JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time in 422 days, Carson-Newman (11-5, 8-4 South Atlantic Conference) will match wits with Coker (3-11, 3-8 SAC) when the Cobras come to Mossy Creek for a 2 p.m. tip Monday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse.
Carson-Newman will be aiming for a fifth straight win while the Cobras will be looking to snap a six-game road losing streak this season.
Carson-Newman and Coker will be playing one another for the first time since Nov. 20, 2020. The Eagles lost at the DeLoach Center 67-53 for Coker's largest margin of victory in series history, snapping an 11-game Carson-Newman win streak at the same time.
"It's a tight turnaround for sure," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "However, if we are to succeed, we must be comfortable with being uncomfortable. This scenario affords us an opportunity to get better in that regard."
No team has been impacted more by injuries and CoVID issues than arguably Coker. Of the 18 players on the Cobras roster, only Demar Anderson and Williams Oneyodi have played in every contest.
A whopping 12 Cobras have started at least one game. Coker has utilized 10 different iterations of a starting five and has repeated only one starting lineup since December (the quintet of Demar Anderson, Chandler Lindsey, Chris Fordham, Williams Onyeodi and Raymond Bellamy all started back-to-back games Dec. 11-15 against Queens and Limestone).
Coker is 0-6 away from the DeLoach Center. The Cobras have dropped 13 straight away from home, the 11th-longest active road-losing streak in the country. Coker hasn't tasted victory outside of Hartsville since Feb. 26, 2020 and a 77-76 win over Newberry at Eleazer Arena.
The Cobras have shot 50 percent from the field or better in all three of their wins, including 63.2 and 63.8 percent efforts in triumphs over Mars Hill and UVA Wise.
Carson-Newman is number one in the SAC in scoring defense, allowing 67.8 points per game. The Eagles are second in field goal defense at 40.7 percent, behind Lincoln Memorial's 40.4 percent. Only Limestone has shot better than 45 percent from the field against Carson-Newman this season.
Bryant Thomas comes into the contest with 96 career blocks, four away from becoming Carson-Newman's second triple-digit block performer for a career. He is second all-time. Andy Tipton holds the school record (2004-09) with 109 career rejections - Thomas is 13 rejections away.
Thomas is once again among the best in the nation at rejecting shots. He is 17th nationally with 29 blocks and 29th in the country with 2.00 re-directs per game. Thomas is the league leader in both categories.
Carson-Newman has the country's 23rd best shot-blocking team with 61 total rejections. The Eagles lead the league for the category.
Tripp Davis is ninth in the country in total steals with 39 and eighth in steals per game with 2.80. Davis is 14 steals away from cracking the top 15 for steals in a single season (his own mark of 53 from last year). Davis has 130 steals for his career, five more and he moves into a tie for sixth on the all-time list with Braun Dabbs.
Tipoff with the Cobras from Holt Fieldhouse is set for 2 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 1:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
