Bendinger leads South Carolina Upstate against Gardner-Webb after 28-point showing

Audio By Carbonatix

South Carolina Upstate Spartans (9-12, 1-5 Big South) at Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (2-19, 0-6 Big South)

Boiling Springs, North Carolina; Friday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: South Carolina Upstate plays Gardner-Webb after Mason Bendinger scored 28 points in South Carolina Upstate's 83-69 loss to the UNC Asheville Bulldogs.

The Runnin' Bulldogs are 2-6 in home games. Gardner-Webb is 2-16 in games decided by 10 points or more.

The Spartans have gone 1-5 against Big South opponents. South Carolina Upstate is 5-3 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 11.4 turnovers per game.

Gardner-Webb is shooting 41.6% from the field this season, 1.0 percentage point lower than the 42.6% South Carolina Upstate allows to opponents. South Carolina Upstate averages 76.2 points per game, 12.7 fewer points than the 88.9 Gardner-Webb gives up.

The Runnin' Bulldogs and Spartans face off Friday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jacob Hogarth is scoring 10.7 points per game and averaging 7.2 rebounds for the Runnin' Bulldogs. Colin Hawkins is averaging 11.2 points and 1.7 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Bendinger is shooting 48.6% and averaging 15.8 points for the Spartans. Karmani Gregory is averaging 12.1 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Runnin' Bulldogs: 2-8, averaging 68.7 points, 27.4 rebounds, 10.5 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 43.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 85.8 points per game.

Spartans: 3-7, averaging 72.3 points, 32.1 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 5.3 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.5 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.