JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (7-4) cracks open 2019 by welcoming one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country to Holt Fieldhouse.
The University of Virginia's College at Wise Highland Cavaliers make the trek through the mountains to take on the Eagles Wednesday night in Holt Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.
The Cavs feature the country's top three-point marksman.
Briggs Parris leads the country with 4.8 threes made per game. He also does so efficiently. Parris fires away at a 50 percent clip, the top mark in the Mountain East and the 15th best figure nationally.
The Highland Cavaliers also hoist up threes a pretty prolific pace as a team. UVA-Wise takes 27 threes a game, the fourth highest nationally, and knock down 11.2 a game, 18th nationally. The Cavs have hit double-digit threes five times this year, topping out at 18 in their opener against Livingstone and 17 in their most recent game against Glenville State.
Carson-Newman has given up double-digit threes in five straight games from Nov. 11 – Dec. 8, however, the Eagles have limited Coker and Mars Hill to four and eight threes the last two times out. Opponents are shooting 32.2 percent from beyond the arc on Carson-Newman this season.
UVA-Wise head coach Blake Mellinger should ring a bell to Carson-Newman fans. Mellinger is no stranger to teaching the game of basketball. 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.
Meanwhile, the record book watch is on for the Eagles. Carson-Newman's Grant Teichmann (Brentwood, Tenn.) is staring down 1,000 points for his career. The senior scored 471 points at Freed-Hardeman the first two years of his collegiate career. Teichmann has 520 points at CarsonNewman. He needs nine more points to get to a grand for his career.
Furthermore, Malik Abraham (Snellville, Ga.) needs to knock down four more threes to count 200 made triples in his C-N career. That would make him the sixth guy in program history with that many made threes. It would also tie him with Jesse McMurray (2005-09) for fifth on the all-time C-N list. He needs 25 more threes to start making his way through the South Atlantic Conference record book.
Tipoff between Carson-Newman and UVA-Wise is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 6:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
