Jeremy Atkinson scored 24 points to lead all scorers for UNC-Asheville, and Will Weeks scored 13. Both of those Bulldogs came off the bench, and they were the two leading scorers.
DJ Cunningham was the leading starter for the Bulldogs. He scored twelve points and collected nine rebounds.
Western Carolina showed some good hustle, collecting seventeen offensive rebounds, but they were outrebounded by ten overall. Tawaski King showed exactly what was expected. He collected ten rebounds and scored thirteen.
It was obvious that the Catamounts missed Harouna Mutombo. Western Carolina lead at halftime, but went through a stretch in the second half when nothing was going right. They weren't getting any offensive rebounds, they weren't coming up with many stops, and they were being called for a lot of fouls. That was a situation where they would have turned to Mutombo last year. This year, there was nowhere to turn. Trey Sumler needs to be that guy, but he scored just eleven points, making 1 of 6 from downtown and just two of five from the free throw line.
In fact, you could make the case that the Catamounts lost this game at the free throw line. They shot just 12 of 23 from the stripe, while the Bulldogs made 23 of 32. Western also only shot 32% from the floor, while UNCA shot 46%. The Catamounts had a 37% eFG. UNCA shot 46% eFG. That was another big difference.
Western did not get a lot of calls in this game. They did not shoot well from the floor, or from the free throw line. They also got outrebounded, which is not too surprising considering how many shots they missed. They are a smaller team than a lot of teams in the SoCon, and will need King to continue to play at this level to be a serious player in the SoCon North. They will need to rebound better. They will need to shoot better. If Sumler wants to make a run at first team All SoCon, he needs to be better.
This game does not spell doom for the Catamounts, though it is bad for the SoCon. After all, combine this with UNCG's loss to High Point, and the SoCon went 0-2 against the Big South tonight. Not good for the conference. What it does do is highlight the importance of senior leadership, and how the Catamounts are still searching for that. They also have a slightly smaller margin for error than other teams since they are a little bit small. When a team isn't shooting well, it is difficult for them to win any time. It is even more difficult for Western Carolina because of King being their biggest player.
I would be remiss not to mention Tom Tankelwiczwho scored 15 points and made five of twelve from three point range. He also had seven rebounds and three assists. He was a pleasant surprise- at least to me.
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