October 9, 2014

Mincey opens curtain to 2014-15 schedule

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With a deep and talented roster coming back from a squad that fell in the South Atlantic Conference semifinals a season ago, head coach Mike Mincey released a 28-game schedule that features 15 home contests Sunday afternoon.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With a deep and talented roster coming back from a squad that fell in the South Atlantic Conference semifinals a season ago, head coach Mike Mincey released a 28-game schedule that features 15 home contests Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles begin their season with a pair of exhibitions against top-ten Division I programs North Carolina and Tennessee before tipping off the regular season as a host school for the SAC/Peachbelt Conference Challenge. USC Aiken and Lander are the foes during the first weekend. The Pacers finished third in the Peach Belt with a 9-10 conference mark while the Bearcats won seven league games.

"With that tournament, we will play rotate for the next four years," Mincey said. "We will have quality competition at the beginning of the year. Those are the kinds of team that we need to play early and get prepared."

Seven of the first nine games are at Holt Fieldhouse, but Carson-Newman begins the SAC slate on November 19 with a trip to Tusculum team that Mincey's group defeated twice last season by double figures.

"Because we play North Carolina and Tennessee we've always tried to implement a lot of stuff early as far as our offense and defenses that we run," Mincey said of the quick start of league play. "We've always had stuff in early so it's not that bad for us."

Carson-Newman welcomes in Lenoir-Rhyne on December 10 after the Eagles fell to the Bears 75-74 in the SAC semifinals last season. The Bears earned the No. 1 spot in the region before bowing out in the NCAA Tournament to Armstrong.

"L-R will have several new faces, but they return its two best players in my opinion in [All-SAC first team selections Jenni] Gust and [Jazmine] Charles," Mincey said of the Bears. "L-R is the only team, I think, that we have not beaten in our home gym over the six years that I have been here."

To conclude the 2014 calendar year, the Eagles travel to Owensboro, Ky. to face Trevecca Nazerene and Kentucky Wesleyan who tangled in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship game last season. The Trojans finished 19-9 and won the regular season crown while the Panthers took the championship game 80-76.

Kentucky Wesleyan lost to Carson-Newman 83-71 on December 18, 2013 as the Eagles outscored the Panthers 50-33 in the second half thanks to 53 percent shooting from the floor.

"Kentucky Wesleyan was a NCAA Tournament team last year," Mincey said of the Panthers. "They were here last year and they were really good. We just played exceptionally well, probably one of our best games. Trevecca has a lot of in-state players. I'm looking forward to that game because we haven't played them since I've been here."

After playing five of nine games at home in January, Mincey's group will start February with five of six games on the road including Lenoir-Rhyne and the other NCAA Tournament participant from the SAC, Wingate. The Bulldogs were the No. 3 seed in the region and fell to Belmont Abbey 93-86 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Wingate won both meetings last season including a three-point contest at Holt Fieldhouse.

"We probably need to set ourselves up by taking care of business at home before we get into that stretch," Mincey acknowledged. "If you are going to win this conference, you are going to have to win games on the road. Every team in this league is probably going to have some stretch where they have to go on the road multiple times."

Carson-Newman closes out the season with home games against Lincoln Memorial and Newberry.