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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (14-7, 9-6 South Atlantic Conference) tangles with one of the top defensive clubs in the South Atlantic Conference when Anderson (10-7, 6-7 SAC) visits Holt Fieldhouse Saturday at 4 p.m.
AU has the third-best scoring defense in the offensive-happy SAC. The Trojans haven't given up more than 80 points in a game since Dec. 11. Opponents are averaging 74.8 points per game against AU this season.
The Eagles won a wild one, 103-101, over AU back on Nov. 30. C-N got up by 12 with 90 seconds left, only for late turnovers to leave the door open for the Trojans. C-N shot 84 percent after halftime to overcome the ball insecurity in the Abney Center.
Carson-Newman has won three straight against the Trojans, but it has come in the face of torrid second-half shooting from AU. The Trojans have shot better than 57 percent from the field in three consecutive second halves against the Eagles. The marks are 58.1, 58.1 and 57.9 percent over the last three meetings. Even with the hot shooting, C-N has outscored the Trojans in two of those three halves.
C-N has turned it over 54 times, an average of 18 a game in the last three meetings. C-N has been able to overcome the turnovers by shooting no worse than 55 percent from the field over the three-game stretch, and averaging 58.65 percent shooting from the field. C-N has made 37 threes over the last three games with AU at a 52.11 percent clip.
Anderson has been a streaky team this season. The Trojans started the year 5-1 before losing four straight. That gave way to a five-game winning streak, but now AU has lost back-to-back games. This is a second consecutive Saturday foe for C-N that is coming off a mid-week bye.
AJ Wright has turned into one of the top havoc producing point guards in SAC play. The sophomore leads the league and is 11th nationally with 5.9 assists per game. Wright also leads the league and is ninth nationally with 47 steals. Five of those steals came in the first meeting this season against C-N.
John Zhao is the ninth member of Carson-Newman's 200-three club. Nick Brenegan joined the club earlier this season. Brenegan has 245 career threes, 17 away from Malik Abraham and Charles Clark, who are tied for second with 259 career triples. With 215 career threes, Zhao needs six threes to make it into the top five all-time and knock assistant coach Luke Brenegan's and his 212 threes out of it.
Zhao, Brenegan and Jack Browder are see-sawing around the all-time leading scoring list. Zhao has 1,252 career points Brenegan 1,182 and Browder 1,143. Zhao is officially in the top 30 all-time in school history in scoring. He needs two more points to catch Todd Lucas for 28th all-time and three to catch Eddie Carter for 27th. Hugh Clement is in 26th with 1,275 points, 23 away from Zhao. The top 25 is in striking distance for Zhao, he needs 28 points to make it to Andy Tipton and his 1,280. Brenegan is 15 back of Jim Shuler in 31st with 1,197. Finally, Browder has moved past assistant coach Luke Brenegan and is 33rd all-time in scoring. He is chasing down Brenegan and Shuler.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Trojans is slated for 4 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream will be available if C-N's campus-wide Internet outage is resolved by tipoff Saturday. That can be found with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMbb.
