Courtesy: The Citadel www.citadelsports.com The Bulldogs look to win their third straight game against Appalachian State, following a series sweep in 2008-09.

Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel Basketball returns to Southern Conference action on Wednesday when they travel to Appalachian State for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at the Holmes Center. The game time, originally set for 7 p.m., was moved back with the Mountaineers women's team also in action tomorrow evening. The Citadel (7-7, 1-1 SoCon) heads into the meeting fresh off a non-conference victory over Savannah State, 54-47. Meanwhile, ASU (7-6, 1-1) was unable to match a hot shooting Campbell squad who converted 58.6% (34-58) of their shots in a 92-63 loss.

The Bulldogs look to win their third straight game against Appalachian State, following a series sweep in 2008-09. It marked the third time in the 71 game history between the two schools that The Citadel won back-to-back meetings. The last time that the Bulldogs defeated the Mountaineers for a three-game stretch was on Jan. 21, 1974 (77-76); Dec. 14, 1974 (99-94) and Jan. 11, 1975 (70-69). 

After closing out non-conference play at 6-6, Head Coach Ed Conroy's squad will be embedded in SoCon action for the remainder of the season. The non-conference portion of the schedule gave Conroy and his staff an opportunity to see similar opponents that it will face in the upcoming games.

"Every game that we play we get information and our guys get put into different situations that they have to respond," said Conroy. "We take every game and analyze them all, look at our own team as much as the opponent, sometimes more, and try to get our guys better. We take all of the styles out there in college basketball, and we have seen a multitude of them, learn those lessons and make progress."

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: The meeting with Appalachian State will mark the first time in the head coaching careers of Ed Conroy and Buzz Peterson that the two have  gone head-to-head against one another. The careers of Conroy and Peterson have included four stops, dating back to the 1990 season when both worked at N.C. State. After working alongside Les Robinson with the Wolfpack (90-93), their relationship continued at Tulsa in 2000-01. They led the Golden Hurricane to the 2001 NIT Championship, before departing for the University of Tennessee.

From 2001-05 Peterson and Conroy shared the bench in Knoxville, making appearances in two NIT tournaments. The final stop for the pair came in 2005-06 at Coastal Carolina where they led the Chanticleers to an appearance in the Big South Tournament Championship and a 20-10 overall record. The Chants had a 13-year absence from the Championship, prior to their arrival, and completed the season at 12-4 in conference play that season.

"Honestly I haven't really thought about it," Conroy said of the meeting with Peterson. "I've got a lot of friends on that bench. Jamie Kachmarik (Coastal Carolina), Matt McMahon (Tennessee) and I were assistants together. It is not about the staff's, but rather about the players out there competing. I am anxious to get league play started and sure that they are as well."

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Through 14 games this season, The Citadel has put together a solid performance that has garnered national attention. Head Coach Ed Conroy's squad ranks in the top 133 of eight national categories, including 14th in personal fouls per game (15.0) and 36th in scoring defense. The Bulldogs staple tenacious defense has held its opposition to under 47 points on six different occasions this year.

Individually, Zach Urabanus and Cameron Wells rank among the nation's best, with Urbanus currently sitting in 19th with a 3-pt. FG percentage of 46.2%. The national leader, Noruwa Agho (Cimbia), enters this week with a 61.2% conversion rate. Urbanus is also 28th with an average of three 3-pointers per contest.

As for Wells, the junior point guard ranks has high as 93rd nationally in free-throw percentage (82.8%). Here is a look at the team and individual rankings for the Bulldogs entering play this week (Jan. 4):

Category	Actual	National Ranking
Personal Fouls Per Game	15.0	14 of 334
Turnovers Per Game	11.5	22 of 334
Scoring Defense	60	36 of 334
3-pt. FGs Per Game	7.7	64 of 334
Turnover Margin	2.4	75 of 334
Assist-Turnover Ratio	1.03	115 of 334
3-pt. FGs Pct.	35.8	123 of 334
Free-Throw Pct.	70.0	133 of 334
Player	Category	Actual	National Ranking
Zach Urbanus	3-pt. FG Pct.	46.2	19 of 250
Zach Urbanus	3-pt. FG Per Game	3.0	28 of 250
Cameron Wells	Free Throw Pct.	82.8	93 of 250
Cameron Wells	Points Per Game	17.0	107 of 250
Cameron Wells	Steals Per Game	1.9	108 of 250
Cameron Wells	Assists Per Game	4.2	122 of 250

HEAD-TO-HEAD: As each team enters the third Southern Conference game on the docket, the following is a comparison of their overall team and individual statistics. They indicate their ranking amongst other SoCon schools:

The Citadel (Rank-Statistic)	Category	Appalachian State (Rank-Statistic)
Cameron Wells (t4-17.0)	Scoring	Donald Sims (t4-17.0)
Zach Urbanus (13-12.1)		Jeremi Booth (27-9.7)
Joe Wolfinger (t24-9.9)
Joe Wolfinger (10-6.1)	Rebounding	Isaac Butts (t3-8.0)
Cameron Wells (18-4.8)		Andre Williamson (6-6.8)
Cameron Wells (14-45.1%)	Field Goal Percentage	Isaac Butts (1-60.9%)
		Jeremi Booth (9-48.3%)
		Donald Sims (11-46.7%)
Cameron Wells (4-4.2)	Assists Per Game	Ryann Abraham (14-2.9)
Cameron Wells (5-82.8%)	Free Throw Percentage	Donald Sims (1-94.7%)
		Kellen Brand (7-78.3)
Cameron Wells (4-1.9)	Steals	Ryann Abraham (t13-1.2)
Zach Urbanus (3-46.2%)	3-Point Pct.	Donald Sims (6-44.1%)
Cosmo Morabbi (14-39.0%)		Jeremi Booth (12-39.6%)
Zach Urbanus (2-3.0)	3-Point FG Made Avg/G	Donald Sims (1-3.2)
No Players In Top 15	Blocked Shots Avg/G	Andre Williamson (10-1.2)
		Isaac Butts (14-0.8)
Cameron Wells (7-1.8)	Assist/Turnover Ratio	No Players In Top 13
Joe Wolfinger (13-1.8)	Offensive Rebounds Avg.	Isaac Butts (4-2.6)
		Andre Williamson (14-1.8)
Joe Wolfinger (8-4.4)	Defensive Rebounds Avg.	Isaac Butts (t3-5.4)
Cameron Wells (13-3.8)		Andre Williamson (5-5.0)
Zach Urbanus (1-35.7)	Minutes Played Avg. Per Game	Donald Sims (10-31.5)
Cameron Wells (3-34.1)

SIMS REACHES 1,000 POINTS IN LOSS (Dec. 30): Donald Sims scored 10 first-half points and added six more in the second, including the three-pointer that gave him 1,000 points for his career, but Appalachian State University men's basketball fell, 92-63, at Campbell.

The Mountaineers (7-6) fell behind early, as Campbell opened a 20-6 lead and expanded the advantage to as many as 21 points in the first half before a late ASU run pulled the squad back to within 48-33 at the intermission.

Campbell (7-4) then scored the first seven points of the second half and effectively put the game out of reach, as the Apps never pulled closer than 61-49 after the break.

Sims dished out seven assists, which marked the most by any Mountaineer this season. Jeremi Booth added 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting and led the team with six rebounds.

Sims is just the 29th player to reach the 1,000-point mark in a career, and the second this season. Senior Kellen Brand reached the milestone in the second game of the season. Against Campbell, Brand scored two points and added a rebound and an assist in 19 minutes.

Andre Williamson was right behind with five rebounds to go along with four points, two steals and a block, while fellow post Isaac Butts contributed four rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Ryann Abraham came off the bench to add 11 points and three assists while Tyler Webb added four boards off the bench.

Campbell's Lorne Merthie led all scorers with a career-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting while Jonathan Rodriguez added 20 points and seven rebounds.

The Mountaineers held a 31-22 advantage on the boards, which marked the 11th time the squad has outrebounded its opponent in 13 games this season.

ASU dished out 14 assists, which marked the fourth consecutive game the team reached double figures in the category. CU's Junard Hartley tallied 10 assists of his own as the Camels racked up 28 in the game, the most allowed by an Appalachian opponent this season.