SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's basketball team honors its graduating class in the regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon against UVA Wise, tipping off at 4 p.m.
Wednesday Rewind
- A slow start against Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday ultimately sealed Catawba's fate in an 82-67 setback to the nation's 15th-ranked team
- The Catawba Indians were able to out-score the Bears 44-40 in the second half
- Kris Robinson (17), Justin Banks (11) and Montraivis White (11) finished with double figures in the scoring column
- Ibra Athie pulled down a team-high eight rebounds while Carson Daniel swiped away a career-high three steals
Stat Sheet Summary
- Nick Walker tops the lineup with 14.2 points per game on the nation's 10th-best field goal percentage of 64.1%
- Robinson, the all-time career leader in three-pointers made at Catawba, has 14.0 points per game including 2.85 triples per game to slot fifth in the league
- Recording seven double-doubles this season, Athie leads the South Atlantic Conference with 3.36 offensive boards on a per-game basis while averaging 10.8 points and 7.9 rebounds
- Defensively, White and Chase Daniel rank seventh and eighth in the SAC with 36 and 35 steals, respectively, against in-league competition
- Banks is averaging nearly a block per game (0.95) to place seventh among conference players
Seeding on the Line
For Catawba…
- The Catawba Indians will either be the fifth or sixth seed in next week's SAC Championship Tournament in Rock Hill, S.C.
- If Catawba falls to UVA Wise, the blue and white remain at their current sixth-place standing and finish with a 13-11 league ledger
- If Catawba beats UVA Wise AND Coker loses to Carson-Newman, the Catawba Indians and Cobras are tied for fifth; Catawba would win the tiebreaker by virtue of 2-0 records against both Carson-Newman and UVA Wise
For UVA Wise…
- Currently fourth in SAC standings, the Highland Cavaliers could elevate to third or stay put in the final weekend of regular-season play
- If UVA Wise and Carson-Newman both win on Saturday, UVA Wise wins the tiebreaker for third as it went 1-1 vs. front-runner Lincoln Memorial while Carson-Newman was 0-2
- If UVA Wise loses and Coker beats Carson-Newman, the Cobras climb to third and UVA Wise remains fourth ahead of C-N
All-Time Series
- Catawba holds the series lead at 8-1, enduring its only loss to UVA Wise seven meetings ago
- The blue and white are 2-0 against the Highland Cavaliers at Goodman Arena, hosting the programs' meeting for the first time since Dec. 18, 2021
- Saturday marks the series' second regular-season finale matchup as Catawba took the Feb. 26, 2022 contest in overtime, 92-89
Scouting the Highland Cavaliers
- UVA Wise brings an 18-9 record including a 15-8 mark in SAC play into Saturday's contest
- The Highland Cavaliers are coming off an exhausting three-overtime shootout with Tusculum, finally prevailing after 55 minutes by a 121-115 margin
- Winning five of their last six, the Cavs collected a monumental upset over SAC leader and then-No. 6 Lincoln Memorial, 78-67, at David J. Pryor Convocation Center on Feb. 20
- Senior guard Bradley Dean has fronted the offensive attack with 17.3 points and 5.2 assists per tilt in addition to a team-high 38 steals
- Evan Ramsey is averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game; his 50 total blocks slot second in the conference
Follow Along
The matchup will be streamed live on FloCollege ($) accompanied by stats on CatawbaAthletics.com.
