Western Kentucky (1-1) plays its final contest of the Asheville Championship against South Carolina (1-1) this afternoon at 4 p.m. (CT) in Asheville, North Carolina. The game will be aired on ESPNU.
WKU fell 73-69 to Minnesota in the opening game of the Asheville Championship on Friday night, despite a late comeback effort led by sophomore guard Dayvion McKnight.
McKnight had his best performance so far this season in Friday's loss, scoring 34 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. The Shelbyville, Kentucky native has 53 points through two games, which is almost 32% of his total points scored as a freshman.
McKnight's performance was just the 13th time since 2010 nationally that a player had 34 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Graduate senior guard Camron Justice who was just recently granted an extra year of eligibility was not present in Asheville on Friday evening due to getting married.
During Friday night's postgame press conference, Stansbury said he expects Justice to be available for Sunday afternoon's matchup.
The Hilltoppers are 29-48 all-time against SEC programs and 1-6 all-time against the Gamecocks. The last time the two met on the hardwood was at Diddle Arena during the 2010-11 season where WKU fell short to South Carolina 87-85 in double-overtime.
WKU is 9-7 against Power Five teams over the course of the last four-plus seasons and has won its last three games against SEC teams. The Hilltoppers defeated Arkansas in both the 2018 and 2019 season and bested Alabama in the 2020 season.
WKU head coach and former Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury was 143-116 against SEC programs while posting a 12-5 all-time record in his career against South Carolina.
The Hilltoppers are 8-5 since 2017 in regular-season tournaments as they have established victories in the 2017 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2018 Myrtle Beach Invitational, 2019 Paradise Jam and the 2020 Crossover Classic.
South Carolina took on Princeton in the second game of the Asheville Championship on Friday night where the Tigers escaped with a 66-62 win over the Gamecocks.
Redshirt junior guard Jermaine Couisnard led the Gamecocks' offense with 17 points. The East Chicago, Indiana native is in his third season with the program. Last season, Cousinard played 27.0 minutes per game where he averaged 10.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals. Couisnard has earned SEC Freshman of the Week, CBS Sports/USBWA Freshman of the Week and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team in his first season at South Carolina.
Senior guard Erik Stevenson had 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists in Friday's loss. Prior to South Carolina, Stevenson spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Wichita State and his junior season at Washington. As a Huskie, Stevenson played in all 26 games while starting in 23. The Lacey, Washington. native averaged 9.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in 26.4 minutes per game at Washington.
Junior forward/center Wildens Leveque was a flawless 6-of-6 from the field against Princeton as he scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds. The Brockton, Massachusetts native played in 21 games last season as a sophomore, earning 15 starts while averaging 6.1 points and 4.8 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game.
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