SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Western Carolina men's and women's basketball teams will play 18 and 14 Southern Conference games, respectively, as the conference announced its league schedule for the 2020-21 season on Tuesday. Each team will play the same number of league games as in previous seasons with the men playing conference contests on Wednesday and Saturday with the women playing Thursday and Saturday.

WCU's full 2020-21 schedules and broadcast information will be released in the coming weeks.

Both the Catamount men and women open the league schedule on the home court of the defending regular season and tournament champions. The WCU men travel to ETSU on Wednesday, Dec. 30 with the women's league lid-lifter on Thursday, Jan. 7 at Samford.

The Catamount men open the home portion of the SoCon schedule on Saturday, Jan. 2 against The Citadel with a visit from Furman coming the following Wednesday. WCU is at home for three straight Wednesdays in the month of January with road Saturday contests before closing out the month's final week with a trip to VMI on Jan. 27 and a visit from Samford on Jan. 30. The closing stretch of the regular season has WCU playing two of its final three games at home, both on Saturdays. The Catamounts will play no more than two straight games either at the Ramsey Center or on the road.

After their league opener at Samford, the WCU women complete the first weekend of SoCon play with a visit to Mercer on Jan. 9. The Catamounts welcome Palmetto State foes Wofford (Jan. 14) and Furman (Jan. 16) and conclude a three-game homestand against UNCG on Jan. 23. WCU wraps up the home slate on Feb. 6 against Samford before hitting the road for the final three games of the regular season.

The Ingles Southern Conference Tournament presented by General Shale is scheduled for March 4-8 at the Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville.

As WCU continues to work with local and state officials to determine capacity limits and physical distancing guidelines for indoor venues, information regarding tickets for Western Carolina men's and women's basketball games will be released as soon as it becomes available.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount basketball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountMBB, @CatamountWBB).