Tonight at 6:30 p.m. the UNC Asheville men’s basketball team will host the High Point Panthers in a grueling duel. The two teams are at the top of the Big South conference with the Panthers first with a 5-0 record in conference competition and the Bulldogs second with a 4-1 record with one loss to High Point 84-79 in their last meet-up in Highpoint on Jan. 10.

This meet-up will be the most important game for the Bulldogs if they hope to be number one in the conference. If the Bulldogs become the best team in the Big South and stay that way, it would earn them a prime place in the conference tournament, with hopes to win the Big South Championship back to back. It would then lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA national tournament, as winning the conference tournament is the only way for teams to get into the national tournament right now. Thus, the game on the second Wednesday of Feb. is crucial for the team. 

As of right now, not only is Drew Pember leading the Bulldogs in points but he is also leading the whole Big South conference in points per game. The fifth-year senior forward from Knoxville, Tennessee, also leads the conference in blocks and is fourth in the Big South Conference for rebounds.  Caleb Burgess, a senior guard from Winston Salem, leads the conference in assists. Fletcher Abee, the senior guard from Morganton, North Carolina and Josh Banks, the senior guard from Charlotte, North Carolina, are two and three in three-pointers in the conference. 

On High Point’s end, Trae Breham, a Junior guard from Concord, North Carolina leads the Big South in three-pointers.  They also have Duke Miles, a junior guard from Montgomery, Alabama, who is second in the conference in points and has the most assists of the team, earning him the 4th place for assists in the conference. Kimani Hamilton, a sophomore forward from Jackson, Mississippi is first on the team for rebounds which makes him second in the conference and fifth in the conference in points. Juslin Bodo Bodo, a freshman forward from ​​Yaounde, Cameroon, is tied for second in blocks, and is third in rebounds.

As the game between these two teams will be so crucial, nothing is worse than being one of the best teams in the conference and the arena being a ghost town in an all-or-nothing game. UNCA students, we need to show up, we need to be loud. We need to make our little 3,400 arena feel like a 50,000-person stadium in a playoff game. We must show our face paint, wave our pom poms, and chant until our voices are hoarse. We need to be the loudest fans in the Big South.

Right now according to ESPN Analytics, the Bulldogs have a 56.8 percent chance of beating the Panthers. In my opinion, it will be higher if the team feels that the whole school is backing them up as was seen at the blue out last Wednesday.