Storylines – vs Wingate University
Wingate visits Wise Saturday afternoon with an 11-14 overall mark, 7-12 in the South Atlantic Conference, as the Bulldogs fight for the final spot in the conference tournament while currently sitting at ninth in league standings. Head coach Brian Good's team is coming off of a 97-90 win over Newberry this past Wednesday, snapping a four-game losing streak for the Bulldogs. The team's 79.8 points per game place them seventh in the conference while trailing the league in field goal percentage at 41.8 percent shooting from the floor. Wingate is averaging 39.5 rebounds per game and 6.9 steals (sixth in the SAC) and is recording the fewest turnovers per game in the conference with 12.6 per contest. Sophomore Jarren Cottingham leads his team with 18.6 points per game (eighth in the SAC), followed by fellow sophomore Francis Sio (10.8 ppg) and junior Miguel Priest (10.0 ppg) who are also averaging double-figures. Priest is also boasting a team-best 5.5 boards per game while senior Frankie Johnson leads the Bulldogs with 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Coach Good's team will close out the regular season next week at Queens Wednesday before returning home to face Tusculum next Saturday.Â
About UVA Wise
Head coach Blake Mellinger's team dropped an 80-68 decision Wednesday night on the road at Lenoir-Rhyne. Sophomore
Cameron Whiteside put on another standout performance as he registered a game-high 26 points and 13 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 guard shot 8-for-13 from the field, 4-for-6 from three, and went a perfect 6-for-6 at the charity stripe in the loss. Senior
Eric Okenchi scored in double-digits for the ninth time this season as he posted 15 points against the Bears on 5-of-9 shooting and went 5-for-6 from the foul line. Through the last three contests, Whiteside has averaged 29 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 58.3 percent from the field, 57.7 percent from behind the arc, and 80 percent from the free throw line including a pair of perfect games at the charity stripe. As a team, UVA Wise is averaging 76.6 points per game and shooting 43.3 percent from the floor. The Cavs are posting 35.9 rebounds per contest and 14.9 assists while turning the ball over 14 times on average. Whiteside has emerged as the standalone league leader in scoring with his 20.8 points per game while shooting 50.7 percent from the floor. Redshirt sophomore
Briggs Parris (13.2 ppg) and senior
Chance Sheffey (10.2 ppg) are also registering double-figures. The team is led in assists by Sheffey's 4.8 per game (third in the SAC) while Whiteside sits atop the rebounding category averaging 7.3 per game (sixth in the SAC). UVA Wise will finish the regular season next week at home Wednesday against Carson-Newman before facing Coker on the road Saturday.
