JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Fifth-seeded Carson-Newman (18-10) heads east to open its defense of its South Atlantic Conference tournament crown with a quarterfinal rematch from last season and a date with fourth-seeded Wingate (21-7) Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Cuddy Arena.
Carson-Newman is trying to become the first school to repeat as tournament champions since Wingate won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.
The teams split the regular season meetings, with Carson-Newman prevailing 77-68 in Holt Fieldhouse on Nov. 27 and Wingate Winning in overtime, 82-79 on Jan. 22 in Cuddy Arena on a tip in with less than 10 seconds left.
"Defensively, we must defend the three-point line," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "But it's tough because guys like a Destin Clark, a Rashaard Pringle, a Quantra Taylor can hurt you inside. That's why they've had an outstanding season. They have such good balanced scoring."
It should probably be no shock that the Eagles play Wingate in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs are the Eagles most frequent SAC tournament foe. Wednesday's meeting will be the eighth meeting all-time in the tournament between the two teams. Carson-Newman is 4-3 in the tournament all-time against Wingate, including a 2-3 mark in the quarterfinals.
"We've got to be locked in offensively," Benson said. "We have to do our job by keeping game pressure on by getting the shots they want. It's pretty simple. And I wish I could say this in a cool way. We've just gotta score more points than they score."
Carson-Newman enters the South Atlantic Conference tournament as a five seed for the first time since 2005. The Eagles lost to fourth-seeded Tusculum that year 93-76. The five seed is one of C-N's more productive seeds. The Eagles have been a five-seed three times, winning a title in 1994 and getting to the semifinals in 1998 for an overall winning record of 4-3 at the spot.
Tripp Davis and EJ Bush have eyes on becoming the men's basketball program's 39th and 40th 1,000-point scorers all-time. Davis sits on 991 career points and needs nine to get there. Meanwhile, Bush has 985 in his career at C-N and needs 15 more points.
Chuck Benson has coached seven members of C-N's 1,000-point club (Charles Clark, Ish Sanders, Sawyer Willliams, Antoine Davis, Carson Brooks, Mason Bates and Malik Abraham). Bates and Abraham were the last two Eagles to join it, doing so in February of 2019 in back-to-back games against Coker and Anderson, respectively.
Bryant Thomas is once again among the best in the nation at rejecting shots. He is ninth nationally with 60 blocks and 14th in the country with 2.22 re-directs per game. Thomas is the league leader in both categories. His 58 rejections are the Eagles' single-season record.
Carson-Newman has the country's 28th best shot-blocking team with 111 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. Seven more blocks and Carson-Newman will match a single-season record for the program for most blocks in a single season.
Tripp Davis is sixth in the country in total steals with 68 and 9th in steals per game with 2.62. Davis is in the top five for steals in a single season at Carson-Newman. Davis' 68 steals are third for a single-season alltime at C-N. Mike Morton (1971-72) is second with 79 steals.
Davis has 158 steals for his career. He passed Ishmail Simmons for fourth on the all-time career steal chart at C-N with his five swipes against Coker. It would take an extended tournament run for Davis to catch third place - Ish Sanders and his 183 steals.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Bulldogs is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins 15 minutes prior to tipoff with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on cneagles.com/live.
