Furman vs. WCU Game Notes
 
Greenville, S.C. – The Furman men's basketball team goes for its seventh consecutive victory when it hosts the Western Carolina Catamounts in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon on Curry Court at Timmons Arena.
 
Saturday's game, which will follow the Furman women's basketball team's contest versus Bob Jones, is set to tip-off 4 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+. Tickets are available and can be purchased on Furman's Ticketmaster page.In addition to the live stream on ESPN+, fans can also listen to Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy call the action on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, and via the Audacy app. Links for the broadcast, live audio, and live statistics are available at FurmanPaladins.com. 
 
The Paladins ran their winning streak to six games and claimed their ninth victory in the last 10 contests with a 74-72 triumph over Mercer in the SoCon opener at Timmons Arena on New Year's Eve. Alex Wilkins paced the Paladins with 20 points and seven assists and connected on the game-winning jumper with 19.1 seconds left to improve Furman to 10-4 overall and 1-0 in league play. Asa Thomas added 19 points while Tom House and Ben Vander Wal netted 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Wilkins, who leads the Paladins averaging 17 points and 4.9 assists per game, ranks 10^th nationally in scoring among NCAA Division I freshmen and fifth among the country's freshmen in assists per game. The Mattapan, Mass., native poured in a career-high 26 points in wins over both Columbia International and Richmond earlier this season. Furman's single game freshman scoring record was set by Jonathan Moore, who dropped 34 points in an 87-83 loss to Georgia on December 15, 1976. Moore's 20.0 points per game and 561 total points during the 1976-77 season remain as freshman standards at Furman.
 
Saturday's SoCon clash marks the 90^th all-time meeting between Furman and Western Carolina with the Paladins holding a 58-31 series edge in a series that dates back to the 1976-77 campaign. Furman has won 21 of the last 24 encounters versus the Catamounts, including a sweep of last season's regular season home-and-home series. The Paladins rolled to a 90-61 win in Cullowhee on New Year's Day before Nick Anderson's 30-point performance lifted Furman to an 84-75 overtime decision in the rematch on February 5, 2025, at Bob Jones University's Davis Field House.
 
Western Carolina, under the leadership of second-year head coach Tim Craft, enters Saturday's game at 4-8 overall and 0-1 in the SoCon following a 79-74 setback against the Wofford Terriers in Cullowhee, N.C., on Wednesday afternoon. Marcus Kell leads the Catamounts averaging 12.9 points per game.
 
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