C-N continues Tar Heel state road swing at Lenoir-Rhyne
January 14, 2022

C-N continues Tar Heel state road swing at Lenoir-Rhyne

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (10-5, 7-4 South Atlantic Conference) treks over to Hickory to continue its stretch of five of six away from home with a 4 p.m. tip Saturday from Shuford Gym against Lenoir-Rhyne (4-11, 3-9 SAC). 

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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (10-5, 7-4 South Atlantic Conference) treks over to Hickory to continue its stretch of five of six away from home with a 4 p.m. tip Saturday from Shuford Gym against Lenoir-Rhyne (4-11, 3-9 SAC). 

Carson-Newman is taking aim at a fourth straight win and a series sweep of Lenoir-Rhyne for the first time since the 2017-18 season.  Carson-Newman downed Lenoir-Rhyne 72-57 back on Dec. 1 for its third straight win in the series. 

Meanwhile, the Bears are looking for back-to-back wins after snapping a nine-game losing streak with a 100-67 win over UVA Wise Wednesday night.  The Bears won back-to-back games against Young Harris and Wingate Nov. 13-17, the only other time they've won two straight this year.  The Bears had played three straight games against ranked foes before playing Wise. 

"They are definitely better than a four-win team," Carson-Newman head men's basetball coach Chuck Benson said. "I really don't even understand how that's happened. They have depth, talent and brought in transfers who can play. We know we have got to do our jobs and stay committed to playing our game in spite of the challenges that L-R has faced. Shuford has always been a challenging places to play."

Carson-Newman is making its first trip to Shuford Gym in three years. Carson-Newman hasn't won in the building since Feb. 3, 2018 when Charles Clark scored eight points in overtime to guide Carson-Newman to an 89-79 OT win. The Eagles have dropped back-to-back games at the Shu since.

Carson-Newman is looking to win four straight games in the series for the third time ever. Carson-Newman has back-to-back double-digit wins over the Bears. C-N has won three straight by 10 or more just one other time in the 72 previous meetings - a 30-point and 11-point win to close the 2000-01 season and a 24-point win to start the series in 2001-02.

Lenoir-Rhyne takes care of the basketball better than anyone in the SAC. The Bears turn it over a league-low 9.7 times per game, 11th fewest nationally. L-R has eight games with single digit turnovers - the Bears had a season-high 14 at Limestone n Nov. 27.

Lenoir-Rhyne is last in the country in offense rebounding and fourth from the bottom in rebounding margin (-9.7 per game). The Bears have been outrebounded by double-digits seven times. They were even on the boards with Wise in their last game.

The Bears are led by the three-headed monster of Jalen Johnson, Kevin Kangu and TJ Nesmith.  Those three all average double digits with Johnson pacing the Bears with a team-high 13.2 points per game.  Since scoring a then season-high 18 against C-N on Dec. 1, Nesmith has averaged 13.8 points per game. 

"We're more about impacting shot type than we are nuking one or two guys," Benson said. "We can try to limit free throws and rim twos  and clean up the defensive boards. We know who their dudes are, we just have to be mindful of them and impacting their shot type than completely shutting them down."

Bryant Thomas comes into the contest with 93 career blocks, seven away from becoming Carson-Newman's second triple-digit block performer for a career. He is second all-time. Andy Tipton holds the school record (2004-09) with 109 career rejections - Thomas is 16 rejections away.

Thomas is once again among the best in the nation at rejecting shots. He is 17th nationally with 26 blocks and 29th in the country with 1.93 re-directs per game. Thomas is the league leader in both categories. He also leads the league in rebounding with 8.4 boards per game. Thomas comes off a game against Catawba where he was without a block for the first time this season.

Carson-Newman has the country's 23rd best shot-blocking team with 58 total rejections. The Eagles lead the league for the category.

Tripp Davis is ninth in the country in total steals with 36 and eighth in steals per game with 2.77. Davis is 17 steals away from cracking the top 15 for steals in a single season (his own mark of 53 from last year).

C-N comes into the game off its best road-shooting performance of the year and a 48.2 percent effort at Catawba. The Eagles had been shooting 42 percent from the field away from Holt. 

"I'm pleased our guys are finding their confidence and we will leave it at that," Benson said, not wanting to violate his New Year's Resolution to not talk about Carson-Newman's shotmaking in the positive or negative. 

Tipoff between the Eagles and Bears is set  for 4 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network  starts at 3:45 p.m. with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. 

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