The Western Carolina men’s basketball team defeated the Brevard Tornados 87-32 in an exhibition match on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
The Catamounts are led by head coach Tim Craft, who is heading into his second year coaching in Cullowhee. During the summer, they added eight new players to the roster, seven of which featured in the game. The Cats also returned eight players from last season, including redshirt juniors Cord Stansberry and Marcus Kell. Both Stansberry and Kell were key contributors last season, averaging 11.2 and 11.7 points per game respectively. Leading up to the 2025-26 season, Kell was named to the Southern Conference Preseason All-Conference team. Both players are excited for the upcoming season and had high praise for their new teammates.
“A big thing was trying to find guys that are stars in their roles. All great teams have those types of players, and I’m really excited with the guys that we brought in. They fit our chemistry, our team culture, they’re good guys to be around. So at the end of the day, those are the guys who we’re going to rock with, and I’m glad it’s them,” Stansberry said.
The Catamounts brought in graduate transfer guards Tidjiane Dioumassi and Julien Soumaoro, the latter of whom played under Coach Craft for three years at Gardner-Webb, as well as sophomores Justin Johnson and Abdulai Fanta Kabba. They also added four freshmen in Tahlan Pettway, Titian DeRosa, Samuel Dada and Tayeshaun Smith.
Coach Craft spoke about the team’s mindset heading into the season.
“We have an identity that we want to try to play to… being great teammates, being connected as a team, it starts with that,” Craft said. “We want to have a team that’s ready and prepared and disciplined, and that’s a team that has to focus every single day on practice, on being the best that we can be. We want to be a team that plays hard.”
Craft also emphasized the importance of every member of the team playing their role. “Being able to execute whatever your job is… that’s the identity we want this team to have and our program to have, and so we’re going to try to continue to build that each and every step along the way.”
Western Carolina opens their season on the road against Big 12 opponent Cincinnati on Monday, Nov. 3, followed by another road matchup with the #6 ranked Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 8. The Catamounts will play their first home game on Thursday, Nov. 13 against Voorhees. Home games will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live radio coverage on the Catamounts Sports Network after football season concludes.
