Date: January 20th, 2018

Time: 4:00 PM

Opponent: Western Carolina (8-10, 4-2 SoCon)

Place: Freedom Hall

Television: none

Webcast: ESPN 3

Radio online: 640WXSM.com

WCU 2017-2018 Schedule

WCU 2017-2018 Roster

WCU Message Board

The Catamounts turned things around in conference where they have gone 4-2 with wins on the road over Chattanooga (75-63) and Citadel (81-79), and at home over Mercer (58-56) and over VMI (65-58). Their best win out of conference was on the road at UNC Asheville (76-72). They have lost on the road at Samford (71-85) and at home to UNCG (55-66).

Larry Hunter has finally got them looking like one of his tough, scrappy, rebound big and win ugly Catamount squads.

Their conference games have a slow tempo, averaging 67.8 for Western and 67.5 for their opponents. They average a second worst in conference .405 shooting percentage and make fewer 3’s in conference than anyone with 5.7 on a second lowest percentage of .301.

But they lead the conference in steals with 10.3. And they are third in turnover margin, just above ETSU with +1.17. They have a strong +2.8 rebounding margin, just behind the Bucs. They defend the 3 well, with a second best in conference .319.

In other words, with good defense and rebounding they are plenty competitive and capable of beating the Bucs if they are not ready.

6-7 210 JUCO Junior Mike Amius is a tough physical player a little like Jordon Varnado leading the team with 12.5 points and second with 5.5 rebounds. He will be a tough matchup for us. 6-7 205 Frenchman Marc Gosselin is another solid all around player leading the team with 5.9 rebounds and adding 8.2 points. They will be tough to defend - bigger than Bo and Burrell; quicker than Peter and Mladen. Freshman guards Matt Halvorsen and Desmond Johnson have made themselves major parts of the rotation.

Most of the time the biggest man they have on the floor will be either 6-7 210 Mike Amius or 6-7 205 Marc Gosselin. That's a big size advantage to Jurkin and Armus. It also means that Western doesn’t have basket protectors to stop Bo Hodges or David Burrell inside.

Play tough and take care of business like the Bucs have been doing in most games, and it should be a win. But these guys have a way of making it a painful slog.

Guards:
#13 6-5 155 Rs-Sr Deriece Parks, 29.1 minutes, 10.1 ppg, .342 from 3 (2.2 makes), 3.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.2 t.o.'s, 1.5 steals
#2 6-1 170 Fr Matt Halvorsen, 22.7 minutes, 8.8 ppg, .349 from 3 (2.1 makes), 1.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.2 t.o.'s
#5 6-1 175 Sr Devin Peterson, 22.1 minutes, 7.6 ppg, .278 from 3 (0.3 makes), 2.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 t.o.'s, 0.8 steals
#1 5-11 170 Fr Desmond Johnson, 16.2 minutes, 4.9 ppg, .385 from 3 (0.3 makes), 2.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 2.1 t.o.’s, 1.6 steals
#11 6-5 190 Rs-Sr Haboubacar Mutombo, 16.3 minutes, 3.2 ppg, .278 from 3 (0.3 makes), 2.8 rebounds
#0 6-6 215 So Maurice Smith, 12.8 minutes, 2.6 ppg, 4-10 .400 from 3, 3.7 rebounds

Front Court:
#23 6-7 210 Jr Mike Amius, 22.4 minutes, 12.5 ppg, 0 three's, 5.5 rebounds, 2.6 t.o.'s, 0.7 blocks, 1.1 steals
#12 6-7 205 Jr Marc Gosselin, 25.9 minutes, 8.2 ppg, .366 from 3 (0.9 makes), 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 2.0 t.o.’s, 1.0 steals
#33 6-5 205 So Onno Steger, 11.3 minutes, 2.9 ppg, .389 from 3 (0.7 makes), 1.0 rebounds
#44 6-8 220 So Adam Sledd, 7.5 minutes, 1.7 ppg, 0 three's, 1.4 rebounds

The team must be prepared to play and not take things for granted going into this game. I'm hoping that they don't get overconfident after their road win against Furman. At this point, ETSU really controls their own destiny in the conference, but it does not do any good to overlook teams like this that on paper at least could and should be a win.

These guys must be having fun going through a grinding schedule. It got close with Forman. But, Bucs had come off a 41 point drubbing of VMI while Furman was coming off a 9 point loss to Wofford. This was a classic trap for the Bucs and they did not succumb. This Western game should be a more normal affair. Just saying. Go Bucs.

Hope we have a good student turnout since they are back. Still lots of seats available.

I hope Bo is okay. I have seen enough bad injuries in my day (Hayward, Hummel, Kevin Ware, Paul George).

17 TOs is pretty bad, especially when one considers they only gave Jurkin 1. I counted 4. Not sure what the scorekeeper was not seeing there.

WCU is just hard to play - frustratingly so, as we all know.

Anybody catch Peterson throw his gum at the fan on the baseline?

That’s two games in a row that we didn’t play well offensively.

(01-20-2018 06:13 PM)Bucs06 Wrote:  That’s two games in a row that we didn’t play well offensively.

Agree but at least our defense continues to dominate. Today was a good day to shoot poorly. Hope Bo is okay.

Doesn’t look good for Hodges. Ribs?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(01-20-2018 06:13 PM)Bucs06 Wrote:  That’s two games in a row that we didn’t play well offensively.

And 2 more wins.

(01-20-2018 06:32 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  Doesn’t look good for Hodges. Ribs?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s his knee. Early word is nothing serious.

Burning question is “how the hell has that team won 4 conf games?” Rhetorical. They may not win 6.

They have beaten Mercer, UTC, VMI, and Citadel- not exactly the top of the conference.

Western looked really bad offensively, which is really an issue for the bottom half of our league.

Another bad trend is the officiating in this conference. I am usually one to not complain about officiating but gosh. Tonight there were a couple plays that everyone in the building except the officials knew the call was wrong. The time where Long threw the pass to himself, Long even knew he couldn't touch the ball, everyone quit playing expecting the call.

Western is garbage. Even their uniforms look old and sad. Larry Hunter should have been fired last year and they'll never be much with him as coach. He seems to always stock the roster with a couple of goons that end up doing something classy like flipping off the opposing fans (which outnumbered the home fans) or like Peterson throwing his gum today. Maybe they'll get tired of drawing 200 fans for home games and finally get rid of him. That's now 22 of 23 against them. The one loss hurt but it got rid of Bartow for us so it worked out. The bucs should beat them by 30+ in Cullowhee.

(01-20-2018 07:11 PM)etsubuc Wrote:  They have beaten Mercer, UTC, VMI, and Citadel- not exactly the top of the conference.

Western looked really bad offensively, which is really an issue for the bottom half of our league.

Another bad trend is the officiating in this conference. I am usually one to not complain about officiating but gosh. Tonight there were a couple plays that everyone in the building except the officials knew the call was wrong. The time where Long threw the pass to himself, Long even knew he couldn't touch the ball, everyone quit playing expecting the call.

I have heard that a lot of college coaches like Friday night games because you get the better refs.

Someone spill the beans on this gum throwing incident. When and where did it happen?

(01-20-2018 10:40 PM)brock20 Wrote:  Someone spill the beans on this gum throwing incident. When and where did it happen?

At the 1:05 mark of the first half. You can scroll to that point in the replay and watch Peterson reach into his mouth and throw his gum. It hit the guy in the chin. You can also see the ref turn his head in the direction of the fan right after it happened. Almost like he wasn’t really sure he just saw what happened.

Hope to hear good news on Bo Hodges today.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk