by Grant Bricker | Oct 29, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
The Atlantic Sun Conference is doing its best to limit travel and COVID exposure with a new basketball schedule that will keep each school’s 16 conference games, but put weekend series between teams at only one school’s basketball arena. This means that two ASUN teams will play each other twice in the span of one weekend. The teams will also be given a day to rest up in between the games. In the past, each team would have played one of the games at home. One of the main goals of this setup is to reduce travel by the two teams. It’s another example of an effort to further keep teams from spreading COVID-19 by limiting the distance traveled. ASUN men’s basketball starts on New Year’s Eve and will end on Feb. 27. Women’s basketball will begin on New Year’s Day and will come to a close on Feb. 28. Lipscomb’s men’s team will have home series with Liberty (Dec. 31/Jan. 2), FGCU (Jan. 21/23), Kennesaw State (Feb. 4/6) and North Florida (Feb. 18/20). The away series for the men’s will be Bellarmine (Jan. 7/9), Stetson (Jan. 28/30), Jacksonville (Feb. 11/13) and North Alabama (Feb. 25/27). The Lady Bisons will play the same schools but on different dates and at different locations. The home games for the Lady Bison are Bellarmine (Jan. 8/10), Stetson (Jan. 29/31), Jacksonville (Feb. 12/14) and North Alabama (Feb. 26/28). The away series for the Lady Bison are Liberty (Jan. 1/3), FGCU (Jan. 22/24), Kennesaw State (Feb. 5/7) and North Florida (Feb. 19/21). The season will remain conference-only, which is how college football is typically...
by Grant Ledgister | Apr 16, 2020 | COVID-19, News Slider, Sports
Telling Lipscomb athletes that sports for the semester had ended hurt Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson as much as it hurt the athletes. “It was totally heartbreaking knowing what that meant for all of our spring sport athletes,” Hutcheson said. “When I went and told the baseball team about it, I felt like I was talking to 35 guys who had all torn their ACLs at the same time and their careers were over.” From quarantines and stay-at-home orders to school closing and everything in between, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed daily life for people across the world. For collegiate athletes and administrators, the virus has flipped their seasons upside down. In an announcement made in early March, the NCAA canceled the seasons of all spring and winter sports. This included the popular March Madness national basketball tournament. “Obviously there are many worse things going on in the world right now than not being able to play a sport,” Hutcheson said. “But for all of these students it’s very important and something they’ve worked towards for a long time. They realize that it’s not just games they’re going to miss, it’s time with their teammates and coaches.” To make up for the inability to play, the NCAA made the decision to give athletes playing spring sports an extra year of eligibility. Some athletes, however, may not be able to take advantage of this. “We know already that about half of the seniors will not be coming back,” Hutcheson said. “The rest of them – some financial decisions have to be made. Most spring sport athletes, if not all of them,...
by Kathryn Farris | Jul 31, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Former Lipscomb star and aspiring NBA player Garrison Mathews has made a return to the Lipscomb campus for his “Garrison Mathews Pro Skills Mini-Camp.” The camp takes place Tuesday and Wednesday at the Lipscomb Academy gymnasium. “A lot of professional players will come back to their hometown, and in a way give back and teach to help the younger generation,” said basketball trainer Colin Stevens, who is helping with the camp. “This is all about Garrison connecting with his people in Nashville and making his imprint now that he’s going on to D.C.” The Lipscomb grad’s NBA career kickstarted late June when he signed a two-way deal with the Washington Wizards. “It’s such a blessing…something I’m going to continue to work for and keep trying to stick,” said Mathews. Mathews represented the Wizards in the NBA summer league, where, he said: “There were some ups and downs, it’s a tough grind for sure. It was a long summer, but it was good to work out with guys who are obviously great players.” For Mathews, the “Pro Skills Mini-Camp” gives him the opportunity to return to the campus where he spent the past four years. “They [Lipscomb] did a lot for me on the court and helped me become the player I am today, but they’ve helped me off the court in so many ways that nobody knows. “I’ve grown so much as a person and not just a player, I can’t thank Lipscomb enough.” The camp welcomes players grades six-12 for the two-day event. “Hopefully they [participants] learn a little about basketball and a lot about themselves,” said Stevens. According to Stevens, this...
by Grant Ledgister | Jun 21, 2019 | BREAKING NEWS, News Slider, Sports
Even though he didn’t hear his name called during the draft, the reigning ASUN Player of the Year is still headed to an NBA team. Garrison Mathews signed a two-way deal with the Washington Wizards. This means that, although he takes up one of the 17 roster spots for Washington, Mathews will spend the majority of his time with the Wizard’s G League affiliate (the NBA’s minor league, previously called the D League) this season. He will only be allowed to spend 45 days per season with the Wizards “big league” franchise itself throughout the duration of the contract. The Wizards were one of the four teams Mathews worked out for prior to the NBA Draft June 20. If Mathews does well enough in the G League to make it onto the primary Wizards squad, he would become the first Bison to play in an NBA game. Washington’s G League team is called the Capital City Go-Go. When at home, they play at St. Elizabeth’s East Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. The next step for Mathews is the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which takes place from July 5-15 and will be his first chance to go against competition at the NBA level. If he is still on the roster after the Summer League, Mathews will play in the G League regular season that is 50-games long and begins in the fall. Official schedules for when the league begins have not yet been released. This move comes after Mathews’ record-breaking career at Lipscomb. He is the school’s all-time leading scorer (with 2,478 total points) and three-pointers...
by Grant Ledgister | Jun 18, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The ASUN conference is getting a new challenger in athletics in the Bellarmine University Knights. The Knights will become the 10th school to join the conference, Bellarmine announced Tuesday morning. However, the university will not join the conference until the 2020-2021 school year. Bellarmine, located in Louisville, is a Catholic university with nearly 4,000 total students. It is set to become the only private D-I school in the state. The Knights were formerly competing in Division II athletics as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, a conference it helped create in 1978. Out of its 22 varsity teams, Bellarmine will compete in 17 sports sponsored by the ASUN conference, including basketball and soccer. Men’s lacrosse, field hockey and wrestling will all compete at other conferences or with independent D-I status; men’s and women’s swimming will compete in the Coastal College Sports Association. Bellarmine showed it had the ability to compete at the D-II level, reaching the NCAA Division II basketball championship every year for the past 11 years and winning the tournament in 2012 under coach Scott Davenport. Knights baseball received an automatic berth into the D-II Midwest Regionals, and women’s soccer has reached its tournament six out of the past 10 years. “ASUN is a perfect fit for the Knights, because – like Bellarmine – every school in the conference is committed to putting students first,” Bellarmine Athletic Director Scott Wiegandt said in a press release. “Our student-athletes already meet Division I academic standards, and our players and coaches will be ready to compete when we join our new conference next year. The move to Division I...
