PREVIEW: Men’s Basketball preps for second clash with Carson-Newman

SALISBURY, N.C. – After taking down 24th-ranked Carson-Newman on Nov. 23, the Catawba College men's basketball team battles the Eagles once more on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Goodman Arena.

Tennessee Takedown

- On Wednesday night, the Catawba Indians went into Tusculum and brought home a 76-68 triumph to boost their overall ledger to 6-4 and the conference record to 4-3

- Nick Walker headlined the affair with 19 points, five rebounds, and four steals

- Kris Robinson collected 11 points while burying a trio of three-pointers, moving two treys away from tying the second-place mark in Catawba all-time standings

- Solomon Tucker had a perfect 5-for-5 day at the office for the second contest in a row, also finishing with 11 points

Former Teammates Square Off

- Catawba's Tucker and Carson-Newman's Trey Hubbard will go head-to-head for the first time since the pair played together at Northside Christian Academy in Charlotte

- In three seasons as teammates (2017-20), the Knights went 64-33 with five NCISAA playoff victories

- Los Angeles Lakers point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino also played for NCA in the 2018-19 season before transferring to Combine Academy, becoming a co-captain of the Goats alongside Kris Robinson

All-Time Series

- The Catawba Indians have a 44-31 lead in the all-time series with Carson-Newman, winning the last three matchups including two on home court

- As longtime South Atlantic Conference opponents, the meeting history dates back to Nov. 27, 1989 when C-N clipped Catawba, 61-60

- In 33 contests at Goodman Arena, the record favors Catawba by a 23-10 margin

- Catawba is 7-3 against the Eagles in the last 10 tilts held in Salisbury

Scouting the Eagles

- Carson-Newman ventures into Salisbury with a 9-3 record, going 5-2 in SAC action including losses to Catawba and UVA Wise

- In national rankings, the Eagles reached as high as No. 19 in the D2CSC media poll and got to No. 24 in the NABC coaches' poll before losses bumped C-N down; the Eagles are still receiving votes from media representatives

- The second-most efficient offense in Division II, shooting 53.1 percent overall and 42.6 percent from long range, is piloted by junior guard Jack Browder

- Browder, the nation's top scorer with 258 points, nabbed the SAC, Tennessee Sportswriters Association, and NABC Player of the Week honors after averaging 33 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks last week

- Including Browder, each member of the Eagles' everyday starting five averages double-digit points per game

Follow Along

The game will be streamed live on FloCollege ($) with real-time stats on CatawbaAthletics.com.