Furman at Western Carolina | 12:00 PM | ESPN+
The Paladins are coming off of a much needed 12 day hiatus from on-court action, following a 5 game winning streak. Furman has started out extremely strong, building momentum as a favorite for the conference title. December 21st is the earliest calendar date Furman has reached 12 wins, aside from their 12-0 start in the 2018-19 season. The non-conference hasn’t been easy either. The Dins boast wins over strong mid major programs like Tulane, Belmont, and Princeton, priming them for the gauntlet that is the SoCon schedule.
Furman has enjoyed success against Western Carolina recently, including a 3 point overtime victory in the SoCon quarterfinals last year. They’ve won 17 of the last 19 matchups with WCU, but the losses have come the last two times the Dins visited Cullowhee. Bob Richey will need his guys not to come out sluggish against a weak Western Carolina squad.
Ben VanderWal has begun playing better and better as the season builds, adding scoring to his impressive repertoire of defense and rebounding. He has helped take the scoring pressure off of PJay Smith and Nick Anderson in recent games. PJay himself will look to kick off a potential SoCon Player of the Year campaign, after finishing the non-conference averaging 17.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and assists, with 1.7 steals as well. Shooting over 50% from three, Smith certainly has the opportunity to earn his individual accolades as he helps Furman push for a championship.
A familiar five will take take the floor to start in Cullowhee:
PJay Smith
Nick Anderson
Ben VanderWal
Garrett Hien
Cooper Bowser
Western Carolina Catamounts:
Furman fans won’t recognize many of the Catamounts players this time around. They return a single player who saw game action last year, and three more who were on the roster, but did not see game time. The Catamounts lost their highly thought of coach, Justin Gray, to Coastal Carolina in the offseason, and most of the players chose to enter the portal. Five seniors who saw heavy minutes on last year’s team all graduated, leaving the Catamounts new coach to build through the portal.
Western has a 10 man rotation, all playing double digit minutes. They only average about 70 points per game, with 10 of those coming from returning senior Bernard Pelote. He also grabs nearly 8 rebounds a game, and is someone the Paladins will need to look out for. It will be important for Cooper Bowser and Garrett Hien to establish the paint early, not allowing for extra possessions and kick out threes. Furman can lock down the Catamounts defensively, but will need to finish out possessions with a board. Western’s top scorer is Cord Stansberry, a sophomore guard transfer from Pepperdine. He averages 11.7 points, but only shoots around 31% from three. In fact, WCU shoots under 30% as a team, so the Dins should look to pack the paint and make them hit shots.
Keys to the Game
Rebounding: Finish possessions with defensive rebounds. Furman has struggled at times with rebounding, but they will not want to let Western Carolina stay in the game with second chance points.
Bench Play: The quality off of Furman’s bench will be a factor. Furman is 8 deep with players who can easily score 20 points on any night, a quality Western just won’t have this year.
Start Fast: The last couple times Furman lost in Cullowhee, they let the Catamounts hang around. If Furman can get out to a lead early, they can take away any hope Western may have of winning this game. That starts with knocking down the early looks.