Cullowhee, N.C. – Following a one-day delay due to Winter Storm Cora, Western Carolina men's basketball continues Southern Conference play on Sunday in the backend of an afternoon doubleheader inside Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. WCU women's basketball opens the day with a 1 p.m. tip against ETSU in a "Blackout Ramsey" mountain-rivalry game before the men's team hosts Mercer at 3:30 p.m. in game two of the twin bill.
Both games will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live audio coverage through the Catamount Sports Network available online at CatamountSports.com. Live stats are also available on Sunday via CatamountSports.com.
Tickets for Saturday's originally scheduled games will be honored on Sunday afternoon with additional advance ticket sales available online at CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets or at the box office on game day. The Catamount Club's Purple Zone event for qualifying members begins on the main concourse at 2:30 p.m. between Sunday's games.
Men's Matchup: Mercer (9-7, 2-1 SoCon) vs Western Carolina (4-10, 0-3 SoCon)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 12
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Audio: Catamount Sports Network
Twitter: @CatamountMBB
TICKETS
About Western Carolina:
Catamount senior Bernard Pelote tallied a career-high tying 27 points and redshirt sophomore Marcus Kell matched his career-best with 16, but Wofford overcame WCU's fast start to the second half by closing the game on a 13-to-3 run over the final three minutes of regulation to edge the Catamounts 77-69 in SoCon Wednesday night in Spartanburg.
Pelote connected on 11 field goals including three from beyond the arc on his way to a game-high 27 points – the third 27-point performance of his collegiate career – while also pulling down a team-high eight rebounds with a pair of blocked shots. Kell tied his career-best with 16 points, matching his output against Bob Jones earlier this season. The Rock Hill, S.C., product hit three 3-pointers and went 5-of-6 at the free-throw line, adding a pair of blocks on the defensive end.
Pelote continued his scorching hot start in SoCon play as the Savannah, Ga. native ranks second in the league, averaging 22.0 points per game through the opening three league games as he's eclipsed 17 points in each game and had 20-plus in two of those three contests. He's tied for the league lead with nine field goals made per game on average and sixth in rebounding with 7.7 boards per game.
The Catamount bench continues to have filled the scoreboard throughout the start of the 2024-25 season, averaging 25.36 points per game, fourth-best in the SoCon.
Kell has tallied a team-high 69 points over 10 games in reserve including his career-high tying 16 points off the bench against Wofford. Junior Ice Emery has totaled 47 points and junior Brandon Morgan has scored 44 points off the bench, followed by 40 from freshman Fischer Brown. The Catamounts have seen a bench player with double-figures 10 times, paced by Emery's 24 against Truett McConnell.
Western Carolina sits tied atop the league in rebounds with 38.9 per game over 14 games, led by Pelote at 7.6 per game – the second-best individual average in the SoCon. He also ranks second in the league with 5.9 defensive rebounds per game and second in the conference with 83 total defensive boards. Kell and Vernon Collins are tied for seventh in the conference, averaging 1.9 offensive rebounds per game, as Kell leads the squad with 27 and Collins has 26 offensive boards.
Redshirt sophomore transfer guard Cord Stansberry leads the Catamounts from the charity stripe by shooting a red-hot 94.4 percent (34-of-36). Collins leads WCU with 14 blocks, sitting in a tie for sixth with a block per game. Redshirt junior Chase McKey – who missed the Wofford game – is seventh in the league with 60 percent (18-of-30) from the field, while Collins is eighth in the conference at 58.6 percent (34-of-58).
WCU has been well-tested to begin the 2024-25 season, the first under veteran head coach Tim Craft. Per the NET strength of schedule (SOS) rankings, the Catamounts maintain the top spot in the SoCon with the 46th toughest schedule.
Scouting the Opposition:
Mercer enters the weekend with a 9-7 record after dropping a tight two-point (70-68) decision to ETSU at home on Wednesday evening for the Bears first setback in SoCon play. Mercer escaped its league opener with a five-point overtime win against Chattanooga before defeating VMI on the road by three.
The Bears carry the league's second-best scoring offense into Sunday's tilt, led by senior guard Ahmad Robinson and graduate transfer guard Tyler Johnson as the pair averages 16.1 points per game. Johnson, a USC Aiken transfer, has totaled 20 or more points four times thus far including 26 against South Alabama, Stetson, and Chattanooga. He's connected on 40.9 percent (47-of-115) from range, leading the way for Mercer. Robinson, a New Hampshire transfer, has scored in double-figures in all but two games in the 2024-25 season with a season-high 27 against Winthrop.
The Bears have already seen national recognition in the 2024-25 season with Johnson and Robinson being recognized by the USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week honor last month.
Senior center Alex Holt – a transfer from High Point a season ago – leads the Bears on the glass with 7.3 rebounds per game to sit third in the SoCon with a double-double earlier this season in the league opener against the Mocs. Holt also has been effective inside sitting in a tie for fourth in the league at 61.8 percent (84-of-136) in field goal percentage. Robinson is second in the league in assists with 92 helpers, ranking second in per-game average at 5.8. Robinson has had three double-doubles, totaling 10 assists in those three instances.
Holt is one of two players in the league averaging a double-double with 13.7 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per contest in Mercer's three league games. Robinson leads the league with 7.3 assists per game and three steals per contest.
As a scoring offense, Mercer is second in points per game at 81.9 and third in rebounds per game at 38.2 per contest through 16 games. The Bears rank second in the SoCon with 10.2 steals per game as one of only two teams in the league to average double-figure steals.
Mercer was tabbed seventh in the 10-team preseason poll as the Bears are under the direction of first-year head coach Ryan Ridder, who went to Macon after spending the past three seasons at UT Martin and the three years prior at Bethune-Cookman. Mercer finished the 2023-24 season with a 16-17 record, including an 8-10 league record, before falling in the tournament's quarterfinals to eventual league champion Samford.
Series History:
Western Carolina holds the upper hand in the series against Mercer with a 16-13 record including wins in four straight games with a sweep in the 2023-24 season. WCU earned a 64-52 victory in Macon before downing the Bears 79-46 in Cullowhee last February. Bernard Pelote had eight points and eight rebounds in the road triumph the previous season before 12 points and eight rebounds against Mercer last year in Cullowhee.
WCU leads the series in Cullowhee with a 9-3 record including wins in five straight contested on Ingles Court.
Up Next for Western Carolina:
The Catamounts hit the road on Wednesday, Jan. 15, traveling to Lexington, Va. to battle VMI on post at Cameron Hall. Tip-off with the Keydets is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday's game will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live audio coverage through the Catamount Sports Network available online at CatamountSports.com and on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" in Sylva. Live stats are also available through a link via 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).
