 |  |
Men's Basketball Returns To SoCon Play Saturday At Davidson On ESPN3
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's basketball team returns to Southern Conference play Saturday night as the Spartans travel to preseason SoCon favorite and defending league champion Davidson for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Belk Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.com and the Watch ESPN app with Darren Goldwater and Dean Keaner providing the call. Additionally, the game will be on the air on 1320 WCOG AM and online at www.uncgspartans.com with Scott Pryzwansky and Darryl Kosciak calling the game.
UNCG enters Saturday's game with a 1-0 mark in SoCon play after posting an 85-54 victory over The Citadel Dec. 1. The Spartans own a 2-9 record overall though as they have dropped four straight non-conference games since their SoCon opener, including an 89-68 loss to No. 23 NC State last weekend. UNCG leads the SoCon in scoring at 76.5 points per game but is allowing a league-high 81.3 points per game against.
Freshman forward Kayel Locke (Owings Mill, Md./McDonogh) ranks second among all freshmen in the SoCon in scoring at 11.9 points per game, all as a reserve. Locke paced the Spartans' attack against the Wolfpack last weekend as he fell just one point shy of a career-high scoring 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. Senior guard Derrell Armstrong (Mechanicsville, Md./Allegany CC) is second on the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game, which ranks fifth in the league.
Saturday's game marks the 31st meeting all-time between UNCG and Davidson with the Wildcats holding a 21-9 record in the all-time series. The Spartans and Wildcats have gone 2-2 against each other the past two years with Davidson posting a 92-63 win at the Greensboro Coliseum last year. Davidson had five players score in double figures in the win with Nik Cochran leading the way with 22 points and six assists. Simpson was the Spartans' lone double figure scorer in the loss as he tallied 15 points despite shooting just 2-of-13 from the field as he hit 11-of-15 from the free throw line.
UNCG recorded a 2-1 record against the Wildcats in 2010-11 with a 77-69 victory at home and a 71-64 victory in Chattanooga for the SoCon Tournament. Saturday's game also marks the 14th game in the series to be played at Davidson with the Spartans owning just a 2-11 mark all-time at Belk Arena. The Wildcats have won nine straight home games in the series with UNCG last posting a victory at Belk Jan. 28, 2001 (63-61).
Davidson, which posted a 16-2 league mark last year, enters the game with a 2-0 mark in SoCon play this year after posting wins over Chattanooga and Wofford in December. The Wildcats have dropped two out of three non-conference games leading up to Saturday with losses at Drexel and against No. 1 Duke in Charlotte. Davidson leads the league and ranks third in the country in free throw shooting, connecting on 80.2 percent (210-of-262).
Preseason Player of the Year De'Mon Brooks leads Davidson in scoring at 14.6 points per game while also leading the team on the glass at 6.5 rebounds per game. Brooks is shooting 47.3 percent (70-of-148) from the field and 84.0 percent (42-of-50) from the charity stripe. Jake Cohen is second on the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game while notching 5.5 boards per game. Cohen is shooting 83.1 percent (54-of-65) from the charity stripe as Davidson has six players shooting over 70 percent from the foul line.
The Wildcats rank second in the SoCon in three-point shooting, connecting on 38.1 percent (99-of-260) as they average 7.6 three-pointers per game. Nine different players have connected from long range with Chris Czerapowicz and Tyler Kalinoski leading the way with 25 and 23 three-pointers made, respectively.
- UNCG -
