ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball opens Big South Conference play with back-to-back road games beginning Saturday, Jan. 5 at UNC Asheville inside Kimmel Arena.
 

Game 14: Winthrop (8-5, 0-0 Big South) at UNC Asheville (2-12, 0-0 Big South)
Date	Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, 2 p.m. (EST)
Location	Asheville, NC (Kimmel Arena / 3,200)
Live Stats	Sidearm (click here)
Television/Stream	ESPN+ (click here) Matt Spradley (PxP) – John Williams (Analyst)
Radio	94.3 FM/104.1 The Bridge / ESPN 730 | WGNC AM1450/101.1 FM (click here) / Dave Friedman (PxP) – Mike Pacheco (Analyst) – Pregame 1:30 p.m.
Notes	Winthrop | UNC Asheville
Social Media	@Winthrop_MBB | @WUEagles | #ROCKtheHILL | #WinthropMBB #WinthropEverStand
Tickets	Click Here

 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Winthrop
G         0          Nych Smith (5-10, Sr., 16.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G         3          Michael Anumba (6-5, Fr., 7.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.5 apg)
G         13        Bjorn Broman (6-0, Sr., 10.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.2 apg)
G         21        Kyle Zunic (6-2, So., 10.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.6 apg)
F          25        Josh Ferguson (6-8, Jr., 11.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.4 apg)
 
UNC Asheville
G         3          Tajion Jones (6-5, Fr., 10.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.6 apg)
G         11        Jalen Seegars (6-5, So., 4.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.7 apg)
G         20        DeVon Baker (6-2, Fr., 16.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.8 apg)
F          0          Donovan Gilmore (6-8, Sr., 3.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)
F          22        Coty Jude (6-9, Fr., 10.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.9 apg)
 
 
THE SERIES
Series Record: 41-36
Series Streak: L1
Record at Kimmel Arena: 1-5
Streak at Kimmel Arena: L3
Kelsey vs. UNC Asheville: 8-6
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and Asheville meet for the 78^th time and the first time this season
• This is the first time Winthrop and Asheville have faced each other in the league opener for both teams
• Winthrop is 12-22 all-time in road games against Asheville and 1-5 at Kimmel Arena 

THE GAME

• The Eagles look for a sixth straight conference opening wing
• All-time the Eagles are 16-17 in league openers
• Winthrop opens league play on the road for the third time in the past four seasons
• Eagles lead the Big South in scoring at 89.4 ppg while the Bulldogs are 11^th at 59.1 ppg
• Eagles and Bulldogs make up two of the best free throw shooting teams in the league
• Both teams are coming off losses as the Eagles look to bounce back after falling at Florida State and Asheville has lost two in a row 

WINTHROP       

• Head coach Pat Kelsey is in his seventh season with the Eagles (129-76)
• Eagles are 9-9 all-time when opening league play on the road, but have won the last five times when doing so
• Nych Smith leads the team in scoring at 16.0 ppg, but did miss the game at Florida State
• Adam Pickett scored a team-high 19 points at FSU and is now second on the team in scoring at 12.1 ppg
• There are three other Eagles scoring in double-figures with Josh Ferguson (11.9), Kyle Zunic (10.8) and Bjorn Broman (10.2)
• Scoring 80.7 ppg while shooting 46 percent from the floor and averaging 11.4 threes in seven road games
• Eagles are 3-4 on the road this year, but have not dropped two straight away from home 

UNC ASHEVILLE

• The Bulldogs are led by first-year head coach Mike Morrell
• Led in scoring by freshman DeVon Baker at 16.1 ppg, which ranks second among freshmen in the league
• Bulldogs feature the youngest team in the country with 72 percent of minutes being played by freshmen
• Also averaging in double-figures are freshmen Tajion Jones (10.6) and Coty Jude (10.5)
• Jude is the team's top shooter behind the arc as he's 33-of-67 for 49 percent
• Baker has led the team in scoring six times while Jones and Jude have led three times
• This season the Bulldogs are 2-3 at home
• Bulldogs have tested themselves this season with games at North Carolina State, Northern Kentucky, #8 Auburn, and Vanderbilt as well as a home contest against Furman 

RECORD BOOK WATCH

• Bjorn Broman now has 190 career threes and is all alone in 8^th all-time in program history as he became the 8^th player in program history with 180 made threes
• He is now 10 threes away from becoming the 7^th player in program history to hit 200 threes
• Broman is just outside the Top 10 all-time in career three-point field goal percentage at .367 (LaShawn Coulter is 10^th at .373)
• The Eagles are now through 13 games on the season and are currently averaging 12.7 threes per game, which no other team in program history have averaged 10 or more for a full season
• There have been five seasons in Big South Conference history that a team averaged 10 or more per game, which was accomplished by VMI all five times (Single-season record is 13.69 in 2008-09)
• As a team the Eagles averaged 89.4 ppg in non-conference action, which is the most by any team in program history (second best is 86.2 set by the 2017-18 team) 

WHERE DO THE EAGLES RANK IN THE BIG SOUTH?
Winthrop currently leads the Big South Conference in scoring (89.4 ppg), free throw percentage (.770), defensive rebounds (30.5), assists per game (16.8), three-point field goal percentage (.396) and three-point field goals per game (12.7). Winthrop has led the Big South in scoring, scoring margin and three-point field goals per game the last two seasons. Nych Smith's 16.0 ppg ranks 9^th in the league while Josh Ferguson ranks second in rebounds per game (7.5). Bjorn Broman is 8^th in the Big South in three-point field goals per game (2.3). Smith also ranks 4^th in free throw percentage, 8^th in field goal percentage and 7^th in assists per game.

WINTHROP SPORTS SHOW AT ROCO
Every Thursday at The Roasting Company throughout the basketball season will be the Winthrop Sports Show at ROCO hosted by the voices of the Winthrop Eagles Dave Friedman and Mike Pacheco. The two will sit down weekly with head coaches Pat Kelsey and Lynette Woodard as well as other selected guests throughout the season. The show is from 6-6:30 p.m. and airs live on 94.3 FM & 104.1 The Bridge.

20 YEARS AGO
This season marks the 20^th anniversary of the first ever NCAA Tournament team in Winthrop history. The Eagles posted a 21-8 record on the year and 9-1 mark in league play on their way to the team's 2^nd Big South title and first ever birth to the NCAA Tournament. That year the team was 12 straight contests and defeated Radford in the championship game (86-74) at the Asheville Civic Center. The Eagles were a 16 seed and faced number one seed Auburn in Indianapolis, IN as the Eagles fell 80-41 to the 4^th-ranked Tigers. The Eagles were paced by a balanced offense with four players scoring in double-figures with Heson Groves leading the way with 11.9 ppg while Tyson Waterman averaged 11.5 ppg, Robbie Waldrop scored 11.4 per game and Roger Toxey averaged 11.0. In 1999 the Eagles opened their conference play at home with a 70-56 win over Radford.