Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina men's basketball looks to bounce back from its first loss in well over a month as the Catamounts head to Greenville, S.C., to face chromatic rival Furman on Saturday (Jan. 20) afternoon. Tip-off between the dueling purple-clad squads from the on-campus Timmons Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live streaming audio from the Catamount Sports Network and live stats links available at CatamountSports.com. Fans can also hear the game locally on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" in Sylva (www.wrgc.com).
 
The Catamounts play their final road game of January on Saturday as WCU's next three games – and five of its next six – will be played at home as the squad endured a road-heavy front half of its schedule. WCU and ETSU now have both played a league-most 10 road games to date with the Catamounts pacing the conference with eight victories away from Cullowhee.
 
Western Carolina (15-3, 4-1 SoCon) looks to start another winning streak after seeing its nine-game run snapped by the streaking Samford Bulldogs, who have now won an NCAA-leading 16 straight games after holding off the Catamounts 75-71 in Cullowhee back on Tuesday night. Vonterius Woolbright fashioned his 15th double-double of the season with his 10th-consecutive double-dip to lead three Catamounts in double figures, finishing with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Russell Jones Jr. drained five 3-pointers on his way to a season-high 22 points and DJ Campbell posted all 12 of his points in the second half in the close home defeat which also halted a 10-game win streak on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
 
Woolbright continues to lead the SoCon in both scoring (20.7 ppg) and rebounding (12.4 rpg) while ranking third in assists with 5.3 helpers per game. The Albany, Ga., product is 13th nationally in scoring, second in rebounding, and boasts the nation's top defensive rebounding average at 10 per game – the only player averaging double figures. He's joined on the SoCon's Top 25 scoring charts by Tre Jackson (17th, 13.2 ppg), Russell Jones Jr. (21st, 12.1 ppg), and DJ Campbell (22nd, 12.0 ppg). Jackson is second with an average of 3.0 3-pointers per game while Jones Jr. boasts the league's second-best shooting percentage behind the arc at 41.9%.
 
The defending Southern Conference champions, Furman (9-9, 3-2 SoCon) has battled through numerous injuries to open the 2023-24 season and has the Paladins at .500 overall and just above the midline in league play heading into the weekend. Since losing three straight around the turn of the calendar year including a loss to NCAA Division II member Anderson and league road losses at UNCG and Chattanooga, the Paladins have won three straight in SoCon play. Last time out, the Paladins hit the century mark in a 40-point victory at VMI back on Wednesday.
 
Despite missing a few games – but having returned to action since early January – Furman's JP Pegues ranks third in the SoCon in scoring with a 17.1 ppg average, while ranking fourth just behind Woolbright with 5.3 assists per game.
 
Redshirt senior guard Marcus Foster returned to action for the first time in over a month earlier this week at VMI, scoring 18 points to bolster his team-best 19.6 ppg average as four Paladins average double-figures. Both Alex Williams and Carter Whitt average 10.4 points per game. Averaging 2.9 3-pointers per game – third in the SoCon – Williams has reached double-digits in four straight including 20+ in three in a row, while Whitt is coming off his third 20-pointer performance with 21 at VMI.
 
Thanks in part to hitting 100 at VMI – their third 100+ point game this season – the Paladins enter the matchup as the league's second-highest scoring team, averaging 82.8 points per game. WCU most recently held the nation's top-scoring team – Samford – 16 points below its seasonal average back on Tuesday as the Catamounts counter with the SoCon's top-scoring defense, limiting foes to an average of 66 points per outing. The top two rebounding squads in the conference wear purple as WCU (40.8 rpg) and Furman (39.8 rpg) rank first and second, respectively. The Paladins are third in offensive rebounding at 12.2 per game while WCU posts over 30 defensive boards per contest.
 
Saturday marks the 85th all-time series meeting between the two purple-clad programs with WCU trailing, 30-54. The Paladins took two of the three meetings a season ago – and have won 15 of the last 16 with WCU's 79-67 win in Cullowhee last season representing the lone victory for the Catamounts since 2017. The Paladins won handily in Greenville last season before escaping WCU in overtime in the SoCon Tournament, 83-80, after the Catamounts stormed back from a 20-point second-half deficit.
 
Following Saturday's road game, WCU won't leave Jackson County again until February. The Catamounts welcome three consecutive SoCon foes to Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center including UNCG on Wednesday, Jan. 24 for the "White Out Ramsey" game where fans are encouraged to wear their white WCU gear to the game. WCU remains at home on Sat., Jan. 27, to host VMI in the backend of a hoops doubleheader, with Chattanooga calling on Jan. 31.
 
For tickets to WCU's home games, please visit CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets.
 
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