CARROLLTON, Ga. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team will play on New Year's Day at West Georgia before heading to Charlotte, N.C., to battle Queens Saturday as the Knights open ASUN play.
 
Tipoff at UWG is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, while the game at Queens is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be provided by ESPN+ and ESPN 680/105.7 for both contests.
 
Bellarmine (5-7, NET No. 249) wrapped up nonconference play with a competitive 99-85 loss at Kentucky on December 23. Through 12 games, the Knights have already matched their overall win total of five from a year ago, as well as their three wins against Division I competition.
 
About West Georgia
West Georgia (6-6, NET No. 272), like Bellarmine, tested themselves against four power-conference opponents, though they also came up empty in those games. The Wolves do own wins versus The Citadel, at Tennessee Tech, versus USC Upstate and at Troy. Troy marks their best win, sitting at No. 135 in the NET.
 
UWG ranks ninth in the ASUN in scoring (76.3 points per game), defense (80.7 points per game) and field goal percentage (.429). They shoot the three at the second-best clip in the ASUN at .369, but are tied with Bellarmine for the second-fewest attempts from deep at 21.0 per game.
 
Shelton Dryden-Williams is leading UWG in scoring for the second straight season since transferring from Milwaukee Area Tech. The senior forward, who was selected to the Preseason All-ASUN Team, is averaging 17.5 points, good for third in the ASUN. He is also second in the ASUN grabbing 8.9 rebounds and seventh with 1.5 steals. Junior guard Josh Smith is right behind Dryden-Williams averaging 15.5 points, fifth in the league. Defensively, the Wolves boast a pair of rim-protecting forwards who top the ASUN with 1.9 blocks per game each in 6-foot-9 Kenneth Chime and 6-foot-10 JaVar Daniel.
 
UWG is led by head coach Dave Moore in his eighth season. The Wolves are in their second year of the mandatory reclassification period after making the jump from Division II last season. Moore guided UWG to the second round of the NCAA II tournament in three out of their last four seasons at the DII level.
 
The Wolves won the first matchup against Bellarmine last February in Knights Hall, 81-76.
 
About Queens
Queens (5-8, NET No. 238) is undefeated at Curry Arena this season at 5-0, with four of those wins coming against Division I competition (Sacred Heart, UNC Greensboro, Gardner-Webb and South Carolina State). The Royals took on five power-conference foes, including in each of their last three games, though they only kept one of those five within 20 points. Queens will host Eastern Kentucky on Thursday before the Knights visit on Saturday.
 
The Royals are second in the ASUN averaging 82.5 points per game, but 10th allowing 89.0 points. They shoot the ball well, ranking behind only the Knights in the ASUN in both field goal percentage (.469) and effective field goal percentage (.553).
 
Point production is spread around for Queens. At 15.2 points per game, Nasir Mann is the only Royal appearing in the top-25 of the ASUN in scoring, ranking seventh. The senior guard sits behind just Bellarmine's Brian Waddell and Jack Karasinski atop the league in field goal percentage. Three other Royals average double-digit points, including ASUN Preseason Player of the Year Chris Ashby at 11.3 points per game. The graduate guard is fourth in the ASUN shooting .371 from beyond the arc and is second in the league with 105 attempts.
 
Head coach Grant Leonard is guiding the Royals in his fourth season after six seasons at the associate head coach under Bart Lundy. Last year, Leonard guided Queens to a 20-win season in their third year as a Division I program.
 
Bellarmine is 1-3 against Queens as ASUN foes. The Royals won 92-87 in overtime at Knights Hall in February.
 
Knight Knotes

• Bellarmine is 40-47 against ASUN competition, including in the conference tournament, since joining the league in 2020-21. The Knights had been 34-19 after their first three seasons before going 6-28 over the past two seasons.
• With a pair of wins this week to begin ASUN play, Bellarmine would be 7-7 and at .500 or better after 14 games for the first time in their DI era (since 2020-21). Bellarmine was last at .500 or better after 14 games in 2019-20, their final DII season, when they started 14-0.
• Jack Karasinski led the Knights with 24 points on December 23 at Kentucky. The senior currently leads the ASUN and ranks 16th nationally averaging 21.1 points. He has scored 20-plus points in seven of 10 games, already surpassing his six 20-point games from last season. His .583 field goal percentage is also second in the ASUN behind Brian Waddell and 55th nationally.
• Brian Waddell leads the ASUN and is 23rd nationally with his .630 field goal percentage. He went 5-for-10 from the field for 16 points on at Kentucky. He ranks sixth in the ASUN averaging 15.3 points and has reached double digits in all but two games.
• Bellarmine leads the ASUN and ranks 17th nationally with their .515 field goal percentage. The Knights also lead the nation shooting .817 from the free throw line. Additionally, Bellarmine is 64-for-167 (.383) from three over their last eight games.
• Bellarmine earned three DI nonconference wins after having just one last season (Bowling Green). Bellarmine's three wins against DI opponents and five wins overall this season each already match their totals from last season. Bellarmine last year did not win their fifth game until February 20 against Eastern Kentucky.

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