ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball wraps-up a three-game road swing when it travels to Asheville, NC Wednesday evening to take on UNC Asheville at 7 p.m. in Kimmel Arena.
Winthrop is coming off a road loss in the final seconds at Gardner-Webb as it is 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the Big South. The Eagles will face an Asheville team that is 7-7 overall but has yet to lose in league play at 3-0.
For the sixth time this season and the third straight contest, the Eagles were involved in a game that came down to the wire and seven decided in the final minute of play. Gardner-Webb erased a 16-point lead by the Eagles to win in the final seconds on a three-point play by Jerome Hill with 17 seconds remaining. It was the second time this season the Eagles lost a game on a three-point play by its opponent in the final seconds as Savannah State pulled off a 59-58 win on Nov. 20 when it converted a three-point play with one second left in the game. So far this season the Eagles are 2-4 in games decided by five or fewer points with the wins coming on the road at Clemson and Presbyterian College.
Winthrop and Asheville meet for the 69
th time as the Eagles have won two straight in the series and hold a slight advantage in the all-time series at 36-32 overall and 30-28 in regular season Big South contests. Despite winning three of the last four meetings, Winthrop has not won in Asheville since 2011 and is 0-3 against the Bulldogs in Kimmel Arena with the three losses coming by an average of 13.3 points.
This game will feature the Big South's third and fourth ranked offenses as the Bulldogs average 73.9 while the Eagles are averaging 73.7. Asheville is third in the Big South with 8.29 three-pointers per game and Winthrop is fourth at 8.13.
Senior
Keon Moore leads the Eagles offense at 18.1 ppg while shooting 43 percent from the floor and league-leading 44 percent from three. Moore currently leads the league in scoring in conference games only at 21.8. He is one of two players in the Big South that is ranked in the Top 5 of scoring, free throw percentage, steals, three-point field goal percentage and three-point field goals made. Sophomore
Keon Johnson is second on the team in scoring at 10.4 ppg and is coming off 15 points in the loss at Gardner-Webb and ranks third in the Big South in free throw percentage (.860).
Senior
Andre Smith completes Winthrop's triple threat on the perimeter with a 10.3 scoring average and a team-high 4.6 assists per game. Smith has been in double-figures in six of the last seven games.
In the last five games, the team's second leading scorer has been freshman
Xavier Cooks at 11.6 ppg while shooting 66 percent from the floor. The 6-8 guard/forward is also pulling down 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.0 blocks.
Asheville is coming off a 71-54 victory over Liberty at home as this will be the third straight contest at Kimmel Arena for the Bulldogs. After opening league play with a 62-60 victory at Radford, the Bulldogs have won its next two contests by double-figures with a margin of victory of +21.
Big South Conference Player of the Year candidate Andrew Rowsey leads the team in scoring at 19.0 ppg and averages 3.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals. The sophomore guard is shooting 39 percent from the floor, 35 percent from three and 90 percent at the foul line. His average is down considerably in league play but that hasn't played a big role in the results as the team has yes to lose and two games have been blowouts. Rowsey is shooting just 26 percent from the floor and is 2-for-20 from three in three league games for a scoring average of 7.7. However, he is one of seven players on the team averaging 7.7 points per game in league play and one of nine averaging 6.0.
The only other Bulldog averaging double-figures on the year is David Robertson at 12.4 as he is the second best three-point threat on the team with 32 made and shooting 40 percent behind the arc. Robertson is coming off a 20-point performance in the win over Liberty as he was 6-for-12 from the field and 4-for-8 from three.
Not only has Asheville been very balanced offensively to help it to a 3-0 start in league play, but defensively it's been strong by allowing just 56.3 to opponents. Asheville is holding league opponents to 34 percent shooting from the floor, 24 percent from three and averaging 7.0 blocks per game.
On the year Asheville is 5-2 at home and outscoring opponents 76.0 to 56.4 at Kimmel Arena. The two losses were by a combined seven points to Charlotte and Western Carolina. The Bulldogs have won seven straight at Kimmel Arena against league competition and 10 of the last 11.
