LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following a four-game road swing, the Bellarmine University men's basketball team returns to Knights Hall Thursday for their first ASUN home games of the 2024-25 campaign. The Knights host Jacksonville Thursday and on Saturday will welcome North Florida.
 
Tipoff for both games is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN Plus and ESPN 680/105.7. The game against Jacksonville will be the Knights' first home game since December 14, a span of 25 days.
 
Together, Jacksonville and North Florida make up the "River City Rumble" rivalry. The schools play for The Old Wooden Barrel, a trophy awarded to the combined victor of all the sports that the schools share.
 
About Jacksonville
Jacksonville (NET No. 174) enters the second weekend of ASUN play at an even 7-7 overall. They sit at 1-1 in conference play after splitting a pair of home games last weekend, dropping a 70-65 decision to Lipscomb and bouncing back to throttle Austin Peay 68-44. The Dolphins' best out-of-conference win was a 60-52 home victory over East Tennessee State (NET No. 142) in the ASUN/SoCon event. JU did challenge a quartet of power conference foes on the road—Florida, Virginia Tech, Georgia and Central Florida—though they were unable to win any of those games.
 
The Dolphins' offense runs through ASUN Preseason Player of the Year Robert McCray V. The junior guard is in his second season at JU following his freshman campaign at Wake Forest. He is seventh in the ASUN averaging 16.2 points and leads the team averaging 4.4 assists and is second with 4.5 rebounds behind junior forward Stephon Payne III 5.5 rebounds. While McCray is not a superb outside shooter, Jacksonville has two forwards hitting better than 35.0 percent from beyond the arc in true freshman Enrico Borio (52.4) and Dayton graduate transfer Zimi Nwokeji (38.1).
 
As a team, Jacksonville leads the conference with their +2.1 rebounding margin and 4.6 blocks per game average, led by sophomore forward Donovan Rivers' 1.2 blocks while Payne and McCray each contribute nearly one per game.

Davenport on the Dolphins
"Jacksonville is a very dynamic, well coached team with the very explosive veteran Robert McCray leading the way. He is complimented with great shooting and inside strength. In limited ASUN play, they have shot the ball very well while maintaining their strength on the boards and ability to force turnovers." --Head coach Scott Davenport

About North Florida
North Florida (NET No. 234) is 7-8 and dropped both of their ASUN opening weekend games at home against Austin Peay and Lipscomb. Like their rival, they played a handful of road games against power conference teams, but they were able to hand out a pair of losses to South Carolina (74-71) and Georgia Tech (105-93) en route to starting the season 3-0. Later, however, the Ospreys fell on the road to Georgia, Nebraska and Florida.
 
The Ospreys are adjusting to life following the departure of last year's leading scorer and First Team All-ASUN guard Chaz Lanier for a fifth year at Tennessee, where he is 14^th in the nation in scoring at 20.3 points. This season, the scoring is spread out as the Ospreys have five players averaging double-digit points in true freshman forward Josh Harris (15.5), sophomore guard Jasai Miles (14.0), sixth-year guard Nate Lliteras (12.4), graduate forward Liam Murphy (11.9) and sophomore guard Jaylen Smith (11.2). Miles is third in the ASUN with three double-doubles.
 
Like last season, the Ospreys will shoot a barrage of three-pointers and currently sit at second in the nation in both three-point attempts (35.3 per game) and makes (12.3 per game). Leading the three-point charge is Murphy, who leads the ASUN connecting on 42.3 percent of his shots beyond the arc.  Last season, UNF led the country averaging both 33.2 attempts and 12.0 makes.
 
UNF will face Eastern Kentucky in Richmond on Thursday before visiting Knights Hall. 

Davenport on the Ospreys
"North Florida paved the way for a phenomenal non-conference performance by members of the ASUN with their tremendous wins at South Carolina and Georgia Tech. They have quality depth going 10 deep. They have a very difficult style of play to defend with their ability to shoot the three throughout their roster." --Scott Davenport
 
Last Time Out
Bellarmine was defeated 71-65 Saturday afternoon at Central Arkansas. The Knights outshot the Bears 43.9 percent to 40.0 percent as both teams made 10 threes, but the Bears held a 17-5 advantage in scoring at the foul line to help lift them over the Knights. Bellarmine also committed 14 turnovers to lead to 21 Central Arkansas points. The Knights led by eight at 49-41 after a layup by Tyler Doyle with 11 minutes left in the second half. Bellarmine would miss their next four shots, however, as Central Arkansas went on an 11-0 run to regain the lead. Curt Hopf and Billy Smith followed with a pair of field goals to put Bellarmine back up 53-52, but the Bears proceeded with a 17-8 run to put the game out of the Knights' reach in the final half minute. Smith finished with a team-high 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting (5-for-12 from three).
 
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