VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Trey Hubbard Interview
VIDEO: Ren Dyer Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (3-0) scorched the nets to the tune of 60.9 percent shooting and never trailed in a 108-78 blow out of Southern Wesleyan (0-3) Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.
C-N dished out 30 assists for the ninth time in program history where ball movement sparked a second triple-digit offensive performance in the first three games of the season for the Eagles.
"I loved our sharing of the ball on offense. I absolutely loved it," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "I think it was 30 assists on 39 made baskets or something like that. That's outstanding and that shows there's a lot of trust amongst the players. It's just like anything else, when you give, you get."
Three different players turned in five assist nights, led by a career-best six from Jarius Satterfield (Clarksville, Tenn.). Trey Hubbard (Charlotte, N.C.) also reset his collegiate career-high in his first game as an Eagle with five. Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) rounded out the five-assist club with his 13th career five-assist performance.
The quick ball movement ended in wide open shots. C-N connected on 14-of-29 threes, 48.3 percent shooting from deep. After shooting 57.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Eagles improved after halftime, knocking down 64.5 percent of their second-half shots.
However, while the offense clicked, Benson was slightly non-plussed with the Eagles' defensive performance. SWU shot 43.9 percent from the field, the highest percentage the Eagles have yielded this season.
"I didn't like what we did defensively," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "I wanted our defense overall execution to be a little bit more than it was. But it was a high possession game, up and down. It's hard in those kinds of games to get the back-to-back-to-back stops we prefer. There's certain things we looking for, certain things we're goal oriented toward that we were coming up short on, but that's not going to dim that it's a home opening win for the year. I don't want to be 'Debbie Downer' by any means, but I would hope that we could defend better next time out."
Even with the defensive misgivings, the Eagles did a ton of things that typically lead to winning basketball. Carson-Newman outrebounded SWU 45-24, for its first 20+ rebounding margin since outrebounding Erskine by 20 on Nov. 27, 2022.
Strangely for a team that shot 60.9 percent from the field, Carson-Newman dominated the offensive glass. C-N collected 13 offensive rebounds (C-N picked up an offensive board on half of its 25 missed shots), leading to a 20-4 advantage in second-chance points.
John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) and Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) paced Carson-Newman with 23 and 20, respectively. The 20-point nights were the second of the season for both players and the fourth of both their careers.
Both players were staggeringly efficient. Zhao shot better than 80 percent from the field for a second straight game with more than 10 shots attempts. He was 9-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Zhao also reset his career high for boards with seven.
Meanwhile, Brenegan connected on 6-of-11 threes and 7-of-13 shots from the field.
The duo led five Eagles in double digits. Queens transfer Trey Hubbard turned in a quality performance with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He made all six of his free throws and tallied a career-best six boards, five assists and three steals in 19 minutes off the bench.
Tyler Bowens (Greenville, S.C.) was also productive off the bench, adding in 10 points and three boards in 10 minutes.
"You finally got to see Tyler Bowens get minutes tonight and I liked what he did," Benson said. "Trey Hubbard's first action of the year, pretty impressive outing. There were so many guys that did so many good things on the offensive side of the ball. Our offensive rebounds were off the chart, 50-plus percent of our available offensive rebounds we collected. I liked what I saw."
Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) rounded out the Eagles' double-digit scorers with 12 points in 15 foul-plagued minutes.
Carson-Newman built a double-digit first half lead on the strength of 14-2 and 12-1 runs to carry a 56-41 advantage into the halftime lockerroom.
The Eagles put the hammer down in the second half with a seven-minute stretch where they made a shot on 12 consecutive attempts and 14 consecutive possessions. When the dust cleared, Hubbard and Ben Beeker (Hendersonville, N.C.) book-ended the 19-5 burst with layups to turn a comfortable 77-58 advantage into a 34-point lead, 96-62.
Reco Hallmon led SWU with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting off the bench. Che Smith and Griffin Effenberger each had 12. Eric Hackett chipped in 10.
Carson-Newman outscored the Warriors in the paint 48-28. In spite of a 16-14 edge for SWU in turnovers, C-N doubled up the Warriors 17-8 in points off turnovers.
Carson-Newman breaks for Thanksgiving before returning to the floor Nov. 25 against Lander at Finis Horne Arena. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 3:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
