VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (16-9, 13-8 South Atlantic Conference) will look to send off EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.), Dima Bykov (Moscow, Russia) and Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) in style in their penultimate regular season home game against Limestone (9-14, 7-13 SAC) Saturday at 4 p.m. in Holt Fieldhouse.
The Eagles will pay homage to the trio with a senior day ceremony preceding the contest.
Collectively, this senior class has been to two NCAA tournaments and won a South Atlantic Conference tournament title.
Bykov has appeared in 81 career games for Carson-Newman with 18 career starts. He's scored 303 points across his career while making 55.8 percent of his shots. He scored 15 points in an upset win over Lincoln Memorial in 2019. Bykov has been a part of two NCAA tournament teams and a SAC tournament title team.
"Dima had early in his career had injury stuff hit," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "He stayed the course and has been a part of success on the court and gotten multiple degrees. I couldn't be happier with how it's gone for him. I'm eager to see how things go for him once he leaves here."
Bush has started in all 75 games that he has suited up for in his Carson-Newman career. He has 1,827 points in his college basketball career, including 932 here at Carson-Newman. Bush has the fifth most offensive boards for a player all-time at C-N as well as the ninth highest defensive rebounding average in program history. He's produced eight double-doubles in his time at Carson-Newman.
Davis is one of the most noteworthy thieves in Carson-Newman basketball history. He has two of the three best single-season steals per game averages in program history and first all-time in career steals per game average. Davis has appeared in 70 games in the orange and blue with 64 starts. He has 1,204 points in his collegiate basketball career including 950 at Carson-Newman. He produced one of the six, 40-point games in school history last year when he dropped 44 on Benedict.
"Tripp and EJ have been here half as long as Dima," Benson said. "They were just on the three-year plan. I've enjoyed both of them immensely. They are both great people, have great families and leave here with multiple degrees. They have both been part of winning and part of a championship. They are model citizens and representatives of our institution and program. You lose a lot by losing these three guys."
Carson-Newman is looking to salvage a split with the Saints. Limestone won 73-71 in the meeting in the Timken Center on Dec. 18 to close the fall semester.
The Eagles were without three starters for much of the second half with injuries to Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) and Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.), as well as Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) fouling out.
Limestone knocked down 63.6 percent of its shots after halftime and 6-of-11 threes to rally from an early first half deficit.
Bryant Thomas is once again among the best in the nation at rejecting shots. He is 11th nationally with 54 blocks and 12th in the country with 2.25 re-directs per game. Thomas is the league leader in both categories.
Carson-Newman has the country's 21st best shot-blocking team with 103 total rejections. The Eagles lead the league for the category. Carson-Newman's 10-rejection day against Newberry is one of 32 double-digit rejection days in Division II this year.
Tripp Davis is seventh in the country in total steals with 58 and 1th in steals per game with 2.52. Davis is in the top five for steals in a single season at Carson-Newman. He needs four more steals to catch Kyle Gribble for fourth in a single season. That would also match him for the NCAA era mark.
Davis has 148 steals for his career, He moved past Braun Dabbs with a six-steal day against Wingate. One more steal will give him sole possession of fifth and move him past Andrew Johnson. Ishmail Simmons sits eight steals away from Davis in fourth on the career record chart.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Saints is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
