Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina men's basketball looks to bounce back on Saturday afternoon, seeking their third-straight home victory on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center as the Catamounts host mountain-rival East Tennessee State in the front end of a WCU hoops doubleheader.
 
The Catamount men host the "Beat the Bucs – Black Out Ramsey" game with all fans encouraged to match the squad's black Nike uniforms by wearing their black WCU gear to the game. In the doubleheader nightcap, the Catamount women host Samford for their annual "Shoot for the Cure – Pink Out" game with fans encouraged to wear pink to raise awareness for breast cancer.
 
Saturday is also Senior Day for both the Catamount men's and women's teams with special pregame ceremonies scheduled ahead of tip-off.
 
Both games on Saturday will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live streaming audio from the Catamount Sports Network and live stats available online at CatamountSports.com. The men's game can also be heard on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" in Sylva (www.wrgc.com) with a 3:30 p.m. airtime.
 
Saturday's game could go a long way in helping determine rankings and seedings for the 2024 Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship slated for March 7-11. WCU (7-6) enters the weekend in sixth place, right on the cut-line for earning a first-round bye and advancing into Saturday's games on the second day of the tournament. ETSU sits just below the fold at 5-8, two games in arrears of the Purple & Gold in the standings. A WCU win would secure the regular-season series sweep and give the Catamounts the tiebreaker over three of the four teams behind them in the standings with one game remaining at VMI.
 
WCU (18-8, 7-6 SoCon) looks to rebound from a tough 88-62 road loss at league-leading Samford on Wednesday night as the Catamounts were unable to overcome a season-high 16 turnovers and a hot-shooting Bulldog squad that managed 50 percent from the floor with nine 3-pointers. Vonterius Woolbright posted his 22nd double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead a trio in double figures. DJ Campbell scored nine in the second half to finish with 13 points while Tre Jackson hit two 3-pointers in posting 10 points.
 
Woolbright continues to lead four Catamounts in double-digit scoring with a SoCon-best 22.3 points per game and a conference-best 12.3 rebounds per outing. Jackson, the league's second-best 3-point shooter at 3.2 made per game, averages 13.7 points per game to rank 15th. That duo is joined in double figures by DJ Campbell (12.0 ppg, 20th) and Russell Jones Jr. (11.6 ppg, 21st).
 
ETSU (13-12, 5-7 SoCon) dropped its second-straight game on the heels of a three-game winning streak on Wednesday night, falling at home to in-state rival Chattanooga, 84-71, in the 100th series meeting. The Mocs used a 15-to-2 surge late in the first half to build a lead it would never relinquish. UTC connected on 16 3-pointers in the win over ETSU.
 
Three Buccaneers are averaging double-figure scoring with Jaden Seymour and Ebby Asamoah averaging 15.2 and 15.0 points per game, respectively. Seymour is eighth in the league in scoring with Asamoah 14th. Quimari Peterson is just behind at 13.3 points per game, 16th in the conference. ETSU boasts three players among the conference leaders on the boards with Karon Boyd (7th, 6.8 rpg), Jadyn Parker (8th, 6.7 rpg), and Seymour (9th, 6.5 rpg) each in a row.
 
Points could be at a premium on Saturday afternoon as the SoCon's top two scoring defenses square off in Cullowhee. WCU continues to rank as the league's top-scoring defense in limiting foes to 68.9 points per game while ETSU has held opponents to 69.0 per contest including a SoCon-low 70.2 points per game in league action only. The Catamounts additionally rank second in the conference in opponent field goal percentage as foes are shooting just 41.2 percent against WCU collectively on the season. ETSU enters the weekend last in the SoCon, averaging just 39.8 percent shooting from the field this year.
 
The two teams also rank among the top three in rebounding in the conference this season, led by WCU (39.7 rpg) and ETSU third (38.4 rpg). The matchup pits the league's best defensive rebounding team in Western Carolina (29.1 rpg) against the conference's top offensive rebounding squad in ETSU (13.7 orpg),
 
Western Carolina received dueling 20-point performances from Woolbright and Jackson in the first meeting with ETSU in Johnson City on Jan. 10, as the Catamounts claimed an 80-66 win for its fifth-straight series win. Woolbright was credited with his first of three triple-doubles of the season, adding 13 rebounds and 10 assists to accompany his 20 points. Jackson hit four 3-pointers with Russell Jones Jr. draining three in scoring 17 points with Bernard Pelote chipping in 12 points and eight rebounds. ETSU's Seymour went for a game-high 24 with seven boards to lead a trio of Bucs in double figures, joined by Asamoah (15 pts) and Quimari Peterson (11 pts).
 
The Catamounts trail in the all-time series with ETSU, 29-58. WCU's five straight wins come on the heels of 14-straight series losses – and a Buccaneer run of 31 wins in 32 meetings dating to 1998. WCU has 14 wins in the 39 meetings played in Cullowhee (14-25), seeking a third-straight home victory which would match the longest home win streak since 1995-97.
 
Following Saturday's home date, the Catamounts again hit the road for back-to-back games away from Cullowhee beginning in the midweek by traveling to Greensboro for a matchup with in-state conference rival UNCG. Tip-off from the Greensboro Coliseum in a nationally-televised game on the CBS Sports Network is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Catamounts then visit VMI in Lexington, Va., on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. start at Cameron Hall.
 
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