After a loss to No. 16 North Georgia, 78-68, on Saturday, the Cavs are back in action Tuesday night to face Southern Wesleyan before the holiday. Tuesday's contest will be UVA Wise's fifth consecutive home game to start the year and the Cavs will play two more games at home before their first road trip of the season when they travel to Limestone to square off agains the Saints on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 4 p.m.
ABOUT THE SOUTHERN WESLEYAN WARRIORS
>> Southern Wesleyan enters Tuesday's non-conference matchup against the Cavs 0-3 on the season most recently losing 108-78 at the hand of another SAC member in Carson-Newman. Prior to the 30-point loss on Saturday, the Warriors were very close in their first two contests, losing by a combined 8 points between the two games. The first was a 107-102 loss to SAC member Coker, while the other saw SWU lose 93-90 to Flagler College.
Brian Hewitt is the head coach of the Warriors this season. He earned the full-time head coach title after being the interim head coach for the 2022-23 season. Last season, Hewitt and the Warriors went 5-23 on the season, but all 5 wins came within the conference as SWU went 5-15 in the Conference of Carolinas. This year, Southern Wesleyan was picked 13th out of the now 14 teams in the conference. Young Harris, a former Peach Belt Conference competitor, has joined the Conference Carolinas this season.
Hewitt's squad returns 4 of its top 6 scorers from last season. The main man for the Warriors is senior forward Jamal Edmonson who led SWU in scoring last year at 14.3 PPG on 58.5% FG while adding 5.5 RPG. This year, Edmonson is averaging SWU also has its best rebounder back for another season senior forward Dyren Brown is coming of a junior season in which he grabbed 8.7 RPG, totaling a whopping 113 rebounds in just 13 games played transferring mid way through the year from Mt. San Antonio Community College in Walnut, Calif.
Southern Wesleyan also added a trio of impactful transfers this season in junior guard Che Smith from Henderson State, junior forward Reco Hallmon of Tuskegee University and junior forward Aaron Tims from Spoon River Community College. At D2 Tuskegee, over three years, Hallmon played in 62 games averaging 5.8 PPG, 3.6 RPG and shooting 41.9% from the floor. Tims was good at the junior college level for Spoon River located in Canton, Ill., averaging 8.0 PPG last season with 5.1 RPG while adding 50.9% FG shooting in 26 games. Through the early stages of this season, Tims and Hallmon are leading the Warriors in scoring at 14.3 PPG and 12.7 PPG respectively. Each already hold a 21-point outing as Tims' came to open the year against Coker and Hallmon's was in the last game against Carson-Newman.
UVA WISE NEWS AND NOTES
>> The Cavs had a difficult shooting day in their most recent loss to No. 16 North Georgia, 78-68. The Nighthakws' defense stifled UVA Wise to just 39% FG, 28.1% 3FG and forced 14 Cavalier turnovers. Prior to Saturday's contest, UVA Wise was one of the best teams in the country in a run-and-gun style of play. Forcing turnovers, scoring in transition and knocking down threes led to an average of 98 PPG which ranked 12th in the nation. The Cavs used quality 3-point shooting and production from the bench to reach that mark, but struggled to find the same mojo against North Georgia. In the loss, UVA Wise only garnered 9 points off turnovers, 6 fast break points, 16 bench points and shot just 9-for-32 from downtown.
Despite the loss, sophomore guard Zion Fruster had another tremendous game against the Nighthawks. He finished with 18 points, 4 rebounds and a career-high 5 assists. Fruster also added 1 block and 3 steals while committing 0 turnovers playing 29 minutes, the most in a game in his career. The Douglassville, Ga. native is playing the best basketball of his career early in the season. He's scored 17+ points in all four games, leading the Cavs with an averaged of 18.5 PPG. He's also second on the team in rebounding (4.0 RPG), first in 3FG% (50.0%), first in steals (9) and doing all with just 4 total turnovers. His 9 steals place him in the top 60 of all NCAA D2 players and his A:TO Ratio of 3.0 is currently third-best in the SAC and in the top 65 nationally.
Speaking of assists, as a team, UVA Wise is distributing the ball at an exceptional rate. With 18.8 assists per game, the Cavs are 23rd in the country. Many of the scorers from said assists are players off the bench, as UVA Wise ranks 10th nationally with 43.8 bench points per game. The Cavs are also 20th in the country with an average of 10.8 3PM per game. On defense, UVA Wise is top 25 in two key categories: steals per game (10.5, 23rd) and turnovers forced per game (19.3, 18th).
