UVA Wise men's basketball returns home Saturday in search of its first conference win this season after starting 0-2 with losses to Wingate and most recently Limestone last Saturday.
UVA WISE NEWS AND NOTES
>> The Cavs are back at home after their first road test of the season was unsuccessful in a 71-63 loss at Limestone last Saturday. UVA Wise struggled to score on offense in the closing stretch against the Saints and paid the price with it's second conference loss of the season. With that the Cavs are now 4-4 (0-2 SAC) on the year, having traded wins and losses in every single game this season.
Despite being winless in conference play, UVA Wise remains one of the best offensive teams in the league through 8 games. The Cavs lead the SAC and rank No. 10 in the nation in Effective FG % at 59.4 percent and still hold a top three offense in the league scoring 84.8 points per game (No. 46 nationally). The Cavs are also second in the conference in overall FG %, making 50.7 percent of their shots this season, good enough for No. 19 in NCAA D2. The red and black are still one of the best three-point shooting teams in the SAC as well, making an average of 10.6 threes per game which ranks second behind Coker and ranking third in three point percentage at 38.5 percent.
In the loss to Limestone, a few players stood out with good performances for UVA Wise. Redshirt sophomore Joe'l Pettiford took advantage of some foul trouble for the Saints, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Carmelo Pacheco had a big night with 14 points to lead the Cavs while adding 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Pacheco has scored in double figures in 4 of the last 5 games for the Cavs. On the season he's shooting 40 percent from downtown and has made the most three-point field goals of any Cavalier with 18 (2.3 per game).
The Cavs are hoping to avoid starting the season 0-3 in conference play for just the second time since joining the SAC in 2019. UVA Wise has only one win against Newberry in 7 games in that stretch. The lone victory came in last year's SAC Tournament behind Bradley Dean's heroic three-point buzzer beater to knock off the Wolves and send UVA Wise to the semi-finals of the tournament where they would upset Lincoln Memorial to advance to the championship.
ABOUT THE NEWBERRY WOLVES
>> Newberry is off to a difficult start with a 1-4 (0-1 SAC) record this season. The Wolves opened the year losing their first three contests before grabbing their first win of the season in an 83-76 battle with Francis Marion. Newberry opened conference play last week, suffering an 89-50 drubbing on the road at the hands of No. 23 Lincoln Memorial.
The Wolves are led by senior guard Jalen Johnson this season as he's leading the team in points and rebounds with an average of 11 points per game and 6.4 boards per game. Johnson is the only double-digit scorer for Newberry, but the Wolves have five other players averaging 8.6+ points per game. This includes Division I transfer from Presbyterian College, James Lovorn, who is scoring 8.8 points per contest and is second on the team with 10 assists through the first 5 games. Lovorn spent two seasons with the Blue Hose, playing in 27 games over that stretch and scoring 33 points in total.
Against No. 23 LMU, Newberry was held to 31.3 percent shooting from the floor and 22.7 percent from downtown. Johnson entered the game averaging 13.8 points but was held scoreless in 28 minutes, getting up only three shots. Sophomore guard Drake Downs paced Newberry in the loss with 9 points.
Newberry has not found much success on the offensive side of the ball this season. The Wolves' average of just 64.6 points per game ranks No. 12 out of the 13 teams in the South Atlantic Conference. Additionally, their 37 percent field goal percentage and 27.7 percent three-point percentage both also rank twelfth in the league.
Newberry's best asset is it's free throw shooting, knocking down 74.7 percent of attempts from the stipe is good enough for second in the conference behind only Carson-Newman. Newberry is coached by Jason Taylor. In his fifth season with the program, Taylor has amassed a 58-48 record since joining Newberry in 2019. He was previously the head coach of fellow SAC opponent Anderson from 2006-2015 before spending 4 seasons on staff at Tennessee Tech as an assistant.
Saturday's showdown is another men's and women's double header as the Cavalier women's team will also take on Newberry prior to the men's game. Both games can be seen live on FloSports beginning at 1:30 p.m.
