CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Following Tuesday's thrilling overtime win over Bowling Green, the Western Carolina men's basketball team hits the road in-state for a pair of games, visiting Wake Forest on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and traveling to East Carolina on Sunday at 4 p.m.
 
Friday's game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra (paid subscription required) and will air on the Catamount Sports Network with pregame coverage commencing at 7 p.m. Sunday's matchup in Greenville, N.C., will be streamed on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
 
In WCU's season-opening win over Bowling Green, a pair of graduate students led the team to victory. Nicholas Robinson scored a team-best 15 points, eight of which came in overtime, and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds in the double-double effort. Cam Bacote added 12 points including the game-tying layup with 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation. Redshirt junior Joe Petrakis also posted a double-double in the winning effort with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The WCU/Wake Forest matchup will be a homecoming of sorts for first-year Catamount head coach Justin Gray. As a student-athlete at Wake, Gray scored 1,946 points which ranks 8^th on the Demon Deacon career scoring list. He averaged 16.2 points per game and is second on Wake Forest's career made 3-pointers list with 319 with a 3-point field goal percentage of 37.1 percent. Gray was a three-time All-ACC selection, earning the honor in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
 
Gray isn't the only member of the Catamount staff making a return to a familiar place as Director of Basketball Operations Molly Bachand worked in the Wake Forest athletic department for five years as the Director of Equipment Services for the men's and women's basketball teams before arriving in Cullowhee this spring.
 
Wake Forest won its season opener 77-59 over William & Mary on Wednesday night as four players finished in double figures. Demon Deacon head coach Steve Forbes is familiar with the Catamounts as he previously led Southern Conference foe ETSU from 2015-20. Friday's game is the second all-time meeting between the schools with the Demon Deacons earning a 71-64 win in Winston-Salem on Nov. 27, 2018.
 
East Carolina picked up a 70-62 season-opening win over South Carolina State on Tuesday at Minges Coliseum. JJ Miles led four Pirates in double figures with 18 points. Vance Jackson and Brandon Johnson each posted a double-double to aid in the victory. ECU faces Canisius at home on Friday night before hosting the Catamounts to conclude a three-game season-opening homestand. The Pirates and Catamounts last met in 2005 with ECU claiming a 56-48 win in Greenville. Sunday's contest is the 44^th all-time meeting in the series with ECU leading 26-17.
 
WCU remains on the road next week, heading to Farmville, Va. for the four-team Jerome Kersey Classic hosted by Longwood. The Catamounts will face UMBC on Nov. 19 followed by American on Nov. 20 before closing out the tournament against the host Lancers on Nov. 21. Each game will be available on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with audio coverage from the Catamount Sports Network on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.
 
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