October 24, 2022

Benson unveils home-heavy men’s hoops slate

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head men’s basketball coach Chuck Benson has showcased the Eagles’ 2022-23 schedule, which features 15 home dates inside Holt Fieldhouse.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson has showcased the Eagles' 2022-23 schedule, which features 15 home dates inside Holt Fieldhouse.

The schedule is largely new look, with the addition of Emory & Henry to the South Atlantic Conference, the league went do a divisional format and a truncated schedule featuring 18 league games – down from 24 a year ago. C-N is scheduled to play 28 regular season contests.

"This was difficult to put together," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "It's not something we've had to spend a lot of time working to put together. We've been intentional trying to load up with a non-conference schedule that is challenging and that will prepare us for conference play. We have good representation in the Southeast region to get us ready for that."

Carson-Newman will face off with three of the seven teams remaining in Division II who made last year's NCAA Southeast Regional in SAC mate Lincoln Memorial and non-conference foes Belmont Abbey and Columbus State.

C-N opens up the year for a third straight season with a SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge. Bristol, Tenn. is the site this year. C-N starts the year with Lees-McRae for a third straight year before matching wits with King on Nov. 12. The Eagles won the opener with the Bobcats last season before dropping game two against the Tornado.

Following a week off, Carson-Newman opens the doors to Holt Fieldhouse Nov. 19 against Southern Wesleyan. C-N hasn't played the Warriors in three years and leads the all-time series 4-1 – however, SWU took the last meeting 80-78 in Holt.

Carson-Newman gets a crack at the last team it played in an NCAA tournament game Wednesday before Thanksgiving when it travels to Morrow, Ga. to face Clayton State. The Eagles dropped the only game they played in The Loch 62-58 in overtime in 2014.

C-N wraps up the month of November against Erskine and Johnson University.

December features the first of three NCAA tournament participants on the schedule. Columbus State comes to Jeff City for a Friday night showdown Dec. 2. Chuck Benson is 2-0 against the Cougars with a 24 and 30-point win in hand.

"We haven't talked about long term as much as we do talking about the present," Benson said of the prospect of trying to make an NCAA tournament. "We haven't verbalized discussions about postseason. We have guys here who have that experience and we know that that's the ultimate objective. To get that, we have to own the present and the moment. We don't focus on that outcome as much as we focus on what leads to that outcome."

Carson-Newman starts conference play Dec. 7 at Limestone. The Saints are one of four divisional opponents the Eagles square off with in the month of December (UVA Wise, Mars Hill and Emory & Henry are the others).

C-N plays in the Mountain Division with the four aforementioned teams, plus Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial. The Eagles will play home and away with those six squads while taking on the six teams from the Piedmont Division once. C-N gets Lenoir-Rhyne, Anderson and Coker at home. It travels to play at Wingate, Newberry and Catawba.

"We make every game a Super Bowl," Benson said. "Just because we play someone from the Piedmont once, it's still the Super Bowl. We just want to have our chance to compete everyday with the next person on that schedule with our best foot forward."

Carson-Newman breaks before Christmas with a non-conference game against old VSAC foe Tennessee Wesleyan. The Eagles are 4-0 against the Bulldogs under Benson.

C-N gets a New Years Treat when it plays host to Lander on New Year's Eve at 2 p.m., before wrapping up non-conference play against NCAA tournament participant Belmont Abbey in North Carolina on Jan. 3.

Senior Day is set for Feb. 25 in the regular season finale against Coker. Hall of Fame weekend is set for Jan. 21 against Lenoir-Rhyne when Carson-Newman will induct its next athletic hall of fame class.

"I like what our guys have been doing in preseason workouts," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "There's been a great deal of commitment to our processes and a I really look forward to getting to our outside competition."

All Carson-Newman men's basketball games will be available on the Eagle Sports Network on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream of SAC games can be found through FloSports.

DATE	OPPONENT	NOTES	STATUS
Nov. 11, 2022	vs. Lees-McRae @ Bristol, Tenn. (Student Center Complex)	SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge	5:00 PM
Nov. 12, 2022	at King (Tenn.)	SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge	4:30 PM
Nov. 19, 2022	Southern Wesleyan		2:00 PM
Nov. 23, 2022	at Clayton St.		2:00 PM
Nov. 26, 2022	Erskine		4:00 PM
Nov. 28, 2022	Johnson University Tennessee		7:30 PM
Dec. 02, 2022	Columbus St.		6:00 PM
Dec. 07, 2022	at Limestone * ^		7:30 PM
Dec. 10, 2022	Virginia-Wise * ^		4:00 PM
Dec. 14, 2022	Mars Hill * ^		7:30 PM
Dec. 17, 2022	at Emory & Henry * ^		4:00 PM
Dec. 19, 2022	Tenn. Wesleyan		2:00 PM
Dec. 31, 2022	Lander		2:00 PM
Jan. 03, 2023	at Belmont Abbey		4:30 PM
Jan. 07, 2023	at Lincoln Memorial * ^		4:00 PM
Jan. 11, 2023	Tusculum * ^		7:30 PM
Jan. 14, 2023	at Newberry * ^		4:00 PM
Jan. 18, 2023	Limestone * ^		7:30 PM
Jan. 21, 2023	Lenoir-Rhyne *		4:00 PM
Jan. 25, 2023	at Virginia-Wise * ^		7:30 PM
Feb. 01, 2023	Lincoln Memorial * ^		7:30 PM
Feb. 04, 2023	at Catawba *		4:00 PM
Feb. 08, 2023	at Mars Hill * ^		7:30 PM
Feb. 11, 2023	Anderson (S.C.) *		4:00 PM
Feb. 15, 2023	at Tusculum * ^		7:30 PM
Feb. 18, 2023	at Wingate *		4:00 PM
Feb. 22, 2023	Emory & Henry * ^		7:30 PM
Feb. 25, 2023	Coker *		4:00 PM