Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina men's basketball opens a stretch that sees the Catamounts play five of their final eight away from Cullowhee beginning on Wednesday night with a battle against their chromatic rival, Furman. The game will be played at the Davis Field House on the campus of Bob Jones University, the temporary home for the Paladins during renovations to Furman's Timmons Arena.
Wednesday's meeting with the Paladins is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). Live audio coverage through the Catamount Sports Network will be available online at CatamountSports.com and on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" in Sylva, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Live stats are also available via a link on CatamountSports.com.
Matchup: Western Carolina (6-15, 2-8 SoCon) at Furman (17-6, 5-5 SoCon)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 5
Time: 7 p.m.
Site: Davis Field House at Bob Jones University (Greenville, S.C.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Audio: Catamount Sports Network
Radio: 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC "The River" (wrgc.com)
Twitter: @CatamountMBB
About Western Carolina:
Western Carolina rallied from a 13-point second half deficit to force overtime on Saturday against VMI before falling in the extra session, 80-76, in Cullowhee. Marcus Kell capped WCU's rally, handing the Catamounts a two-point lead with 70 seconds remaining. However, including the game-tying deuce that forced overtime, the Keydets scored 11 of the game's final 16 points as VMI escaped with the league win.
Senior Bernard Pelote scored 21 of his career-high tying 27 points in the first half to lead the Catamounts, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. The Savannah, Ga., product had the hot hand early, finishing with five made 3-pointers in his sixth 20-point performance of the season, five coming in SoCon play. Redshirt sophomore Cord Stansberry finished with 18 points on an impressive 6-of-7 shooting from deep while pulling down a career-high tying seven rebounds.
Following his career-high tying 27 points, Pelote maintains a top five spot in the league in scoring over 10 SoCon games. He enters play on Wednesday fifth in the league, averaging 17.7 points per game. He's pacing the league in SoCon games only with 6.7 made field goals per game and is tied for fifth in rebounding with 7.1 boards per conference game. He's tied for fourth in league play with 26 made threes and second in defensive rebounds with 61, while checking in tied for fifth overall with 71 boards.
Coming into the week red-hot, Stansberry has posted five straight double-figure scoring outputs including 18 on Saturday against the Keydets. The Bermuda Dunes, Calif., native averages 15.2 points per game in the last five on 48% (24-of-50) shooting from the field and 55% (11-of-20) from beyond the arc. Stansberry has also been efficient at the stripe, making 17-of-18 (94.4%) in the stretch. He sits second on the team with 11.8 points per game, including 40 3-pointers at a 34.2% clip and 93.4% (57-of-61) at the charity stripe.
WCU is averaging 24.52 points per game off the bench from its reserves – the fourth-best mark in the conference. Kell leads the Catamounts in bench production as his seasonal totals as a reserve sit at 116 points. He's made two starts in the last four, eclipsing double figures in both of those starts. Junior Ice Emery has totaled 85 points off the bench, followed by Fischer Brown, who scored 58 bench points.
The Catamounts have seen a bench player reach double-figures 14 times, high-pointed by Emery's 24 against Truett McConnell. Kell leads the squad with five double-digit point performances, including three of the past four games he's come off the bench.
Western Carolina enters Wednesday third in the league in rebounds with 38.2 per game over 21 games as the Catamounts have boarded a league-high 27.8 defensive rebounds per contest. WCU sits just 0.6 rebounds overall behind Mercer's top spot in the league. Pelote leads the Catamounts on the glass with 7.3 per game –the second-best individual average in the SoCon. He also ranks second in the league with 6.0 defensive rebounds per game and second in the conference with 125 total defensive boards.
Stansberry paces the team and the SoCon at the free-throw line at 93.4%, ranking among the top free-throw shooters in the nation. Junior Vernon Collins is ninth in the league, averaging 2.1 offensive rebounds per game. He has 44 total offensive boards, including 26 in league games. He is also seventh in league play with 26 rebounds in SoCon play. Collins leads WCU with 18 blocked shots, sitting in a tie for sixth with just under a block per game.
Scouting the Opposition:
Furman (17-6, 5-5 SoCon) dropped a three-point defeat against ETSU on Sunday. The Paladins come in having won two of their last three with wins over Mercer and Samford before Sunday's defeat against the Bucs. The Paladins enter play on Wednesday 16th in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 poll that sees Samford ninth and Chattanooga receiving votes.
Under ninth-year head coach Bob Richey, the Paladins opened the nonconference portion of their season with a school-record 12 wins. Furman had winning streaks of seven and six games, respectively, in the early stages of the season, with their lone blemish coming against then-No. 1 Kansas in Lawrence in late November. Furman is third in the SoCon with a NET ranking 140 behind Samford (99) and UNCG (125).
Senior guard PJay Smith leads the Paladins with 16.1 points per game, sixth in the SoCon. He's eclipsed 20 points seven times including 29 in wins over Tulane and Oglethorpe. Smith has done his damage from deep thus far, connecting on 67 threes to rank third in the conference at a 41.6% clip. Smith has garnered SoCon Player of the Week honors three times, leading the team with 69 assists and hitting 44.9% (110-of-245) field goals.
Senior guard Nick Anderson enters averaging 13 points per contest, shooting 45.1% (96-of-213) from the floor and connecting on 56 threes – ninth in the league – at a 38.1% rate. Junior forward Ben VanderWal leads the Paladins on the glass with 5.6 boards per game, ranking in a tie for fourth in the league with 56 offensive rebounds. VanderWal had a double-double earlier this season against VMI with 15 points and a season-high 12 rebounds.
Furman has limited opponents on the scoreboard throughout the 2024-25 campaign, ranking third in the league with 68.3 points/game allowed as it's held opponents under that number 10 times this season, including four times under 60 points.
The Paladins have been strong on the glass in league play, averaging 12.6 offensive boards per contest, ranking second in the SoCon. They are fourth overall, with 36.1 rebounds per game over 10 conference matchups. Furman ranks in a tie for second with Samford for assists per game in conference play with 15.6.
Furman was tabbed fifth in the 10-team SoCon Preseason Poll led by Smith, who was named to the league's 10-player Preseason All-League team. The Paladins finished the 2023-24 season with a 17-16 record, including a 10-8 mark in league play, before falling to eventual league champion Samford in the semifinals of the 2024 conference tournament.
Last Time Out vs Furman:
Furman rode a strong start to build a double-digit lead and drained 11 3-pointers to push past Western Carolina 90-61 in the men's basketball Southern Conference opener for both teams back on Jan. 1 from Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Bernard Pelote tallied his second double-double of the season in the loss.
As part of seven straight double-figure outputs spanning Dec. 17 against Tennessee through Jan. 15 against VMI, Pelote tallied 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead WCU, while junior Brandon Morgan added 14 points on an efficient 6-of-9 shooting from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and four assists.
Series History:
Wednesday's tilt marks the 89th all-time meeting between the two purple-clad programs. The Paladins hold a 57-31 lead in the series with Furman winning five of the last six meetings.
Furman has commanded the series in games contested in Greenville with a 32-9 lead in the all-time series, including wins in each of the last 10 games over WCU. The Catamounts are looking for their first true road win against the Paladins since Dec. 5, 2009, when WCU downed Furman 64-57 inside Timmons Arena.
Up Next for Western Carolina:
The Catamounts continue their two-game road swing on Saturday, Feb. 8, for a trip to the Gate City to battle UNCG. Saturday's game is slated for a 4 p.m. tip from First Horizon Coliseum between the Spartans and Catamounts. Saturday'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 via a link 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).
