JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After pivoting on a dime, Carson-Newman (2-3, 2-3 South Atlantic Conference) will have a little more than 24 hours to get ready for No. 19/10 Queens (6-2, 5-1 SAC) and a 5:30 p.m. tip with the Royals Wednesday at Holt Fieldhouse.
Carson-Newman was originally scheduled to face Catawba Wednesday before the Indians entered the SAC's CoVID management protocols. At the same time, Anderson – Queens original Wednesday foe – did the same. Those two postponements opened the door for the Eagles and Royals to face off three weeks ahead of schedule.
No fans will be permitted inside Holt Fieldhouse for the contest.
"Our staff set out this morning to do an evaluation and scouting report to help ourselves and our players," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "Really our focal point is more on ourselves and our continual evolution as a team rather than our opponent."
The Eagles are looking to snap a three-game home losing streak. The last time Carson-Newman dropped three consecutive at home was between the end of the 2013-14 season and the start of the 2014-15 season when C-N dropped a SAC quarterfinal matchup to Coker 80-72 followed by 69-60 and 84-73 defeats to Coker and Mars Hill to start 2014.
C-N snapped that streak with an 87-65 beatdown of USC Aiken. Carson-Newman hasn't dropped four straight at home in Chuck Benson's tenure as head coach. The last time it happened was the 2009-10 season. The Eagles dropped four straight from Jan. 27 - Feb. 17 (Catawba, Mars Hill, Tusculum and Brevard) before breaking the streak with a 78-75 win over Lincoln Memorial.
Queens' Kelyn Pennie is the SAC's top three-point marksman and one of the nation's best. Pennie has drilled 26 triples - a figure that is tops in the SAC and fifth nationally. Pennie has drilled six threes twice (Wingate and Limestone) and has made multiple triples in every game except for Queens opener against George Mason.
Gavin Rains has blossomed into one of the SAC's premiere rebounders in his sophomore season. Rains' 4.11 offensive rebounds per game lead the league and are 11th nationally.
"They have a speed and quickness advantage at every position," Benson said. "They are relentless and determined to make offense tough. Their greatest attribute might be their offensive rebounding. This is the kind of test we need."
Shot-blocking hasn't been something that Carson-Newman has been known for in the last decade, typically ranking outside the top 100 nationally for the category. However, that's not true this year. The Eagles' 4.0 blocks per game leads the SAC and is 17th nationally.
Meanwhile, Bryant Thomas and his 2.0 blocks per game rank tops in the league and 11th nationally. If the season were to end today, it'd rank as the second best shot-blocking season in program history, while Thomas' 2.0 blocks per game would be second all-time.
Carson-Newman is looking to snap a 15-game losing streak to ranked opposition. LMU registers as C-N's last ranked win. The Eagles downed the Railsplitters, then ranked sixth in the country 111-109, on Nov. 12, 2016. Carson-Newman has four wins all-time against top-10 teams with Chuck Benson as head coach, and seven wins all-time under Benson against ranked opposition, third most in the conference behind Josh Schertz at LMU and Bart Lundy at Queens.
Ren Dyer has scored in double-digits in four of his first five games, the only freshman in the last 20 years to accomplish that. In fact, he is Carson-Newman's highest scoring freshman through five games since 2000 - one of five to average at least eight points per game through their first five contests. The others are Rob Love (2003 – 10.8), Ish Sanders (2010 – 9.6), Andy Tipton (2004 – 8.0) and Zack Pangallo (2015 – 8.0).
"I love what we are seeing from our young guys," Benson said. "The more challenges we throw at them early in their careers, the better it will be for us. They get to see what a top 25 team looks like. We get to measure ourselves against that. I'm excited about the guys we have here from a lot of different standpoints. Allowing them to see what elite teams look like is nothing but beneficial to us as we aspire to be that."
Tipoff between the Eagles and Royals is set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 5:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
