University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Saturday, January 18
Asheville, NC
2 p.m.
UNC Asheville
vs
Hampton
Photo by: Adrian Etheridge
Bulldogs Set for Showdown with Hampton in Saturday Matinee
01.17.2020 | Men's Basketball
GAME NOTES | vs HAMPTON
ASHEVILLE – UNC Asheville's men's basketball returns to the floor of Kimmel Arena for the second time in three days when it hosts Hampton in a 2 p.m. Big South Conference contest, Saturday, January 18.
Saturday's game will feature a bounce house and Duck Donuts for kids in the Arby's Scholarship Deck, and the Fairview Flyers unicycle team will be performing at halftime.
The Bulldogs (7-8, 1-3) played Thursday night in Kimmel Arena, falling by just two points to High Point, 68-66. Coty Jude led the team and tied his season high with 16 points, including a season-best five made 3-pointers. Lavar Batts, Jr. added 15 points and set career-highs with seven rebounds and six assists.
The Pirates (7-10, 2-2 Big South) are coming off of an offensive showdown with Big South leader Winthrop in which they fell, 116-95, to the Eagles. The Pirates have played one league game on the road so far this season, falling 83-73 at USC Upstate, January 8.
This will be just the second all-time meeting between the two programs. Hampton hosted UNC Asheville last season, January 12, 2019, and came away with an 83-61 victory. DeVon Baker led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Jude and Cress Worthy each chipped in 10. The Bulldogs outscored the Pirates 36-34 in the second half. Saturday will be Hampton's first visit to Kimmel Arena.
Saturday's game will be live streamed on ESPN+ with Matt Stradley and Bulldog legend John Williams on the call HERE, while Brian Hall and Mike Gore will have the radio call on ESPN Asheville 92.9 FM, 880 AM or 1400 AM, and can also be found streaming HERE. Live stats will also be available HERE.
NOTABLY
BY THE NUMBERS
ASHEVILLE – UNC Asheville's men's basketball returns to the floor of Kimmel Arena for the second time in three days when it hosts Hampton in a 2 p.m. Big South Conference contest, Saturday, January 18.
Saturday's game will feature a bounce house and Duck Donuts for kids in the Arby's Scholarship Deck, and the Fairview Flyers unicycle team will be performing at halftime.
The Bulldogs (7-8, 1-3) played Thursday night in Kimmel Arena, falling by just two points to High Point, 68-66. Coty Jude led the team and tied his season high with 16 points, including a season-best five made 3-pointers. Lavar Batts, Jr. added 15 points and set career-highs with seven rebounds and six assists.
The Pirates (7-10, 2-2 Big South) are coming off of an offensive showdown with Big South leader Winthrop in which they fell, 116-95, to the Eagles. The Pirates have played one league game on the road so far this season, falling 83-73 at USC Upstate, January 8.
This will be just the second all-time meeting between the two programs. Hampton hosted UNC Asheville last season, January 12, 2019, and came away with an 83-61 victory. DeVon Baker led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Jude and Cress Worthy each chipped in 10. The Bulldogs outscored the Pirates 36-34 in the second half. Saturday will be Hampton's first visit to Kimmel Arena.
Saturday's game will be live streamed on ESPN+ with Matt Stradley and Bulldog legend John Williams on the call HERE, while Brian Hall and Mike Gore will have the radio call on ESPN Asheville 92.9 FM, 880 AM or 1400 AM, and can also be found streaming HERE. Live stats will also be available HERE.
NOTABLY
- The Bulldogs have not turned the ball over more than their opponent in any game so far this season and lead the country in turnover margin at plus-8.0 per game. They rank 11th in the country in fewest total turnovers.
- The Bulldogs force their opponents into 19.8 turnovers per game, which ranks fourth in the country. They also average 9.7 steals per game, ranking 10th in the nation. Lavar Batts, Jr. leads the Big South and is 48th in the NCAA, averaging 2.0 steals per game, while DeVon Baker (1.9 spg), LJ Thorpe (1.7 spg) and Trent Stephney (1.7 spg) all rank in the top 150 nationally in steals.
- Four Bulldogs rank inside the Top 20 in scoring in the Big South Conference (Tajion Jones – 4th, 16.1; DeVon Baker – 5th, 15.7; Lavar Batts, Jr. – 10th, 13.4; LJ Thorpe – 20th, 11.6). Only league-leader Winthrop has three scorers in the Top 20. No one else has more than two.
- Against St. Andrews, the Bulldogs drained a program-record 19 3-pointers. The Dogs are second in Big South and 45th nationally with 9.2 makes per game from beyond the arc. They also rank second in the conference and in the top 100 nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at 35.2. Tajion Jones and Coty Jude lead the Big South and rank in the Top 125 nationally in 3-point field goals made with 2.4 per game.
- According to KenPom, the Bulldogs rank seventh in the country in turnover percentage defense, forcing opponents into turnovers on more than a quarter of their possessions, with 25.8 percent of opponents' possessions ending in a turnover.
- Since being held scoreless in the season opener against Tennessee, Tajion Jones has not scored fewer than 12 points in any game and leads the Bulldogs with 14 double-digit scoring efforts on the year.
- The Bulldogs are averaging 78.1 points per game, ranking 38th in the country and second in the Big South. The Bulldogs finished the 2018-19 campaign ranked 349th nationally in scoring, averaging 59.9 points per game. The team is averaging 18.2 more points per game than it did last season. The Bulldogs are second in the league in field goal percentage, hitting 45.7 percent from the floor.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 1 – The Bulldogs have used just one starting lineup all season, and all five starters average double-digits in scoring: (Jones - 16.1; Baker - 15.7; Batts - 13.4; Thorpe - 11.6; Jude - 10.4).
- 2 – All four of the Bulldogs' Big South games this season have been decided by exactly two points.
- 5 – Lavar Batts, Jr. recorded five steals against Charleston Southern, marking the second time this season he's recorded five steals and the first since the season opener. He's the only Bulldog with multiple five-steal games in his career.
- 8 – The Bulldogs have forced eight of their last 12 opponents into 20-or-more turnovers. The 25 turnovers they forced against Campbell were the most against a Division I opponent this season.
- 9 – Despite returning 83.6 percent of its minutes from a season ago, UNC Asheville still possesses one of the 10 youngest rosters in the country, ranking as the 9th-youngest team, according to KenPom.
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