bulldogs won both meetings last season, an 80-55 victory at home and a 92-89 victory on the road. Asheville has won the last four meetings and is 12-2 against GWU dating back to the 2007-2008 season.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
On the Gardner-Webb matchup – “We have to have a short memory and be smart how we prepare.. We have to make sure we recover from an overtime game, while Gardner-Webb's last game was this past Saturday. They've had a week to prepare and we were on the road on Thursday night in an overtime game with a tough loss. We have to be smart about how we prepare and as a group have a short memory because Garner-Webb is a very good team.”
UP NEXT
-Following Saturday's game, Asheville will prepare for another showdown for the top of the Big South Conference when they travel to High Point next Wednesday night. The Bulldogs will return home next Saturday, Jan. 23 against Presbyterian.
