The UNC-Asheville Bulldogs and the NC Central Eagles meet in college basketball action from the McDougald-McLendon Arena on Tuesday night.
The UNC-Asheville Bulldogs will look to build on their 73-61 win over Western Carolina last time out. Drew Pember leads the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding with 22.7 PPG and 8 RPG while Taijon Jones has 15 PPG with 5.7 RPG and Jamon Battle has 10.3 PPG with 6.5 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UNC-Asheville this season. Trent Stephney has a team-high 2.5 APG to lead the Bulldogs in the assist department up to this point in the year. As a team, UNC-Asheville is averaging 80 PPG on 47% shooting from the field, 39.4% from behind the arc and 65.6% from the foul line this season.
The NC Central Eagles will try to build on their 58-53 win over Gardner-Webb last time out. Justin Wright leads the Eagles in scoring with 17.2 PPG along with 4.2 RPG while Eric Boone has 11.2 PPG with 5.5 RPG and a team-high 5.2 APG to lead NC Central in assists this season. Brendan Medley-Bacon has 10.3 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for NC Central this season. Kris Monroe has a team-high 5.7 RPG to lead the Eagles on the glass up to this point in the season as well. As a team, NC Central is averaging 75.2 PPG on 46.9% shooting from the field, 38.3% from behind the arc and 66% from the foul line this season.
UNC-Asheville is 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a win and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following an ATS win. NC Central is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 14-6 ATS in their last 20 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall.
I get the case to be made for either side here, but I’m leaning towards UNC-Asheville. I just feel that the Bulldogs are the better team when stacked up side by side against NC Central, and I just don’t see NC Central having an answer for Drew Pember. The Bulldogs have also been getting wins a bit more consistently against better opposition than NC Central is. Give me the Bulldogs.