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Wake Forest MBB Preview - FRONT

Men's Basketball Greg Hartlage, Director of Media Relations

Catamounts Head to Winston for Midweek Action at Wake

Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina men's basketball opens a busy stretch of major opponents beginning on Tuesday night against --/RV Wake Forest out of the Atlantic Coast Conference from Winston Salem. The matchup against the Demon Deacons will be at 7 p.m. from ACC Network from Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The game will be broadcast on ACC Network (paid subscription required) with live streaming audio from the Catamount Sports Network (6:30 p.m. air time) and live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.

Matchup: Western Carolina (2-1) at –/RV Wake Forest (4-1)
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 13
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Site: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Winston Salem, N.C.) 
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: ACC Network (paid subscription required)
Live Audio: Catamount Sports Network (click link to listen)
Twitter: @CatamountMBB

About Western Carolina:
Western Carolina men's basketball begins a tough stretch of road contests on Tuesday night battling ACC foe Wake Forest in a midweek tilt from Winston Salem. WCU looks for back-to-back wins after tallying a 99-64 victory over NAIA Foe Truett McConnell last time out while the Demon Deacons look to rebound from their first defeat of the season in a 75-60 loss on Saturday to Xavier in the Skip Prosser Classic.

Western Carolina men's basketball used a season-high 14 3-pointers led by five from junior guard Ice Emery and a stifling defense that limited Truett McConnel to just 24 points in the second half as the Catamounts picked up the 99-64 victory over the NAIA-member Bears. Western Carolina (2-1) was led on the glass by redshirt junior forward Chase McKey, who made his first start of the season, as he pulled down nine boards and dished out three assists. Redshirt sophomore Marcus Kell had a team-high three blocks while adding seven points and four rebounds to his stat line.

In the contest, the Catamounts continued to control the glass with 50 rebounds including 17 on the offensive boards led by four from McKey. As a team, WCU leads the SoCon with 49.7 rebounds per game including a SoCon-high 36.3 on the defensive glass.

Head Coach Tim Craft and the Catamounts face a strong nonconference slate that includes teams from the ACC, SEC opposition and a Big East counterpart as all three programs eclipsed 17 wins last season with a pair of them getting to 27 wins and those two advancing to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.

Craft is accustomed to playing big name schools during his time at Gardner-Webb as he totaled 41 contests against schools from the ACC, SEC, Big 10, PAC 12, Big East and American Athletic Conference. As the Catamounts will matchup with Wake Forest, Florida State, Marquette and Tennessee all prior to SoCon play, Craft-led teams have had their most success against the league with three wins coming against the likes of Clemson, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest during his tenure in Boiling Springs. Craft's Runnin' Bulldog squads also claimed wins over Purdue, Nebraksa and UGA during his time at Gardner-Webb.

Scouting the Opposition:
Wake Forest comes into Tuesday's action off of its first defeat of the 2024-25 season falling 75-60 in Cincinnati to Xavier in the Skip Prosser Classic, an event held between the two schools that Skip Prosser led throughout his coaching career. The classic spanned to WCU in 2019 when WCU battled Xavier and the Musketeers and Winthrop met in 2023 under former WCU head coach and Skip Prosser's son, Mark.

The Demon Deacons earned wins over Coppin State (64-49), N.C. A&T (80-64), Michigan (72-70) and USC Upstate (85-80) to begin the 2024-25 season and were the third receiving votes team in the AP poll before falling on Saturday to Xavier.

Senior Hunter Sallis who garnered all-conference honors including three votes for player of the year, leads the Demon Deacons on the offensive end with 16.2 points per game as the Omaha, Nebraska native has scored 14+ points in four of five games including a season-high 23 against USC Upstate. Sallis has also been efficent from the charity stripe making 82.1 (23-of-28) free throws for Wake Forest.

Senior guard Cameron Hildreth checks in averaging 10.8 points/game as Hildreth and Sallis both lead the Demon Deacons with 21 assists. Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers is averaging 10.4 points per contest to round out the double-figure averages for Wake Forest.

Wake Forest was tabbed third in the ACC Preseason Media Poll earning one of the first-place votes from the media voters. The Demon Deacons finished 21-14 including an 11-9 mark in the ACC advancing to the second round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) before falling to Georgia who was able to advance to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Seton Hall. The Demon Deacons are under the direction of Steve Forbes who's in his fifth year at the helm in Winston Salem after a successful five-year stint with SoCon foe ETSU totaling a 130-43 (.751) with as he eclipsed 24 wins each year in Johnson City.

Series History:
Western Carolina and Wake Forest meet on Tuesday for just the third time in program history as the Demon Deacons earned an 87-75 win over the Catamounts using an early second half run to distance to two squads during the 2021-22 season.Travion McCray scored a team-high 21 points off the bench for WCU before Wake earned the victory. In both contests with the Demon Deacons, WCU has connected on 10+ triples with 22 combined over the two defeats.

WCU looks to pick up a win over a Power-Four opponent for the second-straight season as the Catamounts earned wins over ACC-Foe Notre Dame (71-61) and SEC opponent Vanderbilt (63-62) last season.

The Catamounts stay in the ACC for their next tilt with a trip to Tallahassee for a matchup against Florida State on Tues., Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. on ACCN Extra. This matchup with the Seminoles was initially scheduled for Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville but was moved due to regional damage and relief efforts associated with Hurricane Helene. Next Tuesday's matchup with the Seminoles will be shown on ACC Network (paid subscription required), with live stats available on CatamountSports.com.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount men's basketball and WCU Athletics through our social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@catamountmbb @wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@CatamountMBB @catamounts).
 
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Players Mentioned

Marcus Kell

#23 Marcus Kell

F
6' 8"
Redshirt Sophomore
Chase McKey

#1 Chase McKey

F
6' 10"
Redshirt Junior
Ice Emery

#8 Ice Emery

G
6' 0"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Marcus Kell

#23 Marcus Kell

6' 8"
Redshirt Sophomore
F
Chase McKey

#1 Chase McKey

6' 10"
Redshirt Junior
F
Ice Emery

#8 Ice Emery

6' 0"
Junior
G