PREVIEW: Men's Basketball rolls into Newberry on Wednesday

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Looking to wrap up the calendar year with its third win in a row, the Catawba College men's basketball team drives south to face Newberry for a 7:30 p.m. tip at Eleazer Arena on Wednesday night.

Carson-Newman Sweep

- The Catawba Indians sprinted past preseason South Atlantic Conference favorite Carson-Newman, 91-63, on Saturday to complete the season sweep

- Both games pitted Catawba against a nationally-recognized Eagles squad; Carson-Newman appeared in both the NABC and D2CSC rankings ahead of the Nov. 23 matchup, then was receiving votes in the D2CSC poll before Saturday's meeting

- Kris Robinson set his season high in scoring with 24 points, also matching the senior guard's best day against a SAC opponent

- Nick Walker dropped in 13 points, reaching double figures for the sixth time in seven games, while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out two assists

- Ibra Athie and O'Mazeon Tinsley also cracked double-digit scoring with 14 points as Tinsley logged an impressive 3-for-4 clip from long range

Robinson Raining Threes

- Against Carson-Newman, Robinson poured in six three-pointers to tie his career high for the second time this season and slide into second place on the Catawba all-time list with 227 treys; he trails leader Antonio Houston (266) by 39

- The Lincolnton, N.C. native became Catawba's 57th member of the 1,000-Point Club, currently sitting 54th in all-time scoring at 1,016 points in 96 games (10.6 per game)

- Robinson is averaging an even 3.00 three-pointers per game this season, leading the conference and ranking 36th nationally, while attempting a SAC-high 84 treys

The Stat Sheet

- Catawba is piloted on the scoring front by Walker and Robinson who have 14.0 and 13.7 points, respectively

- Down low, Athie's 6.9 rebounds and Walker's 6.7 have allowed Catawba to dominate the boards as Justin Banks has thwarted opposing offenses with 1.1 blocks per contest

- Montraivis White has been the top distributor with 3.8 assists per game while averaging 9.6 points for himself

- Freshman guard Chase Daniel is averaging two steals per tilt with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio

- As a team, the blue and white are first in the SAC and 10th in Division II at 15.64 offensive rebounds per game and sit 12th nationwide with 12.1 steals per contest

All-Time Series

- The matchup on Wednesday will mark meeting No. 100 in the Catawba-Newberry series that favors the blue and white, 65-34

- The Catawba Indians have claimed wins in each of the last four games, the previous meeting on Feb. 28, 2024 ending in an 85-76 triumph at Goodman Arena

- The Wolves have performed better inside friendly confines, holding Catawba to a smaller margin of 23-19 at Eleazer Arena

- Newberry has been one point away in back-to-back home games, falling 97-96 in overtime on Dec. 10, 2022 before dropping a 69-68 decision on Feb. 7, 2024

Scouting the Wolves

- The Newberry Wolves are coming off three consecutive losses, dipping to 4-6 on the year with a 1-5 SAC ledger

- Despite home court typically giving teams an advantage, the Wolves have gone 0-3 in the young season as Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate, and Lincoln Memorial entered Eleazer Arena and brought home victories

- Like Catawba, Newberry has kept games interesting as the margin of victory in a contest featuring the Wolves is 5.6 points; the highest gap was in the 72-59 loss to UVA Wise, while the lowest came in the 74-73 non-conference defeat at Alaska Anchorage

- James Lovorn (13.5 PPG) and Drake Downs (12.6 PPG) are averaging in double figures for Newberry as Downs and Malakhi Stremlow lead the way in rebounding with 7.1 rebounds per game apiece

Follow Along

The game will be broadcast on FloCollege ($) with SIDEARM Live Stats on NewberryWolves.com.