VIDEO: February 2024 C-N @ UVA Wise Highlights
VIDEO: February 2024 C-N @ UVA Wise Full Broadcast
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (8-2, 4-1 South Atlantic Conference) closes out a stretch of three consecutive games away from Holt Fieldhouse with a jaunt into the mountains of Southwest Virginia and a matchup against UVA Wise (3-4, 1-3 SAC) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Prior Convocation Center.
Carson-Newman leads the all-time series with UVA Wise 19-1, but 2022-23 SAC Player of the Year Bradley Dean was the catalyst for a close game and UVA Wise's only win in the series. Dean returned to Wise this year after transferring to Miami (OH) for the 2023-24 season. He torched C-N for 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting in Wise's 78-65 win in the Prior Center in his sophomore campaign.
UVA Wise owns a signature win over then No. 9 North Georgia on Nov. 16. The Cavaliers never trailed in a game that they led by as many as 22 points mid-way through the second half before tallying a 76-67 win. That game is the Nighthawks lone blemish of the season.
Cavalier freshman center Evan Ramsey leads the SAC with 2.14 blocks per game. A freshman of the year candidate for the league, he has scored 15 points in four of the Cavs' seven games this season. Ramsey, a true seven-footer, has produced multiple blocks in five games for UVA Wise.
Senior shooting guard Nick Brenegan has been on a tear from beyond the arc. The eighth member of Carson-Newman's 200-three club, Brenegan is ninth in the country and first in the SAC with 29 threes made this season. Brenegan has buried a triple in 23 consecutive games, two off a career-long streak. He has made a minimum of three threes in six of his last seven games.
The Eagles have been hyper efficient to begin the year, averaging 54.1 percent shooting, a figure that is fourth nationally. Carson-Newman is second in effective field goal percentage at .635. C-N has shot better than 50 percent from the field in its last nine games - the longest such streak under head coach Chuck Benson. C-N's second-longest streak came in 2017-18 when it made 50 percent or better of its shots in seven straight games to start the season.
Jack Browder is second in the South Atlantic Conference in scoring and the league's leader in rebounding. He ranks sixth in the nation in rebounding. Browder and Wingate's Kendall Taylor, who leads the league in scoring, are the only two players in the conference who are top 10 in both lists (Limestone's Greg McKay narrowly misses the cut, sitting just outside the top 10 in ppg).
Carson-Newman has four of the top seven scorers in the South Atlantic Conference. Jack Browder, Trey Hubbard, Nick Brenegan and John Zhao all are averaging north of 17 points per game. They are the highest scoring quartet in all of Division II.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Cavs is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
