University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Winthrop
GAME PREVIEW: Asheville Travels to Winthrop to Begin Second Half of Big South Conference Play
01.30.2026 | Men's Basketball
GAME DETAILS
- Game 23
- UNC Asheville (10-12, 4-4) vs Winthrop (15-8, 7-1)
- Saturday, January 31, 2026
- 12 p.m.
- Rock Hill, S.C. || Winthrop Coliseum
- ESPN+
- Live Stats
TIME CHANGE
Saturday's contest has been moved to a 12 p.m. start due to inclement weather.
ASHEVILLE'S LAST TIME OUT
Four Bulldogs found their way into the double-digit scoring column, with Daniel Thomas leading the way with a double-double to help the UNC Asheville men's basketball team to a 69–50 victory in Kimmel Arena on Thursday.
The Bulldogs never trailed, jumping out to a 41–27 halftime lead behind hot first-half shooting and eight made three-pointers. DJ Patrick and Justin Wright led all scorers with 16 points apiece, while Thomas recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Asheville held Gardner-Webb to 38.5 percent shooting, forced 13 turnovers, and won the rebounding battle, 38–30, to secure the Big South victory.
SOLOMON ON HIS WAY TO ANOTHER MILESTONE
Toyaz Solomon is on track to become just the 20th player in Big South history with 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds, and 100 career blocked shots. He became the 39th player in UNC Asheville history to score 1,000 points on Jan. 14 and is No. 10 in the program with 102 blocks. He enters this week with 482 career rebounds.
WRIGHT ON TARGET
Justin Wright has started and appeared in all 22 games this season, scoring in double figures in 20 contests. He is currently on an 18-game streak of double-digit scoring performances and is averaging 17.9 points per game in conference play.
KT'S CONSISTENCY
Kameron Taylor opened conference play with seven consecutive games of 20-or-more points (21-21-24-27-22-26-27 = 168 points in seven games). He is averaging 22.5 points in league play, ranking third in the Big South.
DJ FROM THREE
DJ Patrick is the final Bulldog averaging double figures with 11.0 points per game in league play. Patrick leads the team with 53 three-pointers — 24 in league play. He leads the Big South in three-point percentage at 41.4 percent and is No. 33 in the country in this category.
MORRELL ON THE CLIMB
Head Coach Mike Morrell is currently 15th all-time in Big South history with 126 overall wins and needs one victory to move into a tie for 14th.
PUTTING IN THE MINUTES
Asheville accounts for four of the conference's top six players in minutes played per game, led by Patrick with 34:24, followed by Taylor with 33:30, Wright in fourth with 31:52, and Solomon with 31:20.
TEAMMATE TWENTY
Asheville leads the league with eight games of two-or-more teammates scoring at least 20 points.
- Nov. 8: Wright (33), Taylor (29)
- Nov. 25: Taylor (23), Solomon (21), Wright (20)
- Dec. 10: Solomon (31), Wright (26)
- Jan. 3: Solomon (34), Wright (22), Taylor (21)
- Jan. 10: Taylor (27), Patrick (24)
- Jan. 14: Wright (26), Taylor (22)
- Jan. 17: Taylor (26), Solomon (20)
- Jan. 21: Taylor (27), Wright (20)
A LOOK AT WINTHROP
Winthrop enters Saturday's game after having Thursday night off and is currently on a seven-game winning streak following an 82–72 victory over Presbyterian last Saturday. In the win, Logan Duncomb scored a career-high 38 points and hauled in a career-best 15 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.
Duncomb leads Winthrop with 18.3 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game and 18 blocks. He leads the league in free throws made and attempted with 124 makes on 179 attempts. He ranks No. 3 in the nation in attempts and No. 14 in free throws made. Duncomb is also the conference leader in offensive rebounds per game at 3.36, ranking No. 28 nationally.
Kareem Rozier leads the league and is No. 10 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.76.
The Eagles are No. 7 in the nation and No. 1 in the Big South in offensive rebounds per game (14.30) and also lead the league in rebound margin (6.6).
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
| 2025-26 Season | Asheville | Winthrop |
| Scoring Offense | 74.4 | 84.9 |
| Scoring Defense | 72.0 | 74.3 |
| Scoring Margin | 2.4 | 10.6 |
| FG Percentage | .460 | .447 |
| FG Pct. Defense | .444 | .427 |
| 3PT Percentage | .366 | .349 |
| FT Percentage | .697 | .727 |
| Rebounds Per Game | 35.4 | 41.3 |
| Assists Per Game | 11.5 | 14.9 |
| Turnovers Per Game | 12.7 | 10.9 |
| Steals Per Game | 5.8 | 7.1 |
| Blocks Per Game | 3.0 | 3.2 |
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 93rd meeting all-time between Asheville and Winthrop. Winthrop won the first matchup this season 69-67. Of Asheville's four conference losses, three have been decided by three points or fewer.
The Bulldogs are 4-6 over their last 10 games against Winthrop and have a 12-29 record in Rock Hill since the beginning of the Division I era.
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