CULLOWHEE, N.C. – A roster that is largely brand new passed its first two tests. Western Carolina men’s basketball beat Appalachian State 83-76 in Boone on Oct. 20, then routed USC Upstate 95-65 at the Ramsey Center on Oct. 26, finishing the preseason unbeaten ahead of Monday’s regular-season opener at North Carolina.
The Catamounts opened the preseason Oct. 20 at Appalachian State’s Holmes Convocation Center, holding off the Sun Belt Mountaineers 83-76. It was the first game together for a roster with 12 newcomers. WCU did not offer live video or live statistics for the game, so box-score details are scarce.
Six days later, WCU returned to the Ramsey Center for its lone home exhibition and rolled past USC Upstate 95-65. The 30-point margin was a sharp turnaround from last December, when the Spartans beat the Catamounts 78-67 at G.B. Hodge Center, and WCU shot 34.5 percent from the floor.
Across the two games, WCU scored 178 points, an average of 89 per game and well above the 78.5 it averaged last season. The Catamounts won by an average of 18.5 points. Exhibition results do not count toward the record, and the level of competition varies, but the early scoring is encouraging for a team that returns only four players.
Third-year coach Tim Craft‘s roster has 16 players: four returners, eight transfers, and four freshmen. The three seniors are all new: guards Malachi Brown (Georgia State/Seton Hall) and Isaiah Manning (Sam Houston State/TCU), and 6-foot-10 forward Donovan Raymond (Old Dominion/Hampton). Travelle Bryson (Howard/Vincennes), Jaxon Prunty (College of Charleston), Jaeden Roberts (Hofstra), Jake Baker (East Carolina) and Cross Arias (Emory & Henry) round out the transfer class.
The top six scorers from last season are gone, including Marcus Kell, who averaged 13.6 points and now plays at Furman. Sophomore forward Samuel Dada is the anchor. He led WCU with 235 rebounds (7.6 per game), shot 69 percent from the floor and blocked 26 shots. Tayeshaun Smith, Drew Hollifield and Titian DeRosa also return.
League coaches picked WCU eighth in the 10-team Southern Conference preseason poll with 41 points. Furman, the reigning tournament champion, received 10 of 11 first-place votes. Last year’s team finished 15-16 (10-8 SoCon) and won seven straight games before losing 69-67 to ETSU in the conference tournament semifinals in Asheville.
Rebounding was the team’s calling card. WCU outrebounded opponents 38.9 to 32.4 per game, a margin of 6.5. The weaknesses were three-point shooting (33.4 percent) and defense (77.3 points allowed per game). Fixing either would go a long way for a group picked in the bottom half of the league.
The regular season arrives quickly. WCU visits North Carolina on Monday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center, with the game airing on ACC Network. The Tar Heels lead the series 2-0 and went 24-9 last season. They needed overtime to beat Charlotte 89-82 in an exhibition, and their coach has voiced concern about rebounding and ball security, two areas where the Catamounts hope to have an edge.
From there, WCU stays in-state to face UNC Asheville on Nov. 7. The nonconference slate includes three teams that reached the 2026 NCAA Tournament. League play follows in December, and the conference tournament returns to Asheville in March, about 50 miles from campus. How quickly the newcomers mesh will decide whether the Catamounts outperform their preseason ranking.
