NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team is set to face regional rival Lipscomb Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) before heading to Richmond to take on in-state rival Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Both games will be carried on ESPN+ and ESPN 680/105.7.
 
Bellarmine (6-10, 1-3 ASUN, NET No. 279) will look to bounce back from a frustrating second half against North Alabama on Saturday that saw a one-point halftime lead turn into a 10-point loss, denying the Knights a second straight ASUN win and an even conference record. Doug Davenport's team now turns their attention to Lipscomb, who has given them fits in recent years, and then Eastern Kentucky, who this year has split their first four ASUN matchups despite posting a 4-9 mark in the nonconference.
 
About Lipscomb
Lipscomb (10-7, 3-1 ASUN, NET No. 155) has earned three wins in four games to begin ASUN play, though last Thursday they curiously dropped a 91-83 decision at Stetson in a matchup in which they were heavily favored. The Bisons outscored the Hatters 55-45 in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome a 46-28 halftime deficit after allowing Stetson to connect on 57.1 percent of their shots in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Lipscomb leads the ASUN in a number of offensive statistics. They are tops in the conference in three-point percentage (.367), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.58), assists per game (19.0) and fastbreak points (16.1). Defensively, they rank third in the conference allowing 75.5 points per game.
 
At .410, Ross Candelino is Lipscomb's top outside threat, though he has only attempted nine threes in four conference games. Leading scorer Grant Asman (14.3 points) has connected on the most threes, going 37 for 95 (.389) and is 4th overall in the ASUN shooting .512. All told, the Bisons boast five regulars shooting better than .375 from distance. A 6-foot-11 graduate forward, Asman is also 4th in the ASUN averaging 6.8 rebounds. Mateo Esmeraldo is the primary distributor at 7.1 assists, good for 8th in the nation, and has 24 more assists than anyone else in the ASUN. The junior guard, who followed head coach Kevin Carroll from Division II Trevecca Nazarene, is also 7th nationally with his 4.03 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Carroll is in his first season at Lipscomb after nine seasons as a DII head coach, including the most recent two at the aforementioned Trevecca Nazarene where he was 35-23 overall. Lennie Acuff, who had led the Bisons to a 110-82 record in six seasons and an NCAA tournament appearance last year, left after last season to take the head role at Samford.
 
Versus the Bisons
Bellarmine is 7-8 all-time against Lipscomb and 2-7 since the programs linked up as members of the ASUN in 2020-21. The Bisons swept both games against the Knights last season, first winning 87-53 in Knights Hall and then 87-80 in Allen Arena. Jack Karasinski averaged 15.0 points against Lipscomb in last year's games while Myles Watkins averaged 14.0.
 
The teams first locked horns during the 1963-64 season, a 56-55 win for Bellarmine in Knights Hall.
 
About Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Kentucky (6-11, 2-2 ASUN, NET No. 260) dropped their first two ASUN games on the road at Queens (91-89) and West Georgia (88-76) before holding serve at home last week with an 88-80 win over North Alabama and a 79-75 overtime win over Central Arkansas. Against UCA, the Colonels trailed 75-71 with three minutes remaining before Austin Ball and Turner Buttry each sank threes in the final two minutes to put EKU on top. They would then ice the game with a pair of freebies with six seconds remaining to put the game out of the Bears' reach.
 
The Colonels are middle-of-the-pack in the ASUN scoring 80.0 points per game and allowing 80.4, 5th and 8th in the league, respectively. EKU sits at the bottom of the ASUN with their .424 field goal percentage, though they have made more threes than any other team in the conference, averaging 11.4 per game. EKU shoots the long ball at a .338 clip and two-pointers at .516.
 
Juan Cranford Jr. leads EKU at 13.8 points per game and is the only Colonel in the top 25 in the ASUN in scoring at 15th. The sophomore guard transfer from Saint Francis averages 3.1 makes from deep, 2nd in the ASUN, and ranks 5th in shooting .385 from beyond the arc. Six-foot-8 graduate forward Montavious Myrick is 3rd in the league at 7.1 boards per game while averaging 10.3 points and shooting .478. Senior guard Turner Butry leads EKU averaging 3.2 assists and is tops in the ASUN shooting .921 from the charity stripe.
 
A.W. Hamilton leads the Colonels in his eighth season with a combined 128-113 record (.531). EKU will visit Austin Peay on Thursday before hosting the Knights on Saturday.
 
Versus the Colonels
Bellarmine is 3-8 all-time against EKU and 3-5 since joining the ASUN after splitting their games last year. EKU first earned a 72-69 win at Baptist Health Arena in a game featuring nine ties and 13 lead changes. Bellarmine had the ball on the last possession, but could not find the equalizer. At Knights Hall on Senior Day, however, Bellarmine would exact a bit of revenge with an 80-74 win to halt the Colonels' eight-game winning streak. The Knights were led by Billy Smith's 23 points, but Watkins added 19 and Tyler Doyle chipped in 11 and 7 assists.
 
The teams first met on December 15, 1958, an 80-73 home win for EKU.
 
Knights Knotes

• Bellarmine ranks 9th nationally with their .519 field goal percentage and 12th with their .592 effective field goal percentage, both tops in the ASUN. They have connected on half of their shots or better in five straight games and 13 of 16 overall. Bellarmine is also 16th nationally with their .778 free throw percentage. Additionally, Bellarmine is 100 for 260 (.385) from three over their last 12 games. Overall on the season, Bellarmine is 2nd to Lipscomb in the ASUN shooting .362 from deep.
• Jack Karasinski has 861 career points (202 at William & Mary, 659 at Bellarmine). He is on pace to net his 1,000th career point on February 5 at home against Stetson. Additionally, he could become the 44th player to score 1,000 points at Bellarmine by averaging 22.7 points over the final 15 guaranteed games, making him the first to do it entirely at the Division I level. If he were to accomplish that feat, it would also mean he averaged 20.3 points per game on the season, which would be a D1-era program record. He is currently above that at 20.7 points per game. Bellarmine's D1 scoring record is currently held by Dylan Penn at 16.6 points per game in 2021-22.
• Brian Waddell went 8 for 10 and 2 for 3 from deep for 20 points against UNA. He leads the ASUN and is 12th nationally with his .644 field goal percentage. He ranks 9th in the ASUN averaging 15.8 points and has reached double digits in 14 of 16 games. He has tallied 253 points this season after totaling 43 points in three seasons at Purdue.
• Kenyon Goodin scored 17 points against UNA and has scored double-digit points in seven straight games and 10 overall. He has also posted three 20-point efforts (24 on Nov. 25 at The Citadel, 20 on Jan. 1 at West Georgia, 20 on Jan. 8 versus Central Arkansas). The former Army QB commit is averaging 12.8 points and is shooting at a .516 clip this season (.434 from three).
• BU has registered 16 individual 20-point performances this season (Karasinski 9, Goodin 3, Waddell 3, Michael Wilson Jr. 1) after having just 12 all of last season and 14 in 2023-24. BU has had a 20-point scorer in 11 straight games, 13 overall, and three times has had multiple 20-point performers in the same game.

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