Davis eyes 1,000 career points as C-N carries four-game win streak to Wise
December 6, 2021

Davis eyes 1,000 career points as C-N carries four-game win streak to Wise

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman senior guard Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) will eye the 1,000-point threshold for his career when the Eagles (5-3, 3-2 South Atlantic Conference) head to UVA Wise (0-8, 0-6 SAC) Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip. 

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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman senior guard Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) will eye the 1,000-point threshold for his career when the Eagles (5-3, 3-2 South Atlantic Conference) head to UVA Wise (0-8, 0-6 SAC) Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip. 

Davis scored 254 points in his career at Tennessee State. He has added in 742 points for Carson-Newman. He needs 258 more points to become the Carson-Newman men's basketball program's 39th all-time 1,000-point scorer.

He and the rest of the Eagles will try to keep Carson-Newman unbeaten all-time against the Highland Cavaliers. C-N leads the all-time series 14-0.  Carson-Newman is 6-0 against Wise since resuming the series under Chuck Benson in 2015. 

"I have the utmost confidence that our players know that everyone we play is a threat," head coach Chuck Benson said. "We don't focus on win/loss totals, the history or anything, just on the things we can directly control offensively and defensively.  We go into this game with a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm."

UVA-Wise head coach Blake Mellinger should ring a bell to CarsonNewman fans. Mellinger is no stranger to teaching the game of basketball as 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.

After closing out last year's CoVID season on a strong note by winning three of their last five games, Wise has struggled this season. The Highland Cavaliers are the only 0-8 team in the country. UVA Wise is one of eight teams in the nation without a win. They own the country's sixth-longest active losing streak.

The Cavs struggles have been in part due to ball security. UVA Wise turned it over 17.9 times per game, last in the SAC and 11th worst nationally. UVA Wise has three games with 20+ turnovers, but enters the contest fresh off a season-low 13 giveaways in an 80-71 road loss to Coker.

"We know from our preparation what they prefer to do offensively," Benson said. "We know what we need to do to respond to that. They have three-point shot-making capability. They are elite on the offensive glass and they have a good post-presence from Pettiford."

Opponents are shooting 51 percent from the field against UVA Wise. The Cavs have given up 50 percent or better shooting to five foes. Anderson and Coker both eclipses 60 percent shooting. The Trojans knocked down 66.7 percent of their shots in a 104-95 win while Coker converted on 63.8 percent in an 80-71 triumph. The Cavaliers are 291 out of 297 Division II teams in field goal percentage defense.

The Cavs have been outscored on average by 15.1 points per game. That figure is 288th in the nation. They have been within single digits of Anderson, Coker and Tusculum. The Cavs gave up a 13-point lead to the Pioneers.

Meanwhile the Eagles are looking for better offensive consistency, which is a bit odd to say about a team coming off an 80-57 win over Anderson.

However, the Eagles only made 40 percent of their shots from the field against the Trojans.  At 46 percent from the field for the year, Carson-Newman is shooting its lowest offensive percentage since 2011. 

"The vast majority of our offensive questions have gone back to our inefficiency at shot-making," Benson said. "The wild thing about that is we have been getting good shots. Though we are getting good shots, we're not making shots at the rate we are accustomed to.  I say that with greed in my heart because we still are shooting 47 percent from the field and 43 percent from three. Once it comes full circle and we make them as efficiently as I think we can, I think we're going to like the result."

Bryant Thomas comes into the contest with 83 career blocks, 17 away from becoming Carson-Newman's second triple-digit block performer for a career. He currently sits sixth all-time. One more and he'll pass Colin Martin for fifth all-time.

Thomas is once again among the best in the nation at rejecting shots. He is fourth nationally with 17 blocks and 16th in the country with 2.33 re-directs per game.

Tipoff between the Eagles and Highland Cavaliers is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 7:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.

 

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