UNC Asheville Men's Basketball Hits Road for First Time in League Play

THE MATCHUP
Teams: UNC Asheville (2-13, 0-1 Big South)
Longwood (10-6, 0-1 Big South)
Location: Farmville, Va./Willett Hall
Date/Time: Thursday, Jan. 10/7 p.m.
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: uncabulldogs.com
Twitter: @UNCAvlMBB #IWWD #ThePursuit

FARMVILLE, Va. - UNC Asheville will next hit the road for the first time in league play by traveling to Longwood on Thursday, Jan. 10, for the 12th all-time meeting between the programs.

BULLDOG BITES

FRESHMEN SHINING: UNC Asheville is one of only four programs (Duke, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt) in the nation to have three separate freshman score 20 points or more in a game. DeVon Baker, Coty Jude and Tajion Jones have all scored 20 or more in a single game.

STRONG AT THE CHARITY STRIPE: For the second straight game, UNC Asheville finished its efforts shooting over 90 percent at the free throw line in its league opener against Winthrop. UNC Asheville finished its game at Vanderbilt shooting 90.9 percent (10-of-11) and followed that up by shooting 90.5 percent (19-of-21) from the free throw line as a team against Winthrop. UNC Asheville now has three games this season where they have shot 90 percent over better from the free throw line as a team. The Bulldogs with a team free throw percentage of 75.1 percent are currently in the top-40 in the country in the category.

BAKER'S DOZEN: DeVon Baker has scored in double figures in 12 of UNC Asheville's 15 games this season. With his 23 against Winthrop, Baker has now scored 20 or more in six of the 15 Bulldog games.

BABY BULLDOGS LEARNING ON THE FLY: On the year, 72 percent (2,157 of 3,000) of UNC Asheville's total minutes as a team have been played by freshmen. The top four in minutes for the Bulldogs are all freshmen (DeVon Baker, Tajion Jones, Coty Jude and Cress Worthy).

BAKER NAMED BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK (12/27): UNC Asheville men's basketball freshman guard DeVon Baker was chosen as the Big South Men's Basketball Freshman of the Week. The league office made the official announcement on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018. Baker is the second Bulldog to be named Big South Freshman of the Week this season. Coty Jude was named the league's Freshman of the Week as well on Dec. 10. In UNC Asheville's two games on the week, Baker averaged 26.5 points, 4.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game. Baker shot an impressive 45.9 percent (17-of-37) from the field overall on the week. He hit 50 percent (5-of-10) of his three-point attempts and 93.3 percent (14-of-15) of his free throw attempts. In UNC Asheville's narrow road loss at Stetson on Dec. 18, Baker finished with a career-best 31 points to go along with four assists and two rebounds. In UNC Asheville's win over Milligan on Dec. 21, Baker finished with 22 points, a career-best five assists, two rebounds and one block.

NCAA FEATURES UNC ASHEVILLE: The NCAA featured UNC Asheville men's basketball on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018. The NCAA featured the Bulldogs on Instagram for their efforts as part of their partnership with the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Buncombe County. The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs of Buncombe County had the unique opportunity to shop with the Bulldogs on Thursday, Dec. 13, at the Target at 115 River Hills Rd. Please visit HERE to see the Bulldogs featured by the NCAA on Instagram. If you also have not yet had the chance to catch the special feature by WLOS on the special event, please visit HERE.

SHOPPING WITH THE BULLDOGS: The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs of Buncombe County had the unique opportunity to shop with the Bulldogs on Thursday, Dec. 13, at the Target at 115 River Hills Rd. The event allowed the UNC Asheville men's basketball team and the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Buncombe County to shop for the holidays together at Target. In addition, UNC Asheville women's basketball head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrickand some members of her team joined Mike Morrell and UNC Asheville men's basketball for the special evening. Numerous other coaches and staff and friends of the Bulldogs also took part in helping to make the holidays great for the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Buncombe County. The partnership between the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs of Buncombe County is built around supporting the Boys & Girls Club mission of establishing a safe place to learn, play and grow. As part of the event, 40 individuals from the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Buncombe County received $100 each to shop with the Bulldogs at Target. The special evening also featured a chance to meet Santa and much more for the 40 individuals from the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Buncombe County. Each of the 40 also received special signed posters from the UNC Asheville men's and women's basketball teams. They also received tickets to a future UNC Asheville basketball game. Learn more HERE. To see a special look back at the event, please visit HERE.

SECOND TIME WITH TWO OVER 20: UNC Asheville had two players finish with over 20 points in a single game for the second time this season in the win over Milligan with Tajion Jones posting 30 and DeVon Baker scoring 22. Coty Jude (21) and DeVon Baker (20) both had over 20 in UNC Asheville's game at UT Martin.

COTY JUDE NAMED BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK (12/10): UNC Asheville freshman forward Coty Jude was named the Big South Conference Men's Basketball Freshman of the Week on Monday, Dec. 10. Jude averaged 13.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game during the week for the Bulldogs. He finished the week shooting 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from the field. He was perfect from the charity stripe on the week (6-for-6). Jude had eight points at No. 8 Auburn and in UNC Asheville's game with Western Carolina, Jude finished with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He was 4-of-8 from beyond the arc in the game.

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.

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.

HOME SWEET HOME: UNC Asheville is now 84-22 overall and 57-13 against Big South foes within the friendly confines of Kimmel Arena inside the Sherrill Center.

BULLDOG BLOCK PARTY: UNC Asheville ended the game with Western Carolina with a team single-game best nine blocks as a team. UNC Asheville now has two games this year with six or more blocks as a team in a single game. UNC Asheville had six blocks, including five in the first half, in its game at NC State.

SEEGARS BLOCK PARTY: Jalen Seegars tied his career-best of three blocks originally set in Asheville's game at UT Martin with three blocks in the home game against Western Carolina.

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.

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).

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.

BULLDOGS OPEN FIRST SEASON UNDER MIKE MORRELL WITH WIN: The Mike Morrell era of UNC Asheville men's basketball started off in emphatic fashion with the Bulldogs picking up a dominating 87-47 victory over St. Andrews at Kimmel Arena on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. UNC Asheville basically led from start-to-finish in the win over St. Andrews with the Bulldogs leading by as many as 41 before securing the 40-point win.

FIRST HEAD COACHING VICTORY: After the Bulldog victory over St. Andrews, UNC Asheville Director of Athletics Janet R. Cone presented Mike Morrell a commemorative ball to congratulate him on his inaugural win. The UNC Asheville men's basketball team then congratulated Morrell in the locker room for starting his career off the right way.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY: UNC Asheville men's basketball head coach Mike Morrell announced the addition of AJ McBride on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. A 6-foot-1 guard out of Houston, Texas, McBride joins the Bulldogs out of Manvel High School. He plays his AAU basketball for the Houston Clippers. McBride was a first-team All-District selection last year for Manvel High School. He is just the third from his school to earn a NCAA Division I men's basketball scholarship.

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.

FIRST SEASON-OPENING WIN SINCE 2012: UNC Asheville secured its first season-opening win since 2012 with the win over St. Andrews. UNC Asheville had last opened its regular season with a win in the 2012-13 season when the Bulldogs knocked off Mountain Rival Western Carolina, 71-61. In 2013 the Bulldogs fell to Kentucky in the season opener before falling to Wake Forest in the season opener in 2014. In 2015 the Bulldogs dropped their opener at Tennessee and then in 2016 the Bulldogs fell at VCU. The Bulldogs dropped their season opener at Rhode Island last season.

MORRELL TAKES PART IN FIRST BIG SOUTH MEDIA DAY: First-year men's basketball head coach Mike Morrell took part in his first Big South Basketball Media Day on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at the Renaissance Suites Hotel. Both the UNC Asheville men's and women's basketball teams took part in the annual media gathering in Charlotte, N.C. Donovan Gilmore also took part in Big South Media Days with the Bulldog senior forward participating in a league photo/video shoot on Monday, Oct. 22. On Tuesday, Oct. 23, Morrell spent time talking with the numerous media in attendance in addition to making multiple appearances on a variety of ESPN platforms. One of the youngest teams in the country with only 2.9 percentage of their starts returning and 5.5 percent of their points returning, UNC Asheville was picked eighth in the Big South Men's Basketball Preseason Poll.

WATCH THE BULLDOGS ON BSN ON ESPN+: All of UNC Asheville's home men's and women's basketball games that are not on ESPN3 or picked by an ESPN linear network will be streamed live on ESPN+, which is now the exclusive streaming home of Big South Network live-event productions. A minimum of 900 Big South Network events will air annually on ESPN+, the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer and International division in partnership with ESPN. It offers fans thousands of additional live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year). ESPN+ is an integrated part of the completely redesigned ESPN App. To learn more and to sign up for BSN on ESPN+, please visit uncabulldogs.com and visit the MEDIA tab.

BULLDOGS TO BE FEATURED ON ESPN3: UNC Asheville men's and women's basketball will both make appearances on ESPN3 during the 2018-19 season. UNC Asheville men's basketball will play host to Campbell at Kimmel Arena at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, while women's basketball will play host to Radford on ESPN3 at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

To see the full games notes, please visit HERE. To see the 2018-19 UNC Asheville media guide, please visit HERE.

SERIES/ABOUT LONGWOOD

SERIES: UNC Asheville owns a 10-1 all-time series lead over Longwood.

ABOUT LONGWOOD: The Lancers welcome the Bulldogs owning a perfect 6-0 record on the season at home. Longwood is 10-6 on the year overall. The Lancers started league play with a 71-64 loss at preseason conference favorite Radford. Three are averaging in double figures for Longwood with preseason all-league selection Isaiah Walton leading the way with 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

FOLLOW IT LIVE

You can watch the BSN on ESPN+ broadcast live HERE. You can follow via live stats HERE.

UP NEXT

UNC Asheville will next travel to Hampton, Va. for its first-ever meeting with new league foe Hampton. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 12.

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

UNC Asheville Men's Basketball Hits Road for First Time in League Play

Players Mentioned

DeVon Baker

Donovan Gilmore

Tajion Jones

Coty Jude

Jeremy Peck

Jalen Seegars

Cress Worthy

Related Videos