The Lakers lead the country in field goal percentage defense under first-year head coach Jimmy Link. Clayton State opponents have connected on 30.6 percent of shots this season.
"There was a culture of defense established by the previous staff," Benson said. "Coach Link has done a wonderful job carrying that over to this year with some transfers mixing with their old guys. They've bought into defending in a big time way. They are outstanding defensively, but I hope we are able to test them by being attack minded."
The Lakers are a tenacious rebounding team too, averaging 45.7 collected caroms a contest. CSU is among the top 10 programs nationally in defensive rebounding with 33 defensive boards a game.
This will be the second meeting all-time between the programs. The Lakers took a 62-58 overtime win over the Eagles in Morrow, Ga., last season in what was a war of attrition.
The Eagles limited the Lakers to 4-of-23 shooting in the first half last season, but only took a 22-16 lead into the locker room after committing 10 first half turnovers.
Josh Rogers (Bristol, United Kingdom) led C-N with a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double. Dantez Bennamon led CSU with 17 points while Saiquan Terry came off the bench to hit 5-of-13 three-point attempts to bring CSU back. Of the Lakers' 19 made field goals on the day, 12 were threes.
Terry now leads a deep Clayton State bench. He is the Lakers leading scorer, averaging 17 points per game, most of which come from behind the arc. He ranks sixth in the country in three-point field goal percentage and is 23rd in made threes per game.
"Terry has NBA range and can hurt you off both the catch and the dribble" Benson said. "He's outstanding, but he's one of several individuals who can hurt you. We can't focus just on him defensively speaking because of how deep they are."
The Lakers have 11 players who play at least 11 minutes per game and eight who average at least five points per contest.
Carson Brooks (Knoxville, Tenn.) became the 22nd Eagle to crack the 1,000-point barrier with his 11-point effort at No. 17 Lincoln Memorial.
Sawyer Williams' (Owenton, Ky.) 37 points against LMU are the second highest total of the Chuck Benson-era following Ish Sanders' school-record 51 points against Mars Hill in 2011.
The Eagles have lost two of their last three games when scoring 80 or more points. The Eagles are 36-6 over the last four years when scoring 80 or more. Carson-Newman has also allowed two of its last three opponents to score 90 points (Johnson C. Smith and LMU). They represent the fourth and fifth teams to break 90 on the Eagles in the last four seasons.
The Lakers swamped Lane in Jackson, Tenn., 80-54 to start the season.
Tipoff between C-N and CSU is set for 7 Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network on Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
