University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Photo by: Adrian Etheridge
UNC Asheville Hosts 52nd Edition of Mountain Rivalry at 1 p.m. on Saturday
12.07.2018 | Men's Basketball
THE MATCHUP
Teams: UNC Asheville (1-7, 0-0 Big South)
Western Carolina (2-8, 0-1 SoCon)
Location: Asheville, N.C./Kimmel Arena
Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 8/1 p.m. EST
TV: WMYA-TV, My 40
Video: ESPN+
Talent - Matt Stradley (PBP), John Williams (Analyst)
Radio: 570 WWNC-Asheville
Talent - Brian Hall (PBP), Mike Gore (Analyst)
Live Stats: uncabulldogs.com
Twitter: @UNCAvlMBB #IWWD #ThePursuit
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The 52nd edition of the Mountain Rivalry between UNC Asheville men's basketball and Western Carolina is now scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, Dec. 8, at Kimmel Arena.
The contest will be the first between the two at Kimmel Arena since the Bulldogs picked up a thrilling 59-57 win over the Catamounts on Dec. 17, 2016. The win came in the 50th all-time meeting between the two rivals.
The game will be featured locally on WMYA-TV, My 40 and streamed live on ESPN+. The Mountain Rivalry game will also be carried live on radio on 570 WWNC-Asheville.
BULLDOG BITES
BABY BULLDOGS: KenPom lists UNC Asheville as the least experienced team in the country and through current NCAA research the Bulldogs are the youngest team in the country. In UNC Asheville's first eight games of the 2018-19 season, 72 percent (1,154 of 1,600) of UNC Asheville's total minutes as a team have been played by freshmen. The top four in total minutes for the Bulldogs are all freshmen (DeVon Baker, Tajion Jones, Coty Jude and Cress Worthy).
ONE OF THE YOUNGEST STAFFS IN NATION: Head Coach Mike Morrell is joined on the sideline by assistant coaches Kyle Perry, R.J. Evans and Mike Moynihan along with Director of Basketball Operations Corey Guderyahn. The UNC Asheville men's basketball coaching staff is one of the youngest in the country. In fact, the staff is the fifth-youngest in the country at an average age of 33 years and 274 days.
MORE ABOUT THE BABY BULLDOGS: In addition to 72 percent of UNC Asheville's minutes being played by freshmen, the Bulldogs were in the top-5 youngest in NCAA Division I in every major statistical category entering the 2018-19 season according to NCAA research. The Bulldogs returned just 5.5 percent of their points from last season and 2.9 percent of their starts. In total, the Bulldogs returned only 141 points from the 2017-18 season.
FAMILIAR WITH THE BULLDOGS: Western Carolina head coach Mark Prosser is definitely familiar with UNC Asheville after joining the Catamounts most recently from Winthrop where he was the Associate Head Coach.
HOME SWEET HOME: UNC Asheville is 83-19 overall and 57-12 against Big South foes within the friendly confines of Kimmel Arena inside the Sherrill Center. The Bulldogs have won 24 of their last 27 at Kimmel Arena overall.
STINGY BULLDOG DEFENSE: Auburn had entered the game with UNC Asheville owning the largest scoring margin of victory in the entire country, but the Bulldogs held the Tigers to their lowest point total of the season. Auburn had scored 101 against South Alabama, 88 against Washington, 103 against Mississippi College, 88 against Xavier, 73 against Arizona and 99 against Saint Peter's. Even in their lone loss to Duke, Auburn had scored 72.
BALANCED BULLDOGS: Nine different Bulldogs scored in the game with the No. 8 team in the country in Auburn.
CAREER DAY FOR LAWSON: Luke Lawson's nine points in the game with Auburn were a career-best for the freshman.
PUTTING UP THE POINTS: DeVon Baker with his 20 points against UT Martin has scored 18 or more in a game for the Bulldogs this season four times.
THAT IS A HIGH PERCENTAGE: Coty Jude ended the UT Martin game shooting 70 percent (7-of-10) from the field. That is a team single-game season-best (minimum five attempts).
SEEGARS BLOCK PARTY: Jalen Seegars' career-best three blocks at UT Martin were a team single-game season-best.
STEALING THEIR WAY TO POINTS: UNC Asheville finished with 11 steals in the game with Furman. The Bulldogs turned the 11 steals into 11 points. UNC Asheville as a team now has two games with double-digit steals. UNC Asheville had 12 steals in the win over St. Andrews.
PERFECT FROM THE FREE THROW LINE: UNC Asheville was a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe as a team in the game with Furman. It marked the first time UNC Asheville finished a game perfect from the free throw line since going 7-of-7 in a 73-47 road win over Presbyterian College on Jan. 26, 2017. The game also marked the first time since a game at Georgia on Nov. 14, 2016, that the Bulldogs had five or less free throw attempts in a game.
BAKER NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: UNC Asheville's DeVon Baker was named to the 2018 KEMI Northern Kentucky Basketball Classic All-Tournament Team after the conclusion of the tournament. Baker averaged 16.3 points and 2.0 steals per game in UNC Asheville's three games in the tournament.
STRONG ON THE OFFENSIVE GLASS: UNC Asheville held a 33-26 rebounding lead over Manhattan with the Bulldogs collecting an impressive 17 of their 33 rebounds on the offensive glass. In collecting a career-best nine boards, Jeremy Peck secured five of his nine boards on the offensive glass. Coty Jude collected four of his seven rebounds in the game on the offensive glass.
BULLDOG BLOCK PARTY: UNC Asheville finished the loss to NC State with six blocks as a team. The Bulldogs swatted five shots alone in the first half.
DISHING IT OUT: UNC Asheville finished the win over St. Andrews with 18 assists on 27 made field goals. The Bulldogs also protected the basketball with only nine turnovers as a team.
To see the full game notes, please visit HERE. To see the 2018-19 UNC Asheville media guide, please visit HERE.
SERIES/ABOUT WESTERN CAROLINA
SERIES: UNC Asheville and Western Carolina have met 51 times before with WCU holding a slight 29-22 advantage in the series. The series dates all the way back to 1930. Asheville won the first meeting, 31-28, on Feb. 3, 1930. The Catamounts and Bulldogs have met every season dating back to 1999-00.
ABOUT WESTERN CAROLINA: The Catamounts under first-year head coach Mark Prosser travel to Kimmel Arena with a record of 2-8. They are 0-1 in SoCon play with their loss in league in play in double overtime to Furman, 90-88.
BARKING ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
NEW STRATEGIC PLAN: UNC Asheville athletics officially unveiled its newest strategic plan on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. The strategic plan entitled "Believe. Achieve. Thrive." is the road map for UNC Asheville athletics over the course of the next five years. The strategic plan outlines key areas of focus and growth in developing lifetime leaders from the most valuable resource that UNC Asheville athletics has in its student-athletes. To learn more about the strategic plan, please visit HERE (PDF).
NATIONAL CHAMPS: The nationally second-ranked UNC Asheville men's tennis doubles duo of Oli Nolan and Henry Patten secured a national championship on Sunday, Nov. 11, with a 6-2, 6-1 win over nationally 42nd-ranked Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn of Texas Tech in the championship match of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex. In addition to the national championship win, Patten was also voted by the ITA Officials at the event to receive the Sportsmanship Award for the 2018 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. The championship match win for Nolan and Patten was part of a tremendous fall of 2018 for the pairing. Nolan and Patten went undefeated playing together during the fall and won three titles including the national championship.
MORE THAN MAKING THE GRADE: For the 2017-18 athletic year, the UNC Asheville student-athletes showed their commitment to the classroom by finishing the academic year with a combined grade-point average of 3.142. Impressively, 72 percent (161 of 223) UNC Asheville student-athletes during the 2017-18 athletic year received Athletic Director Honor Roll recognition with a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
TWO-TIME SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: For the second time in his career, UNC Asheville senior Blanton Gillespie was selected as a Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Gillespie was chosen as the 2018 Big South Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the Big South Cross Country Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting and UCS at the Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex on Friday, Oct. 26. The honor is just the latest for Gillespie, who was named the 2018 Big South Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year in May of 2018.
BIG SOUTH WOMAN OF THE YEAR: UNC Asheville graduate Kayli Nichols was selected as the 2017-18 Big South Conference Woman of the Year. With degrees in German and Political Science and a minor in Spanish, Nichols graduated from UNC Asheville with a GPA of 3.974. During her senior campaign, she was named the Big South Outdoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Big South Indoor Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
BIG SOUTH MALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: On the same day that he started his new full-time position in the Corporate Analyst Development Program at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Columbus, Ohio on July 11, 2018, former UNC Asheville men's basketball standout Kevin Vannatta was chosen as the 2017-18 Big South Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In addition to winning the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for the conference, Vannatta was also chosen as the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's basketball and as the Big South Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Upper Arlington, Ohio native was also selected to the 2017-18 Academic All-America® NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). An Accounting major at UNC Asheville, Vannatta graduated with a 3.94 grade-point average.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
In addition to catching live locally on WMYA-TV, My 40, you can watch the ESPN+ broadcast HERE. You can follow via live stats HERE. You can catch the radio broadcast live HERE.
UP NEXT
UNC Asheville and Wofford will play for the second time in as many years on Saturday, Dec. 15, in Spartanburg, S.C. Buoyed by a 26-2 run over a roughly six-minute stretch in the second half last season, UNC Asheville picked up an impressive 85-65 non-conference home win over Wofford on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, at Kimmel Arena.
Teams: UNC Asheville (1-7, 0-0 Big South)
Western Carolina (2-8, 0-1 SoCon)
Location: Asheville, N.C./Kimmel Arena
Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 8/1 p.m. EST
TV: WMYA-TV, My 40
Video: ESPN+
Talent - Matt Stradley (PBP), John Williams (Analyst)
Radio: 570 WWNC-Asheville
Talent - Brian Hall (PBP), Mike Gore (Analyst)
Live Stats: uncabulldogs.com
Twitter: @UNCAvlMBB #IWWD #ThePursuit
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The 52nd edition of the Mountain Rivalry between UNC Asheville men's basketball and Western Carolina is now scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, Dec. 8, at Kimmel Arena.
The contest will be the first between the two at Kimmel Arena since the Bulldogs picked up a thrilling 59-57 win over the Catamounts on Dec. 17, 2016. The win came in the 50th all-time meeting between the two rivals.
The game will be featured locally on WMYA-TV, My 40 and streamed live on ESPN+. The Mountain Rivalry game will also be carried live on radio on 570 WWNC-Asheville.
BULLDOG BITES
BABY BULLDOGS: KenPom lists UNC Asheville as the least experienced team in the country and through current NCAA research the Bulldogs are the youngest team in the country. In UNC Asheville's first eight games of the 2018-19 season, 72 percent (1,154 of 1,600) of UNC Asheville's total minutes as a team have been played by freshmen. The top four in total minutes for the Bulldogs are all freshmen (DeVon Baker, Tajion Jones, Coty Jude and Cress Worthy).
ONE OF THE YOUNGEST STAFFS IN NATION: Head Coach Mike Morrell is joined on the sideline by assistant coaches Kyle Perry, R.J. Evans and Mike Moynihan along with Director of Basketball Operations Corey Guderyahn. The UNC Asheville men's basketball coaching staff is one of the youngest in the country. In fact, the staff is the fifth-youngest in the country at an average age of 33 years and 274 days.
MORE ABOUT THE BABY BULLDOGS: In addition to 72 percent of UNC Asheville's minutes being played by freshmen, the Bulldogs were in the top-5 youngest in NCAA Division I in every major statistical category entering the 2018-19 season according to NCAA research. The Bulldogs returned just 5.5 percent of their points from last season and 2.9 percent of their starts. In total, the Bulldogs returned only 141 points from the 2017-18 season.
FAMILIAR WITH THE BULLDOGS: Western Carolina head coach Mark Prosser is definitely familiar with UNC Asheville after joining the Catamounts most recently from Winthrop where he was the Associate Head Coach.
HOME SWEET HOME: UNC Asheville is 83-19 overall and 57-12 against Big South foes within the friendly confines of Kimmel Arena inside the Sherrill Center. The Bulldogs have won 24 of their last 27 at Kimmel Arena overall.
STINGY BULLDOG DEFENSE: Auburn had entered the game with UNC Asheville owning the largest scoring margin of victory in the entire country, but the Bulldogs held the Tigers to their lowest point total of the season. Auburn had scored 101 against South Alabama, 88 against Washington, 103 against Mississippi College, 88 against Xavier, 73 against Arizona and 99 against Saint Peter's. Even in their lone loss to Duke, Auburn had scored 72.
BALANCED BULLDOGS: Nine different Bulldogs scored in the game with the No. 8 team in the country in Auburn.
CAREER DAY FOR LAWSON: Luke Lawson's nine points in the game with Auburn were a career-best for the freshman.
PUTTING UP THE POINTS: DeVon Baker with his 20 points against UT Martin has scored 18 or more in a game for the Bulldogs this season four times.
THAT IS A HIGH PERCENTAGE: Coty Jude ended the UT Martin game shooting 70 percent (7-of-10) from the field. That is a team single-game season-best (minimum five attempts).
SEEGARS BLOCK PARTY: Jalen Seegars' career-best three blocks at UT Martin were a team single-game season-best.
STEALING THEIR WAY TO POINTS: UNC Asheville finished with 11 steals in the game with Furman. The Bulldogs turned the 11 steals into 11 points. UNC Asheville as a team now has two games with double-digit steals. UNC Asheville had 12 steals in the win over St. Andrews.
PERFECT FROM THE FREE THROW LINE: UNC Asheville was a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe as a team in the game with Furman. It marked the first time UNC Asheville finished a game perfect from the free throw line since going 7-of-7 in a 73-47 road win over Presbyterian College on Jan. 26, 2017. The game also marked the first time since a game at Georgia on Nov. 14, 2016, that the Bulldogs had five or less free throw attempts in a game.
BAKER NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: UNC Asheville's DeVon Baker was named to the 2018 KEMI Northern Kentucky Basketball Classic All-Tournament Team after the conclusion of the tournament. Baker averaged 16.3 points and 2.0 steals per game in UNC Asheville's three games in the tournament.
STRONG ON THE OFFENSIVE GLASS: UNC Asheville held a 33-26 rebounding lead over Manhattan with the Bulldogs collecting an impressive 17 of their 33 rebounds on the offensive glass. In collecting a career-best nine boards, Jeremy Peck secured five of his nine boards on the offensive glass. Coty Jude collected four of his seven rebounds in the game on the offensive glass.
BULLDOG BLOCK PARTY: UNC Asheville finished the loss to NC State with six blocks as a team. The Bulldogs swatted five shots alone in the first half.
DISHING IT OUT: UNC Asheville finished the win over St. Andrews with 18 assists on 27 made field goals. The Bulldogs also protected the basketball with only nine turnovers as a team.
To see the full game notes, please visit HERE. To see the 2018-19 UNC Asheville media guide, please visit HERE.
SERIES/ABOUT WESTERN CAROLINA
SERIES: UNC Asheville and Western Carolina have met 51 times before with WCU holding a slight 29-22 advantage in the series. The series dates all the way back to 1930. Asheville won the first meeting, 31-28, on Feb. 3, 1930. The Catamounts and Bulldogs have met every season dating back to 1999-00.
ABOUT WESTERN CAROLINA: The Catamounts under first-year head coach Mark Prosser travel to Kimmel Arena with a record of 2-8. They are 0-1 in SoCon play with their loss in league in play in double overtime to Furman, 90-88.
BARKING ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
NEW STRATEGIC PLAN: UNC Asheville athletics officially unveiled its newest strategic plan on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. The strategic plan entitled "Believe. Achieve. Thrive." is the road map for UNC Asheville athletics over the course of the next five years. The strategic plan outlines key areas of focus and growth in developing lifetime leaders from the most valuable resource that UNC Asheville athletics has in its student-athletes. To learn more about the strategic plan, please visit HERE (PDF).
NATIONAL CHAMPS: The nationally second-ranked UNC Asheville men's tennis doubles duo of Oli Nolan and Henry Patten secured a national championship on Sunday, Nov. 11, with a 6-2, 6-1 win over nationally 42nd-ranked Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn of Texas Tech in the championship match of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex. In addition to the national championship win, Patten was also voted by the ITA Officials at the event to receive the Sportsmanship Award for the 2018 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. The championship match win for Nolan and Patten was part of a tremendous fall of 2018 for the pairing. Nolan and Patten went undefeated playing together during the fall and won three titles including the national championship.
MORE THAN MAKING THE GRADE: For the 2017-18 athletic year, the UNC Asheville student-athletes showed their commitment to the classroom by finishing the academic year with a combined grade-point average of 3.142. Impressively, 72 percent (161 of 223) UNC Asheville student-athletes during the 2017-18 athletic year received Athletic Director Honor Roll recognition with a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
TWO-TIME SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: For the second time in his career, UNC Asheville senior Blanton Gillespie was selected as a Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Gillespie was chosen as the 2018 Big South Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the Big South Cross Country Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting and UCS at the Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex on Friday, Oct. 26. The honor is just the latest for Gillespie, who was named the 2018 Big South Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year in May of 2018.
BIG SOUTH WOMAN OF THE YEAR: UNC Asheville graduate Kayli Nichols was selected as the 2017-18 Big South Conference Woman of the Year. With degrees in German and Political Science and a minor in Spanish, Nichols graduated from UNC Asheville with a GPA of 3.974. During her senior campaign, she was named the Big South Outdoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Big South Indoor Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
BIG SOUTH MALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: On the same day that he started his new full-time position in the Corporate Analyst Development Program at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Columbus, Ohio on July 11, 2018, former UNC Asheville men's basketball standout Kevin Vannatta was chosen as the 2017-18 Big South Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In addition to winning the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for the conference, Vannatta was also chosen as the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's basketball and as the Big South Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Upper Arlington, Ohio native was also selected to the 2017-18 Academic All-America® NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). An Accounting major at UNC Asheville, Vannatta graduated with a 3.94 grade-point average.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
In addition to catching live locally on WMYA-TV, My 40, you can watch the ESPN+ broadcast HERE. You can follow via live stats HERE. You can catch the radio broadcast live HERE.
UP NEXT
UNC Asheville and Wofford will play for the second time in as many years on Saturday, Dec. 15, in Spartanburg, S.C. Buoyed by a 26-2 run over a roughly six-minute stretch in the second half last season, UNC Asheville picked up an impressive 85-65 non-conference home win over Wofford on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, at Kimmel Arena.
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/ Men's BasketballMonday, March 18
Monday, March 18
Thursday, March 14
Monday, March 04