JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (7-10, 4-7 South Atlantic Conference) begins its second foray through the South Atlantic Conference's round robin conference slate with a trip to Wingate (7-10, 3-8 SAC) and a 4 p.m. tip with the Bulldogs in Cuddy Arena Saturday.
Carson-Newman won the first meeting between the teams back on Nov. 30, 92-78.
Carson-Newman is looking to sweep its season series with Wingate for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The series of late has been defined by sweeps. The teams haven't split a season series since 2012-13 when they swapped 62-53 decisions, with the Eagles winning in Cuddy and the Bulldogs prevailing in Holt. Carson-Newman swept the series in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2017-18.
"We crank back up the second portion of SAC play," Benson said. "Both us and Wingate have the ability to unify, come together and play better basketball heading into February. Brian Good is a good coach. They have faced their own blend of unique adversities this year and are trying to figure out how to function despite those. The same could be said of us to the same degree, but I like where we are going and what we've done as of late."
The teams are drastically different from their first matchup. C-N was without the service of Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) and Richard Henderson (Maryland Heights, Mo.) that day, while the Bulldogs had Rashaard Pringle, who produced a double-double in the loss for Wingate, but has been sidelined with an Achilles injury since late December.
"We need to be focused on ourselves," Benson said. "They are playing a different kind of game offensively than when we faced them the first time. We have different players available than when we played the first time. We just have to focus on us and doing the things you can control."
The Eagles are looking to avoid a seventh straight road loss. The Eagles haven't won away from Holt since March 2, 2019 with an 89-78 win at Newberry. It's the Eagles longest road skid since C-N lost nine straight away from Holt from Feb. 5, 2011 to Jan. 25 2012. Carson-Newman broke that streak when it handed third-ranked LMU a 64-61 defeat in Harrogate. The Eagles have just one win in their last 12 road games.
Carson-Newman had scored 80 points or more in all but two of its first 13 games of the season. However, the high-octane Eagles have been limited to no more than 78 points in their last four contests (C-N is 2-2 in that stretch).
The Eagles rank fifth nationally with 43.5 rebounds per game. The Eagles are the top rebounding team in the SAC in terms of average. The Eagles are second in the league in rebounding margin. Wingate is ninth. The Bulldogs are outboarded by 3.2 a game. The Bulldogs haven't won the rebounding battle since Jan. 8 (Anderson).
Wingate has been an absolute mystery wrapped in an enigma this season. The Bulldogs' season has been defined by streaks. They won their first four games, which resulted in them being named an NABC team of the week. The Bulldogs knocked off back-to-back NCAA tournament teams in 28-5 Virginia State and 25-10 Emmanuel. However, after that, Wingate lost seven straight. That's been followed by successive three-game winning and losing streaks.
The Bulldogs have struggled to make shots on their current three-game skid. Wingate has shot below 40 percent from the field in all three games, including a season-low 26.9 percent effort from the field in a 75-53 loss at Tusculum. The Bulldogs are shooting 33.5 percent from the field on the skid and 24.7 percent from three-point range.
Jarren Cottingham is the Bulldogs leading scorer. He's scored in double digits in all but two games for Wingate. UVa-Wise and Coker have been the only two teams to contain him below 10. Cottingham has scored 10+ in three straight. He exploded for 38 points in a 103-93 win over MHU on Jan. 4. He was 13-of-23 from the field and 4-of-9 from three.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Bulldogs is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
