Cullowhee, N.C. – Looking to add an exclamation point to a highly successful and historic 2023-24 season, fourth-seeded Western Carolina opens its quest for the program's second conference tournament crown on Saturday evening in the final game of the quarterfinal round as the Catamounts face chromatic rival No. 5 seed Furman at approximately 8:30 p.m. from the Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville in the 2024 Ingles Southern Conference Basketball Championship.
 
Saturday's game will be televised on the NexStar network of affiliates (check local listings) and simulcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). Each game WCU plays in Asheville will also be broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network with live audio available online at CatamountSports.com beginning 30 minutes before the announced tip-off time. Fans can also listen to the game locally in Sylva on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" and in Marion, N.C., on 103.9 FM / 1250 AM WBRM "Bigfoot Country."
 
Fans can also follow the game with live stats through StatBroadcast available through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Riding the conference's longest active win streak, WCU claimed its last three seasonal games including two on the road at both VMI and Chattanooga as part of winning four of its last five overall to earn the No. 4 seed. The Catamounts were the only team in the SoCon to earn double-digit victories in true road games, finishing the season 10-6 on the road (UNCG won seven road and three neutral court victories to also reach 10 wins).
 
The SoCon's second-leading scoring team – Furman at 79.6 points per game – again faces the league's top defensive unit. Western Carolina has limited opponents to a SoCon-low 68.4 points per game coming on league lows 40.6 percent shooting from the field and just 32.6 percent from behind the 3-point arc. The Catamounts are also the SoCon's best rebounding team, just ahead of Furman in second in the conference rankings. The Paladins rate as the second-best offensive-rebounding team, averaging 11.4 per game while WCU boasts the best defensive-rebounding squad at 29.2 per game.
 
Western Carolina (22-9) enters this week's 2024 Ingles SoCon Championship amidst just the second 20-win season as an NCAA Division I program all-time, while also matching the most wins since 2009-10 – the program's best since moving to D-I. The Catamounts are among three teams in the conference to hit the 20-win benchmark with the team's 22 victories representing the second-most in the 10-team league.
 
WCU is led by the 2023-24 Southern Conference Player of the Year in senior guard Vonterius Woolbright, who was also the lone Catamount to collect first-team All-SoCon plaudits. The preseason pick to collect the postseason hardware fulfilled the prognostication as the conference released its regular-season awards. Woolbright set a SoCon record by earning nine weekly honors while also sweeping the first three monthly awards handed out.
 
Originally from Albany, Ga., and a transfer from Lawson State Community College three seasons ago, Woolbright paced the league in both scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double with 21.4 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. He was also second in the conference in assists, dishing out 5.5 per game. Woolbright enters the weekend ranked 10th nationally in scoring and second in the NCAA in both rebounding and double-doubles with 26. His five triple-doubles are the most this season and he also leads the nation in defensive rebounding, boarding an average of 9.77 per game.
Woolbright is joined in double figures by a trio of teammates including two classmates – Tre Jackson is 16th at 13.5 points per game and Russell Jones Jr. averages 12.8 points per contest, 18th in the league. Sophomore DJ Campbell, who has come off the bench in WCU's last two games, ranks 22nd in the league with an average of 11.7 points per game. Jackson hit the second-most 3-pointers in the SoCon this season with 94, averaging 3.0 per game on 37 percent shooting, 13th in the league. Jones Jr. averaged 2.6 made triples, sinking 79 this year on 41.8 percent shooting, the fifth-best average in the conference.
 
Defensively, WCU boasts two among the conference's shot block leaders as Charles Lampten has swatted 49 for an average of 1.6 per game, while Corneilous Williams – who is coming off one of his most complete games with 11 points and eight rebounds at Chattanooga in the finale – ranks seventh with 27 blocks.
 
The defending tournament champion, Furman (16-15) dropped three of its final four regular-season games including a defeat in Cullowhee and an 82-75 home loss to Mercer in the season finale to relegate the Paladins to the No. 5 seed.
 
Two All-SoCon Paladins in guard JP Pegues – a first-team selection – and Marcus Foster, who landed on the second team, enter the weekend leading the Paladins at 18.0 and 17.2 points per game, respectively. Pegues, who is third in the SoCon in scoring average, has scored 19 or more points in five straight games including a career-best 35 points in the loss in Cullowhee. Foster, who missed a handful of games at midseason, ranks fifth on the conference's scoring ledgers.
 
The Catamounts and Paladins meet for the second time in the past 10 days in the seasonal series rubber match as the two split the two regular-season meetings, both winning on their home courts. Furman's JP Pegues canned a game-winning 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the 65-62 Furman win in Greenville, S.C., on Jan. 20. The Catamounts exacted revenge in Cullowhee with an 85-77 victory on ESPNU, rallying from a nine-point second-half deficit to win its home finale.
 
Between the two seasonal meetings, Woolbright and Pegues led their respective squads. Woolbright averaged a double-double with 21.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 8.5 assists per game, while Pegues countered at 26.0 points and 4.5 assists per game. Jones Jr. and Campbell both averaged 11.5 points per game against Furman with Campbell scoring 11 and 12, respectively, while Jones Jr. poured in a team-high 20 in Cullowhee to atone for a three-point performance at Timmons Arena. Jackson for the Catamounts has struggled against Furman, hitting just 2-of-13 (15.4%) from downtown, averaging nine points per game. Foster (9.5 ppg) and Alex Williams (9.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg) were also among Furman's leaders with Ben VanderWal scoring 10 in Cullowhee last time against the Catamounts.
 
Saturday's meeting in the conference tournament is also a rematch of last year's thrilling semifinal matchup that saw the Catamounts storm back from a 20-point  second-half deficit to top-seeded Furman before falling in overtime, 83-80. WCU rallied to a two-point, 72-70, lead inside the game's final minute before Mike Bothwell knotted the game with a pair of free throws to force the extra session with Furman squeezing out the win on its way to the tournament title – its seventh all time.
 
This weekend's quarterfinal game marks the 87th all-time series meeting between the two purple-clad programs on the men's basketball hardwood with WCU trailing in the series, 31-55. The Paladins have won 16 of the last 18 overall in the head-to-head series with the Catamounts two wins coming in succession at home over the past two seasons. Western Carolina and Furman have met five times in the SoCon tournament with the Paladins winning each.

The winner of Saturday evening's No. 4 vs. No. 5 game will get the victor from the No. 1 Samford vs. either No. 8 Mercer or No. 9 The Citadel – who play Friday night – with the semifinal game set for 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 10. WCU advanced to the semifinals a season ago by downing ETSU in the quarterfinal round marking the Purple & Gold's first foray into that round since 2016.
 
The tournament championship will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2 at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 11 from Asheville.  

Again this year, the Catamount Club's Catamount Central for the duration of the tournament is Mellow Mushroom (50 Broadway St., Asheville, NC 28801). Pregame socials scheduled for two hours ahead of every game the Catamounts play in Asheville will be held at the downtown pizzeria location. Saturday's first gathering is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. The Catamount Club requests an RSVP for those planning on attending – CLICK HERE TO RSVP.

For tickets to the 2024 Ingles SoCon Basketball Championship, contact the Catamount Athletics ticket office at (828) 227-2401 or purchase online at CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets.
 
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