LOUISVILLE, Ky.—After the ASUN Conference re-vamped the remaining regular season schedule, the Knights are now set to play road games at North Alabama on Friday and Saturday. 
 
Originally scheduled to play at North Florida, Bellarmine traded a flight for a bus trip as the Knights made the much shorter trip to Florence, Alabama to take on the Lions at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. CT) on both Friday and Saturday.  (Florence, Alabama is located in the Central time zone.)
 
Bellarmine (11-5, 8-2 AUN) enters this week's play on an eight-game win streak and sits atop the ASUN standings.  After dropping their first two conference games to Lipscomb, the Knights have reeled off eight in a row, most recently getting a home sweep of Jacksonville. 
 
North Alabama (10-6, 6-4 ASUN) comes into the week on a three-game losing skid.  After racing out to a 6-1 start in league play, the Lions have now dropped their last three contests, getting swept at Florida Gulf Coast University last week.
 
Despite the recent downturn, North Alabama is still one of the ASUN's top offensive teams heading into the seventh weekend of conference play.  The Lions lead the league in scoring (75.6 PPG) thanks in large part to its ASUN-leading rebounding of 41.3 per game.  The outstanding rebounding has helped UNA average a league-best 63.6 shot attempts per game.  The Lions also get to the charity stripe at a high rate as North Alabama leads the ASUN in free throws made per game (14.5) and free throws attempted per game (19.8).
 
Individually, Mervin James and Emanuel Little, a pair of 6-7 forwards, lead the way for the Lions. James has developed into one the league's elite players, and he and Littles have each garnered an ASUN Player of the Week honor this season. James ranks fourth in the league in scoring at 15 points a game and is fifth in rebounding, hauling in just over seven boards a game. Meanwhile, Littles leads the league in rebounding at just over 10 per contest. 
 
The UNA backcourt features Jamari Blackmon, the 2019 ASUN Freshman of the Year and 2021 preseason All-ASUN selection. So far this season, Blackmon is third on the team in scoring at 10.7 points per game, and the junior already has climbed to No. 7 on the school's all-time 3-pointer list with 163 career trifectas.  
 
While the Lions boast the league's highest-scoring offense, the Knights are no. two on that list at 74 points per game.  Bellarmine also balances the offensive numbers with the second-stingiest defense in the league, surrendering just 63.3 points per game.

Junior forward Pedro Bradshaw is coming off his strongest weekend of the year when he posted consecutive double-doubles to earn Co-Player of the Week honors in the ASUN.  The 6-7 Russellville, Kentucky native has upped his averages to 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game to rank fifth and third respectively in the ASUN.
 
Bradshaw leads a quartet of Bellarmine double-digit scorers with Dylan Penn (12.3), CJ Fleming (11.2) and Ethan Claycomb (10.8) included in that group.  Through 16 games, Bellarmine has seen seven different players lead the team in scoring as Nick Thelen, Sam DeVault and Alec Pfriem have all contributed big scoring games for the Knights this season.
 
The Bellarmine-North Alabama games can be streamed on ESPN+, and Bellarmine fans can also get the radio call from Doug Ormay and Mark Bugg on 93.9 FM The Ville.