LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team is set to host their first repeat opponents of the 2025-26 ASUN schedule as they welcome West Georgia to Knights Hall Wednesday night and then Queens Saturday afternoon.
 
Bellarmine (7-13, 2-6 ASUN, NET No. 298) split their pair of games last weekend in Jacksonville, Fla., topping Jacksonville 77-70 on Thursday before falling to North Florida 117-114 in overtime on Saturday. The win over Jacksonville, their first road conference win since February 1, 2024, snapped a three-game skid.
 
About West Georgia
West Georgia (10-10, 4-4 ASUN, NET No. 313) had dropped four games in a row before taking down Queens 74-66 on Saturday. The Wolves started conference play with three straight wins, including an 87-85 victory over Bellarmine to open ASUN play on New Year's Day.
 
UWG ranks 9th in the ASUN in scoring at 75.8 points per game and is 8th in scoring defense allowing 80.7 points per game. They are near the bottom of the ASUN in shooting, 11th out of 12 at 43.7 percent, and average the second-fewest 3-pointers, 7.4 per game. In their last meeting with Bellarmine, though, the Wolves sank 12 of 39 attempts from deep (30.8 percent). The Knights rank 356th out of 361 Division I teams in defending the tree, allowing opponents to shoot 38.3 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Shelton Williams-Dryden remains the star for UWG. The 6-foot-6 senior forward is 2nd in the ASUN averaging 20.4 points per game, recently overtaking Jack Karasinski (19.4 points per game), and 2nd in rebounding at 9.2 per game. Williams-Dryden leads the ASUN in conference play at 24.6 points per game. Defensively, the Wolves boast a pair of rim-protecting forwards who are 1st and 3rd in the ASUN in blocks per game, 6-foot-10 JaVar Daniel (2.1 per game) and 6-foot-9 Kenneth Chime (1.5 per game).
 
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.
 
Versus the Wolves
Bellarmine is 0-2 against West Georgia. UWG took the first matchup between these teams in Carrollton to open ASUN play, 87-85. Williams-Dryden scored a game-high 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting and Brady Hardewig hit 6 of 13 threes for 18 points. Jack Karasinski led the Knights with 21 points while Kenyon Goodin scored 20 and Brian Waddell added 19. The Wolves also won the first-ever matchup between these teams last February in Knights Hall, 81-76.
 
About Queens
Queens (12-9, 7-1 ASUN, NET No. 196) won their first seven ASUN games before dropping Saturday's contest at UWG. The Royals sit in a three-way tie for first in the league with Austin Peay and Lipscomb. The seven-game winning streak to start conference play included a win over the Knights on January 3 and a four-game road sweep of the ASUN's Florida teams over back-to-back weeks. Queens has yet to face any of the other three teams in the top four of the standings.
 
In conference play, Queens has posted the second-best scoring average, 85.0 points per game, and fourth-best scoring defense average, 73.6 points per game. The Royals also shoot the third-best percentage, 47.8, and hold opponents to the second-lowest percentage, 44.0.
 
As it was heading into their first matchup, point production has been spread around for Queens. They have five players averaging double digits, including Jordan Watford at 15.3 (13th in ASUN), Avantae Parker at 13.1 (21st in ASUN) and Yoav Berman at 12.5 (22nd in ASUN). A 6-foot-9 junior forward, Parker is shooting 75.5 percent in ASUN play, second-best in the league while Watford is 5th at 59.7 percent. ASUN Preseason Player of the Year Chris Ashby hit 11 of 20 threes and scored 34 points against Bellarmine, but has scored just 51 points combined in the Royals' other seven conference games, 7.3 points per game in that span.
 
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.
 
Queens will host Central Arkansas on Wednesday before heading to Louisville.
 
Versus the Royals
Bellarmine is 1-4 against Queens as ASUN foes. On January 3, the Royals earned a 98-76 win behind a barrage of 24 threes. The Royals won 92-87 in overtime at Knights Hall last February. The teams' only matchup before becoming conference mates was a 76-59 Knights win at Queens on December 21, 1997 as Division II opponents.
 
Knights Knotes

• Bellarmine on Saturday featured three players scoring 20-plus points for the first time in their D1 era (Brian Waddell 26, Jack Karasinski 23, Sam Donald 22). BU has registered 20 individual 20-point performances this season (Jack Karasinski 10, Kenyon Goodin 4, Brian Waddell 4, Sam Donald 1, Michael Wilson Jr. 1) after having just 12 all of last season and 14 in 2023-24. BU had a streak of 11 straight games with a 20-point scorer from November 24 to January 10. BU has had a 20-point scorer in 15 different games and four times has had multiple 20-point performers in the same game.
• Sam Donald scored a career-best 22 points Saturday on 8-for-10 shooting, hitting 5 for 6 from three. The freshman forward is shooting 40.4 percent and has hit 19 of 47 three-point attempts on the season. He has started in 17 of the 18 games in which he has played.
• Jack Karasinski scored 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting Saturday at UNF. It was his first 20-point effort since scoring 24 on January 3 at Queens. The senior ranks 3rd in the ASUN and 47th nationally averaging 19.4 points. He is on pace to best Dylan Penn's 16.6 points per game in 2021-22 for BU's D1 era record. He has scored 20-plus points in 10 of 18 games, including a streak of seven straight from November 25 to January 3. His 54.8-percent shooting has him 3rd in the ASUN and 68th nationally.
• Jack Karasinski has 920 career points (202 at William & Mary, 718 at BU), 80 short of 1,000. He has an outside chance to become the 44th player to score 1,000 points at BU, but would need to average 25.6 points over the final 11 guaranteed games. That would make him the first Knight to do it entirely at the D1 level and the first in either division to do it in just two seasons.
• Brian Waddell went 12 for 20 and hit 2 of 6 three-point attempts Saturday at UNF. He is 2nd in the ASUN and 16th nationally shooting 62.7 percent. He ranks 7th in the ASUN averaging 16.0 points and has reached double digits in 18 of 20 games.
• Kenyon Goodin scored 18 points Saturday at UNF, hitting 4 of 9 three-point attempts while grabbing a team-high six rebounds and handing out three assists. He has scored double-digit points 12 times, including in eight straight games from December 13 to January 10. He has also posted four 20-pointt efforts. The former Army QB commit is averaging 12.9 points and is shooting 49.7 percent this season (43.1 percent from three). In ASUN conference play, he ranks 5th with his 43.4 three-point percentage and 8th averaging 2.9 made threes per game.

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