Marty Gordon
ESPNU has selected the UNC Asheville at Radford men’s basketball contest as its fifth Big South Wildcard broadcast of the 2024-25 season, the Big South Conference office has announced.
The game will move from its current Wednesday, Feb. 19 date to Thursday, Feb. 20 and will tip at 7 p.m. inside the Dedmon Center on the campus of Radford University.
It will be the fifth all-time “Wildcard” meeting between the squads on ESPNU and first in two years. Asheville entered this week in second-place in the Big South standings with an 8-2 record, and won the first matchup this season with the Highlanders, 72-65, on Jan. 29. The Bulldogs were led by Jordan Marsh’s 19 points, and are looking to sweep the season series for the third consecutive year. Marsh is the scoring leader in Big South games with 24.4 points, and in league action, Asheville averages 84.1 points as a team and owns a conference-best +5.40 turnover margin.
Radford, which is 3-1 all-time vs. Asheville in the Big South’s ESPNU “Wildcard” series, sits in fourth place in the conference standings at 6-5, and was led by Brandon Maclin in the first contest with 19 points. The Highlanders’ bench scoring is tops in the Big South with its 31.27 average, which ranks 16th nationally. Radford is allowing the fewest points in conference games this season (70.6) and is second in 3-point field goal percentage against Big South foes at 40.1 percent.
This is the 12th year of the Big South’s ESPNU Wildcard series, which again features six Thursday primetime broadcasts.
Big South honors Highlander
The Big South Conference has announced Tuesday morning sophomore Morgan Cooper has been named Pitcher of the Week after her incredible debut for the 2025 season this past weekend.
Cooper made an incredible first impression for her sophomore season, guiding Radford to a power victory over Louisville and a narrow defeat to (RV) Liberty. In her season debut against Liberty, she allowed just one earned run over six+ innings pitched against an offense that would go on to score 29 runs (7.25 runs per game) the rest of the weekend. Shaking off the close loss, Cooper returned to the circle for an even more impressive showing against Louisville going the distance holding the Cardinals to just one run. The power win was Radford’s first since last season, and just second in the last six seasons.
ACC recognizes Lemley
After throwing the first perfect game of her career, Virginia Tech’s Emma Lemley has been tabbed the ACC Pitcher of the Week.
Lemley earned two wins over 11.0 innings pitched at the Charleston Invitational. Against the College of Charleston, Lemley recorded eight strikeouts over 15 batters faced as she became just the sixth pitcher in program history to throw a perfect game. She threw 5.0 innings against the Cougars in the shutout victory.
In her first win of the weekend, Lemley tossed a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts in the Hokies’ 12-0 win over Fordham.
She tallied 22 strikeouts over both wins and threw 11.0 scoreless innings.
Lemley is now a seven-time ACC Pitcher of the Week who last garnered the award on March 14, 2023. She is a three-time All-ACC selection, and she was named to the 2025 USA Softball Top 50 Player of the Year Watchlist.
She was part of a staff that combined for a nation-leading 0.00 ERA through opening weekend. Her, along with Cassie Grizzard, Sophie Kleiman and Emma Mazzarone, combined for 40 strikeouts and held opponents to a .071 batting average in five shutout victories.
ACC broadcasts
ACC Network (ACCN), the 24/7 national platform dedicated to ACC sports, will present an extensive 2025 spring sports schedule which includes 130+ baseball, men’s and women’s lacrosse and softball matchups on ACCN as part of coverage across ESPN platforms. Additionally, ACC Network Extra (ACCNX), the network’s digital arm available on the ESPN app, will carry an additional 750+ ACC events.
Regular season and tournament action on ACCN includes: 51 baseball games, 55 softball games, 18 women’s lacrosse games and 15 men’s lacrosse games.
Women’s basketball tourney
The Atlantic Coast Conference and ESPN announced the network designations for the upcoming 2025 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Tuesday, which will feature semifinal matchups and a pair of quarterfinal games on ESPN2 for the first time in tournament history. As previously announced, the Championship final will be played on ESPN for the fourth consecutive year.
The 2025 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament will mark the 48th edition of the nation’s longest-running women’s basketball conference championship. It will mark the 25th time in the last 26 years in which First Horizon Coliseum and the city of Greensboro have hosted the event. This year’s tournament begins on Wednesday, March 5, with first-round action and will conclude on Sunday, March 9 with the title game.
ACC Network will continue to be the exclusive home for the Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, with on-site studio coverage throughout the event.
Hokie to national team
U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Emma Hayes has named the 23-player roster for the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa, taking place in Houston (Feb. 20), Glendale, Ariz. (Feb. 23) and San Diego (Feb. 26).
The U.S. roster features 21 field players and two goalkeepers. This tournament will be the 10th annual SheBelieves Cup, and the USA has won the past five editions.
The squad includes former Hokie goalie Mandy McGlynn, who is currently the starting GK of the Utah Royals and was a back-to-back All-ACC First Team GK while in Blacksburg.
She had previously earned a callup and debuted with the USWNT on October 30, earning a clean sheet in a 3-0 defeat of Argentina.