JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (8-5, 7-5 South Atlantic Conference) makes the trek into the mountains of Virginia to take on one of the SAC's surging teams Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
UVA Wise (3-11, 3-11 SAC) started the year 0-10, but has won three of its last four contests. The Cavs have won their last two by double-digits.
"They are having more balanced scoring," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "Whiteside, Paris and Carter are stepping up and having big moments. Anytime a team has three viable scorers, they have a chance offensively speaking to make things happen. They've really capitalized and come away with some wins."
Carson-Newman will have to contend with the league's second-leading scorer in Cameron Whiteside. Whiteside posted back-to-back 30+ point efforts to start his season and has scored on the plus side of 20 eight times. In earning SAC Player of the Week honors in week one, Whiteside posted back-to-back 30-point outings for the third time in his career.
In comparison, the SAC's all-time leading scorer, Carson-Newman's Charles Clark had a pair of back-to-back 30-point efforts, including the greatest back-to-back pair of outings in league history. Clark was named national player of the week after posting two-straight triple-doubles. He had 33 pts, 11 reb and 11 ast against Brevard on Feb. 22, 2017 before following that up with a school and SAC record 54-point, 11-rebound, 12-assist night against Coker on Feb. 25, 2017
Oddly enough, the one game Whiteside didn't score double figures this season was against Catawba, whom the Cavs dismantled 85-73, Feb. 3.
Part of the Highland Cavaliers resurgence comes from the consistent emergence of Briggs Parris as a secondary scoring threat. The junior marksman has scored 20 in three of his last four games.
"He's always had the identity of being an NBA-plus three-point shooter," Benson said. "He's definitely come into his own in his third year. He's playing off the dribble, attacking the mid range and the rim."
UVA-Wise head coach Blake Mellinger should ring a bell to Carson-Newman fans. Mellinger is no stranger to teaching the game of basketball as his father and grandfather were both coaches, making him a third generation coach in the Mellinger family. Blake's grandfather, Arnold, is the only men's basketball player to have his jersey retired at C-N. The elder Mellinger competed for the Eagles from 1954-57 and scored 1,826 career points, ranking seventh all-time in Carson-Newman history.
Carson-Newman is unbeaten all-time against UVa-Wise, winning the first 14 games in the series. Head coach Chuck Benson is 5-0 all-timeagainst the Highland Cavaliers.
Carson-Newman has the league's top scoring defense - averaging 64.8 points allowed per game, a figure that ranks 14th nationally. Carson-Newman boasts the league's best field goal percentage defense - opponents shoot 38.4 percent from the field, a figure that also is eighth nationally. Carson-Newman has held seven of its last nine foes to below 40 percent shooting. Tusculum has been the only team to shoot better than 45 percent from the field on the Eagles.
"Our middle forward spot has done a good job protecting the paint and the rim," Benson said. "Our guards and forwards have done a good job funneling penetration toward our bigs. We're getting some high-level defensive rebounding from Ren Dyer. Those three things have really made it as good as its been."
If one were to take into account that some teams don't have large sample sizes of games, Carson-Newman's defense looks even more impressive. The Eagles trail only Colorado School of Mines in defensive field goal percentage among teams nationally that have played 10 or more games.
Part of the Eagles defensive standing comes from shot blocking. Carson-Newman leads the SAC and ranks eighth nationally with 4.5 blocks per game. If the season were to end today, Carson-Newman would set a new school record for average shots blocked per contest. Bryant Thomas has swatted 25 shots this year to rank second in the country.
The Eagles have won six of their last seven and prevailed in those six wins by double digits. Carson-Newman has averaged 81 points per game in the stretch while limiting its foes to 58.8 points per game. C-N has shot 52.8 percent from the field and 45.2 percent from beyond the arc while holding its opposition to 35.8 percent shooting from the field and 28.4 percent shooting from the three.
Tipoff between Carson-Newman and UVA Wise is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts 15 minutes prior to game time with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
