Coastal Carolina, UNC Asheville meet in anticipated Big South showdown

With more than five weeks still remaining in the regular season, it’s likely nothing will be decided Tuesday night in Asheville, N.C. Not in the big picture, at least.

But there’s no denying the significance of this matchup to the teams involved as Coastal Carolina visits UNC Asheville for the most anticipated early-season showdown on the Big South Conference schedule.

“It’s pretty important,” CCU coach Cliff Ellis said. “For an early first-half race, this is the match. Early on, this is the match.”

For any number of reasons.

The Bulldogs (12-6, 7-0 Big South) and Chanticleers (13-4, 6-1) were picked first and second, respectively, in the conference’s preseason poll. That’s also how they sit atop the standings entering this meeting.

And, of course, it was UNC Asheville that stunned Coastal at home late last season with a steal and buzzer-beater and then later prevailed when the teams met again in the Big South tournament championship game. That sent the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament and left the Chants to wait at least another year for their long-awaited breakthrough.

So, yes, for mid-January matchups, this one has plenty of intrigue.

“It’s just two heavyweights in the league going at each other,” Ellis said. “It’s early. You know, it’s not going to be the end of the world whoever drops that game, but it’s going to be a confidence-builder for whoever gets it. Somebody’s going to have some big momentum coming out of it. Big. It’s a heavyweight fight.”

Speaking about the key conference clash after Coastal’s win Saturday, Ellis ended his postgame news conference with a booming “Down goes Frazier!” to punctuate that point.

UNC Asheville is led once again by senior guards Matt Dickey and J.P. Primm, who pace one of the conference’s highest-scoring squads. The Bulldogs come into this matchup having won 10 of their last 12 games while averaging 91.8 points over their last four contests.

Coastal, meanwhile, has won three straight and four of its last five, and the Chants are coming off their most impressive performance in a while with a thorough 81-63 win over Presbyterian on Saturday.

“Primm and Dickey, we know who we’re going up against,” CCU junior guard Danny Nieman said. “They came into our house last year, and we didn’t forget about it. We’re just getting better every game, and this is just another game. You know, none of it really matters until March, but of course we know what’s at stake with them.”

Ellis said of UNC Asheville’s veteran guards: “That backcourt can play for anybody in the country.” Both Dickey and Primm were named to the five-man preseason all-Big South squad, with Dickey claiming preseason conference player of the year honors, while the Chants were unrepresented on the list despite returning a veteran core after consecutive 28-win seasons.

But that’s the least of the players’ concerns entering this game, they said.

“I really don’t feed into all that because it’s someone’s opinion,” Coastal junior point guard Kierre Greenwood said. “We know what we have. We know what we can do. We know we can play with those guys, so that stuff is just someone’s opinion.”

Both teams will get their chance to seize a more tangible upper hand when they meet on the court. And as Nieman noted, after having a depleted roster of eight players when the they lost to Asheville at home last Feb. 22 and then again in the conference finals, the Chants feel better equipped for this one.

And, of course, plenty motivated.

“They know what’s up,” Ellis said of his players. “It’s like the Yankees and the Red Sox. They know the deal.”