Live Video: Queens Sports Network

Phil Constantino (pxp), Dr. Tim Brown (analyst), Holly Van Kuren (sideline)

Live Stats: QueensAthletics.com

 
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 6/6 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team (5-0) renews its local rivalry with Belmont Abbey College (3-2) on Saturday night at the Levine Center. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Saturday marks the 47^th all-time meeting between the former conference rivals. The Royals lead the all-time series, 29-17, but lost the most recent encounter last season, 76-55, at home. Before a brief hiatus in the series, the two sides met every year from 1990-2013.

Saturday's meeting was originally scheduled as a home game for Belmont Abbey as the return trip of a two-year home-and-home series, however, the game was moved to Charlotte on Wednesday due to the  planned staging of the Conference Carolinas Women's Volleyball Championship at the Wheeler Center on campus at Belmont Abbey.

General admission is $6 for adults, $4 for children ages 13-17, and free for seniors (60 and older) and children 12 and under. Queens students, faculty, and staff also receive free admission with the presentation of their Queens ID card.
 

Quick Facts
No. 6/6 Queens Royals (5-0)
(Game Notes)

-Queens 5-0 for the fourth time in five years after defeating The University of West Georgia, 92-85, on the road on Wednesday night. The Royals trailed by 15 points with 17:04 to play, but led by the first-career double-double for freshman forward Jay'Den Turner (18 points, 14 rebounds), Queens earned the comeback victory.

-Other notable wins this season include a victory over 2018 NCAA Tournament participant Emmanuel College, and victories over Lees-McRae College and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, two regionally-ranked teams.

-On Tuesday, Nov. 19, the Royals rose two spots to No. 6 in the NABC / Division II Rankings. The placement in the first official poll of the 2019-2020 season marked the 61st consecutive week in which Queens has been featured in the national coaches' poll, a streak that dates back to the first poll of the 2015-2016 season on Nov. 24, 2015.

-The Royals also improved one spot to No. 6 in the D2SIDA Media poll and have cracked the top-10 nationally in both polls during each of the last five seasons.

-The two-time reigning regional champions remained the No. 1-ranked team in the Southeast Region, D2SIDA announced on Monday, Nov. 18. The Royals received five of six first-place votes and 59 points, placing just ahead of conference rival Lincoln Memorial University (4-1) in second.

-Daniel Carr was named South Atlantic Conference AstroTurf Men's Basketball Player of the Week for his week-one performance. In two wins over Young Harris College and Emmanuel College, Carr averaged 24 points, four assists, two steals, and two rebounds while shooting 70.6 percent from the floor and 62.5 percent from the 3-point line. The weekly honor was Carr's second career Player of the Week nod.

-Queens, the reigning South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Champion, was picked atop the SAC's Preseason Poll, as voted on by the League's coaches. The Royals received eight of 12 first-place votes and 117 points to edge Lincoln Memorial, who was picked second, and Catawba College, who was picked third.

-Two Royals received preseason all-conference honors in advance of the 2019-2020 season. Senior guard Daniel Carr, who was named a first-team all-conference selection last year, was named to the League's first team, and redshirt-senior guard Van Turner Jr., who earned an honorable mention all-conference nod last year, was named a preseason second-team all-conference selection.

-Carr was named a Preseason Honorable Mention All-American by Street & Smith's Basketball Magazine. Last season, Carr was named a second-team all-region selection by two outlets (NABC & D2CCA) and to the Bevo Francis Award Top 100 Watch List.

-Over the previous three seasons, the Royals have won 93 games, the fourth most of any program at all NCAA levels during that span (Gonzaga 103, Northwest Missouri State 100, Villanova 94).

-The Royals have won 30 games or more in each of the last three seasons and are one of just two programs in all levels of NCAA basketball who have accomplished the feat (Gonzaga).
 

Belmont Abbey Crusaders (3-2)    

-Belmont Abbey has opened the season 3-2, most recently falling to the University of South Carolina Aiken (1-5), 90-84, in overtime on Wednesday night. DeQuan Abrom, the reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Year, led BAC with a game-high 30 points.

-Abrom, a two-time first-team all-conference selection and a Preseason Honorable Mention All-American by Street & Smith's, is the teams' leading scorer (26 PPG).

-Sean Halloran, the reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Week, is BAC's second leading scorer (16.8 PPG).

-The Crusaders possess the 12th-best scoring offense in NCAA Division II (94.4 PPG).

-Belmont Abbey was picked to finish first in the CC Preseason Coaches' poll after a second-place finish last season. The Crusaders finished 2018-2019 with a 23-8 overall record (14-4 CC) losing in the CC Championship Game and falling one-game shy of an NCAA Tournament appearance.

-BAC is ranked eighth in the D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll.

-During the offseason, previous head coach Billy Taylor resigned after three seasons and returned to The University of Iowa as an assistant coach. This season, the Crusaders are under the direction of first-year head coach Dan Ficke, a veteran Division I assistant coach who spent the last four seasons at University of Denver.