LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team will look to rebound from a tough opening weekend of ASUN play this Thursday and Saturday at Knights Hall. The Knights begin the home portion of their ASUN slate by hosting Central Arkansas Thursday at 7 p.m. ET before welcoming North Alabama Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
 
Bellarmine (5-9, 0-2 ASUN, NET No. 269) suffered a pair of road losses at West Georgia (87-85) and at Queens (98-76) to begin conference play last week. Still, Doug Davenport's squad has a chance to battle back to .500 in the ASUN with a pair of wins over two of the four current ASUN teams whom Bellarmine owns a winning record against since joining the conference. (Florida Gulf Coast and Jacksonville are the others.)
 
About Central Arkansas
Central Arkansas (7-8, 2-0 ASUN, NET No. 217) is one of five unbeaten teams after the first week of ASUN play after earning home wins over Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson. The FGCU game was tightly contested (85-83) as UCA battled back from an eight-point deficit with 10 minutes remaining. Tied at 77 with 2:25 remaining, UCA converted three straight field goals to build a seven-point lead with 37 seconds before closing out the win. Two days later, the Bears blew out Stetson (93-73) behind 21 points from Camren Hunter and 20 from Ty Robinson. UCA's best nonconference win was a 92-65 blowout against Eastern Washington (NET No. 271).
 
A senior guard, Hunter ranks fourth in the ASUN in scoring at 16.9 points per game while Robinson, a redshirt freshman guard, ranks 10th at 14.7. Each in the duo of guards also rank in the top 10 of the conference in field goal percentage—Robinson sixth at .471 and Hunter ninth at .458. Robinson
 
UCA is eighth in the ASUN averaging 78.0 points per game, but second in allowing 74.7 points. The Bears rank third in the ASUN and 11th nationally taking 32.1 three-point attempts per game, though they are just ninth in the ASUN and 259th nationally in connecting at a .322 clip.
 
Versus the Bears
Bellarmine is 4-2 all-time against Central Arkansas. After beginning their series with three straight wins from 2022 through 2023, the Knights have dropped two of the last three to the Bears. On January 4 of last season in Conway, Bellarmine took a brief 53-52 lead on a Billy Smith jumper with 5:15 remaining, but was outscored 19-12 down the stretch and fell 71-65. Smith led the Knights with 21 points. The last Bellarmine win in the series came at Freedom Hall in February 2024 and featured a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Ben Johnson to lift the Knights, 68-65.
 
About North Alabama
North Alabama (5-8, 0-2 ASUN, NET No. 313) struggled in the opening week of conference play, dropping a pair of home games to Stetson (70-67) and FGCU (72-55) to extend their losing streak to four. Against Stetson, Canin Jefferson hit a three to cut UNA's deficit to one with six seconds remaining, but missed a running three-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. Against FGCU, UNA was able to trim a 12-point deficit to four with 9:21 to go, but the Eagles rattled off a 19-6 run from there for a 17-point win.
 
Four Lions average double-digit points, let by Donte Bacchus with 14.2. The senior forward in his second season in Florence, is 12th in the ASUN averaging 14.2 points. Corneilous Williams leads the ASUN pulling down 9.8 rebounds per game, while Bacchus ranks fifth at 6.1. A redshirt junior, Williams is also fifth in the ASUN swatting 1.1 shots per game.
 
UNA is 11th in the ASUN averaging 69.2 points and fourth allowing 74.8. Enter play this week, they are the worst shooting team in the league at .413. They are at the bottom of the league in shooting the deep ball, as well, at .294, though they have taken 122 fewer threes than any other team and average just 20.9 attempts. Despite the rebounding prowess of Williams and Bacchus, the Lions are just seventh in rebound margin at -1.2. Still, UNA is second averaging 4.3 blocks as a team.
 
The Lions will face Eastern Kentucky on Thursday before heading to the Highlands.
 
Versus the Lions
The Knights are 6-3 all-time against North Alabama, but have dropped three of the last four meetings. UNA was victorious over Bellarmine 82-66 in the ASUN opener for both teams last January 2 in Florence. Three Knights tallied double-digit points, but since-graduated guards Daniel Ortiz (26 points) and Taye Fields (20 points) keyed UNA's win.
 
Knights Knotes

• Bellarmine ranks 12th nationally with their .520 field goal percentage and 15th nationally with their .588 effective field goal percentage, both tops in the ASUN. Bellarmine is also fourth nationally with their .788 free throw percentage. Additionally, Bellarmine is 77-for-200 (.385) from three over their last 10 games. Overall on the season, Bellarmine is second in the ASUN at .358 from deep.
• Bellarmine has registered 14 individual 20-point performances this season (Jack Karasinski 9, Kenyon Goodin 2, Brian Waddell 2, Michael Wilson Jr. 1) after having just 12 all of last season and 14 in 2023-24.
• Jack Karasinski led Bellarmine with 24 points on 7-for-12 shooting (5-for-5 from three) against Queens. He leads the ASUN and ranks 12th nationally averaging 21.3 points. He has scored 20-plus points in nine of 12 games, including seven straight, already surpassing his six 20-point games from last season. His .573 field goal percentage is also second in the ASUN behind Brian Waddell and 55th nationally.
• Brian Waddell scored 15 points at Queens, going 7-for-11 from the floor. He leads the ASUN and is 14th nationally with his .641 field goal percentage. He ranks eighth in the ASUN averaging 15.6 points per game and has reached double digits in 12 of 14 games.
• These will be the first trips by either UCA or UNA to Knights Hall.

Free Beer & Ice Cream
Bellarmine is offering free beer and ice cream to BU students at Thursday's game against Central Arkansas. Students may redeem up to three free items, while supplies last, at the center bar in the Knights Hall lobby. Beer will only be available to students age 21-and-over.

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