Cullowhee, N.C. – Riding a three-game winning streak that includes convincing home wins over The Citadel and UNCG, as well as a road tally at Chattanooga, Western Carolina men's basketball closes out the road portion of its 2025-26 Southern Conference slate on Saturday afternoon with a showdown against VMI.
The tip-off from Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va. is slated for 1 p.m. and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
The Catamounts improved to 7-8 in league play after a 14-point, 91-77 win on Wednesday over UNCG. VMI (1-14) comes in looking to snap a 13-game SoCon slide that saw the Keydets battle before falling at Wofford on Wednesday, 82-76.
Matchup: Western Carolina (11-15, 7-8 SoCon) at VMI (6-22, 1-14 SoCon)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 21
Time: 1 p.m.
Site: Cameron Hall (Lexington, Va.)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Twitter: @CatamountMBB
MEDIA CENTER
About Western Carolina:
Redshirt junior Cord Stansberry scored a team-best 25 points and freshman Tahlan Pettway added a career-best 24 points to lead four Catamounts in double figures as Western Carolina men's basketball pulled away late from visiting UNC Greensboro for the 91-77 victory on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
Stansberry led the shorthanded Catamounts, who played without guards Julien Soumaoro and CJ Hyland, as he finished with a team-best 25 points with four 3-pointers. He added seven rebounds and picked up a career-best four steals. Pettway was efficient, finishing 9-of-13 from the floor with a 6-of-9 performance from 3-point range. Pettway filled up the stat sheet, adding three assists and a pair of steals as the Catamounts swiped eight steals and forced 12 UNCG turnovers, three above its average in SoCon play.
In SoCon play, the Catamounts have climbed to third in the league in scoring, averaging 79.5 points per game, as WCU has surpassed 78 points eight times in SoCon play with a 6-2 mark in those contests.
Individually in league play, Stansberry leads the squad at 15.2 points per game, followed by redshirt junior Marcus Kell at 13.7 per game. Soumaoro rounds out the double-figure trio at 12.4 points per contest. As a group, WCU has seven 20-point individual outputs in league action, as Stansberry has four, with Kell having a pair, Soumaoro picked up his first last weekend at UTC and Pettway against UNCG.
With the win on Wednesday, the Catamounts improved to 11-3 when leading at halftime this season, with seven of those wins coming in league play. WCU has also won all 11 of its seasonal contests when outrebounding opponents. Western Carolina also jumped to 9-2 when scoring 80 or more points and is a perfect 4-0 when eclipsing the 90-point plateau, a mark it has hit twice in SoCon play.
The Catamounts have continued to crash the boards in 2025-26, averaging 38.58 rebounds per game through 26 contests, third in the SoCon. The Purple & Gold maintain the lead in the league in offensive rebounds per game (13.69).
Freshman Samuel Dada leads the Catamounts in rebounding with 7.31 per game, ranking fifth in the SoCon. He is followed by sophomore transfer Abdulai Fanta Kabba, who is ninth in the league in rebounding at 6.04 boards per game. Both players sit among the league leaders in offensive rebounding: Dada's 82 offensive boards (3.15 per game) rank second in total offensive boards and his per-game average. Kabba checks in seventh in total offensive rebounds with 58 and is fourth in per-game average with 2.42.
In conference play, Dada is second in the league with 58 offensive rebounds, averaging 3.87 per game. He's also fifth in overall rebounds at 8.53 per contest. Dioumassi averages 3.00 assists per contest, ranking seventh in the league. Dada is tied for sixth in the league at 1.07 blocks per game in conference play, with 16 rejections, sixth in the SoCon.
Stansberry leads the squad with 15.2 points per game, ranking 10th in the conference. Soumaoro ranks fourth in the SoCon with 2.5 made threes per game, as Stansberry is ninth with 2.2 made triples.
Down the Stretch in SoCon Play:
Western Carolina enters its three games just below the cut-off line for a first-round bye in the 2026 Ingles SoCon Championship, seventh overall at 7-8, and just a game behind the two-way tie for fifth between Furman (8-7) and UNCG (8-7). The Catamounts face 11th-place VMI, third-place Mercer, and fifth-place Furman over its final three games.
WCU earned a regular-season split with UNCG, which is just in front of the Catamounts in the standings, as well as The Citadel, which is a game back in the standings.
Sixth-place or better nets an opening-round bye, while seventh and below will open tournament play on Friday evening in Asheville.
Scouting the Opposition:
VMI (6-22, 1-14 SoCon) begins Saturday looking to snap a 13-game SoCon slide as the Keydets fell to Wofford (82-76) on Wednesday in Spartanburg. The Keydets' lone SoCon victory came back on January 3, at home against Chattanooga. Five of VMI's six wins have come inside Cameron Hall.
Junior TJ Johnson paces the Keydets at 18.8 points per game, ranking fourth in the SoCon in scoring. He has reached double figures 21 times with 13 games of 20 or more points, and a trio of 30-point outputs. Johnson sits fourth in the league amongst qualified shooters at 35.9% from the 3-point line, leads VMI with 7.2 rebounds per game, and has tallied eight double-doubles. He has also hit 97 threes. Sophomore Linus Holmström is averaging 11.1 points per game, reaching double figures 13 times, and connecting on 66 threes at a 38.4% clip.
Junior Tan Yildizoglu leads VMI with 123 helpers as he's recorded a pair of double-doubles, just missing double figures for the Keydets at 9.9 per game in scoring. Yildizoglu has had 5 or more assists 12 times on the season. Sophomore Kaden Stuckey has a team-best 20 blocks, followed by junior AJ Clark with 18 stops. Yildizoglu leads the way with 43 steals, followed by Johnson with 42 thefts.
The Keydets are led by Andrew Wilson in his fourth season on-post in Lexington after spending a pair of seasons as an assistant at James Madison. Wilson spearheaded one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in program history, leading the 2024-25 team to 15 wins, the 12th time in school history. The Keydets were one of just 14 programs nationwide to improve their previous season's win total by double digits.
Last Time vs VMI:
Marcus Kell posted a game-high 18 points to lead a balanced scoring attack that saw 10 players score, as Western Carolina men's basketball recorded a strong offensive showing in rolling to an 88-58 victory over VMI on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
Kell was followed by Cord Stansberry with 17 points and a team-high five assists. Graduate transfer Julien Soumaoro tallied 12 points, followed by freshman Samuel Dada with 10 points and seven rebounds, with five of those on the offensive glass.
Series History:
Saturday's matchup marks the 74th all-time meeting between the two schools, with WCU holding a 42-31 lead in the head-to-head battles. WCU snapped a five-game losing skid to the Keydets with a 30-point win at home last month. The two teams split the last eight meetings in Lexington, with the head-to-head series at VMI tied at 17-17.
Up Next:
Following Saturday's action, the Catamounts play their final two games, returning to Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center on Wednesday, Feb. 25, for a visit from Mercer before hosting chromatic rival Furman on Sat., Feb. 28. Wednesday's action against the Bears is slated for a 7 p.m. tip and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), as live audio will be broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network, with live stats will be provided via a link at 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).
