Eagles Look to Soar against Bulldogs

DURHAM, NC – The North Carolina Central Eagles (3-3) look to entertain their students and fans after their Thanksgiving break to seek their fourth consecutive victory. This time it will be against the Bulldogs of UNC-Asheville, who are in the Big South Conference and 4-2 overall in the season. The game will be on Tuesday Night at the McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium on the campus of North Carolina Central University.

The Eagles come to the game with a 75.5 PPG average, as Junior Justin Wright (17.2 PPG) and Senior Eric Boone (11.2 PPG) lead the way. NCCU also has a stout defense, where they lead the MEAC with 67.3 PPG allowed, while hindering their opponents shooting percentage to 42.4%.

On the other hand, UNC-Asheville is led by Senior Forward Drew Pember, who averages 22.7 PPG and 8 RPG. Pember led the Bulldogs with 28 points, in a 73-61 victory over the Western Carolina Catamouts. In their first game of the season against Central Florida in Orlando, he dropped 40 points, where the Bulldogs won 98-95 in double overtime. Another person for UNC-Asheville to look out for, is Graduate Student Guard Tajion Jones, who averages 15.0 PPG. Jones averaged 12 points in the Western Carolina game, where he went 8-for-19 shooting and .421 field goal percentage.

I expect the North Carolina Central University Eagles to win 62-57. I believe it will be a tight and contested game that will go down to the wire. I believe since the students will be refreshed from Thanksgiving break and having some down time before they start their final exams, to inspire the Eagles basketball team to play at a high level.

This will be the second meeting between these two teams. They both met last year at Asheville, NC, where UNC-A won a 82-66 contest against the Eagles.