LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine Knights return to Freedom Hall for a pair of ASUN Conference contests on Thursday and Saturday when they welcome league-leader Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State respectively.
 
The Owls of Kennesaw State enter play this week on a pretty good roll.  Since a narrow 89-86 loss at North Florida on Jan. 5, KSU has rattled off seven straight victories and stands 9-1 in conference play and 17-6 overall.
 
Chris Youngblood leads a balanced attack for the Owls.  The 6-4 junior guard is putting up 14.4 points per game and ranks seventh in the league in 3-pointers with 56 on the season, making better than 43 percent. Another dangerous weapon for the Owls is 6-6 junior Brandon Stroud, who has garnered two ASUN Player of the Week accolades this season. He is the team's rebounding leader at 6.4 per contest.
 
Terrell Burden, a 5-10 senior guard, adds 12.2 points per game to the KSU offense and leads the team in assists with an average of 3.7.  Down low, 6-8, 260-pound Demond Robinson provides the Owls a powerful presence in the paint, where he averages 10.5 points and 5.7 rebounds.
 
Last year's ASUN regular season champion Jacksonville State (10-13, 3-7 ASUN) comes into this week playing perhaps its best basketball of the season, coming off the "Tennessee sweep" of knocking off Lipscomb and Austin Peay in its last two outings.
 
Bellarmine and JSU met earlier this season with the Knights claiming a 75-62 road win on Jan. 7.  In that contest, the Knights used a strong second half comeback and posted one of their best 3-point shooting performances of the year to erase a 10-point second half deficit and win going away.
 
The Gamecocks are led by Demaree King and Skyelar Potter, both of whom rank in the ASUN's top five for 3-pointers made this season.  King averages 14.6 points and has converted 69 of 168 triples (.411), and Potter puts up 13.6 points a game and has made 58 of 151 (.386) from beyond the arc. Jacksonville State also boasts one of the best rebounders in the league in 6-6 Juwan Perdue, whose 6.9 rebounding average ranks fifth in the ASUN.
 
While Bellarmine continues to battle the injury bug, freshman Peter Suder was able to shake off a recent sprained ankle to earn ASUN Newcomer of the Week honors for games played last week.  The 6-5 freshman turned in his first collegiate double-double in Thursday's thrilling win over Eastern Kentucky with 10 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.  He followed up with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists against the Colonels on Saturday.
 
On the year, Garrett Tipton is the Bellarmine scoring leader at 12.4 points per game. He is coming off a pretty solid week himself after hitting the game-winner with less than a second remaining on Thursday and dropping in 17 points on Saturday.
 
Graduate student Juston Betz continues to lead the Knights in assists and rebounds.  The ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year is dishing out 3.3 assists and hauling 5.2 rebounds per contest.  He also is the team leader in steals, averaging 1.4 swipes per game.  
 
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