RADFORD STARTS CONFERENCE SECOND HALF AT ASHEVILLE

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SETTING THE STAGE

The Radford's men's basketball team returns to the court quickly on Saturday for a 12 p.m. matchup at UNC Asheville in a game broadcast by ASN.
The game begins a challenging start to the second half of the Big South schedule as the Highlanders face each of the top three teams in the league, with two on the road.
Last meeting: Radford notched its fourth straight win over the Bulldogs on Dec. 29, scoring the final seven points of overtime to win 80-77. Caleb Tanner scored a career-high 24 points in the victory.
Series History: Radford now lead the series 35-34. While, the Highlanders have won four in a row, two of the games have gone to OT and another was decided by one point. Radford is 12-19 at Asheville, but was victorious in its last two visits, including a 60-59 decision last year.
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HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Record: 9-12, 4-5
Ed Polite, Jr.'s double-double streak reached five games with his 12-point, 10-rebound outing Thursday night. He remains tied for the lead in the Big South with 10 double-doubles on the season and now has 16 in his career.
In the last two games, Polite, Jr. has averaged 11.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.5 steals and 4.0 assists. Along with being the conference's rebounding leader (10.1), he is now third in steals per game (2.1) and ranks second in league play (2.4).
Nationally, Polite, Jr. ranks tied for 21st in double-doubles, 23rd in rebounds per game, 32nd in steals per game and 48th in offensive rebounds per game.
Justin Cousin scored 18 points against Campbell to post double figures for the fifth time in six games and seventh time in nine conference contests. Cousin's team-high average is now at 11.2 for the season and 14.6 in Big South play, eighth in the conference.
Cousin connected on at least five 3-pointers for the fourth time this year, all against league foes. He now ranks tied for first with 31 3-pointers in conference play and is fifth in percentage at 44.3. Overall for the season the redshirt junior is tied for third with 2.5 made treys per game.
Radford held a slim 30-29 rebounding advantage against Campbell, making it 17 out of 21 games in which they have had the advantage on the glass. Its conference-leading averages are now at 38.9 per game and 13.1 on the offensive end.
Polite, Jr. and Randy Phillips are now tied with 61 offensive rebounds apiece, ranking second and third in the conference, respectively, at 3.1 and 2.9 per game.
Darius Bolstad has made 68 percent (38 of 56) of his field-goal attempts, including 16 of 24 (67 percent), in Big South games. Bolstad tallied 10 points and six rebounds in the earlier win over Asheville.
Thursday's game was the first in which Christian Bradford did not record any assists. He is now tied for fourth in the conference with 3.4 per game and fifth during league play at 3.8.
Radford is 3-1 in conference road games this year and has won six of its last seven dating back to last season.
The Highlanders again look to avoid their first three-game losing streak since the 2014-15 campaign.

SCOUTING UNC ASHEVILLE

Record: 15-7, 7-2
Since the loss to Radford on Dec. 29, UNC Asheville has won seven of eight games, with the lone defeat coming by three points at Winthrop.
The Bulldogs followed up a 16-point win over Campbell with a 73-47 rout at Presbyterian Thursday night. UNCA shot 58 percent in the first half and led 40-21 at the break, with six players scoring at least eight points in the game.
Ahmad Thomas is averaging team-highs of 16.9 points and 6.3 rebounds for the season. In conference play, Thomas si fourth in scoring (18.0) and sixth in rebounding (7.1).
Defensively, he is fifth in the NCAA with 64 total steals and seventh in steals per game (2.9). As a team, Asheville ranks eighth nationally in streals per game (9.4) and 10th in turnovers forced (17.0). In the teams' first meeting, the Bulldogs recorded seven steals and forced 18 turnovers.
Macio Teague is second on the team and second among freshmen in the conference with 15.4 ppg (16.9 in league play).
Kevin Vannatta contributes 8.2 ppg while ranking third in the conference with 3.5 assists.
David Robertson is averaging 12.1 ppg in Big South play while shooting 51 percent (29 of 57) from 3-point range. For the season, he is at 48 percent (39 of 82) behind the arc.

UP NEXT

Radford returns home to face first-place Winthrop on Wednesday at 7 p.m in the Dedmon Center.
The Highlanders handed the Eagles their only conference loss, an 82-80 decision on Dec. 31.

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