CHARLOTTE, N.C.--ESPNU has selected the Gardner-Webb at Winthrop men's basketball contest scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 24 as its second Big South Wildcard broadcast of the 2018-19 season, it was announced today by the Big South Conference office.  Game time will be 7:00pm inside the Winthrop Coliseum in Rock Hill, S.C.
 
The game will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams, as well as the first-ever match-up as part of the Wildcard series.  Winthrop (9-5, 1-0 Big South) is the only Big South member with five players scoring in double-figures, led by senior guard Nych Smith's average of 16.0, which is ninth in the Big South.  The Eagles are also the league's top scoring team with 88.7 points to rank seventh nationally.  Gardner-Webb (10-6, 0-1 Big South) defeated two ACC members during the non-conference (Georgia Tech and Wake Forest) and is the only Big South squad with two players averaging at least 15.0 points per game -- senior guard David Efianayi (16.8) and freshman guard/forward Jose Perez (16.5).
 
Winthrop has won the last nine meetings with Gardner-Webb, as the Runnin' Bulldogs last defeated the Eagles during the 2014-15 campaign.  GWU will make its fifth all-time appearance in the Big South's Wildcard series on Jan. 24, while Winthrop will appear for the eighth time overall.
 
This is the sixth year of the Big South's ESPNU Wildcard series, which features four Thursday broadcasts -- Jan. 10 (Winthrop at Campbell), Jan. 24, Feb. 7 and Feb. 21 -- that are selected 21 days in advance.  A total of 19 games have been played in the series that began in 2013-14, and while the home teams are 15-4, the 19 games have been decided by an average of 8.47 points, with 11 of those being decided by two possessions or less.
 
In addition to the four ESPNU Wildcard broadcasts, two additional regular-season Big South games will be televised nationally -- the Thursday, Jan. 17 Gardner-Webb at Radford game on ESPNU at 9:00pm, and the Thursday, Feb. 28 Winthrop at Hampton contest on ESPNews at 7:00pm.
 
The updated Big South Conference weekly report is attached to this emailed release.