The Southern Highland Reader

CLEMSON–Trailing 56-51 with eight minutes to play, Western Carolina looked to be in a decent spot to make a run Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum. Instead, the Catamounts went stone cold from the field and gave up a 23-6 run down the stretch to lose 79-57 to the 24th-ranked Tigers.

The loss was Western’s first in ten games, and drops the Cats to 10-2.

WCU was without the services of last week’s Southern Conference player of the week Mike Williams, a guard who scored 24 points in Western’s win at Louisville Dec. 12. Williams twisted an ankle in practice over the weekend.

Read more here from ESPN
Read more here from WCU
Read more here from Clemson
Asheville Citizen-Times staffs the game

CULLOWHEE–Ryan Fagan of the Sporting News has a long question-and-answer session with Catamount senior forward Jake Robinson.

Here’s a snippet:

SN: You guys received a couple of votes in both the AP and coaches poll after beating Louisville. Is that pretty exciting for the school?
JR: It is. The students and faculty are really buying into what we’re doing now. The last couple of days here at school, everywhere I go, it’s “Oh, what a great win guys, you guys are unbelievable,” or, “We saw it on TV.” It really is good for the school, for the recognition. It’s not historically a great basketball school or a great basketball program, so for us to get some recognition and some attention is good.

Here’s the piece.

2009-12-08 – Slam Online’s Joey Whelan’s take on Western’s win at Bradley:

Western Carolina out of the SoCon took down Bradley last night, significant because the MVC is looking stacked this season and because the Catamounts are now looking pretty at 8-1, their only loss coming to Texas. The rest of the early season schedule includes the aforementioned win over the Braves, solid victories over conference opponents Furman and Wofford and the win to hang your hat on for now, an 83-77 squeaker over Duquesne. This is an offense by committee with six players averaging between six and 11 points and five averaging been four and six rebounds. It’s always hard to gauge how these hot starts can carry over into the near year, but with the type of balance Western Carolina is showing, I like them in the SoCon to make some noise.

2009-12-08 – WCU beats Bradley.

2009-12-07 -Western Carolina’s mens basketball team enters tonight’s game against Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, with six straight wins in its back pocket, and a 7-1 overall record.

The Catamounts rose today to 15th in the collegeinsider.com mid-major poll.

The Cats are coming off of consecutive league victories over Wofford and Furman, and Western is ranked 97th in the Sagarin college basketball rankings from USA Today. Bradley, which competes in the Missouri Valley Conference, is 93rd. On the other hand, the Cats are 32nd in the national RPI rankings, Bradley 86th.

Western is playing a steady — and luxurious — ten-man rotation, and has had six different high-scorers in eight games. The Catamounts have shown flashes of potential on offense, including a record-setting night from three-point territory in a victory over Duquesne, but have hung their hats on their defense. Western is forcing 21 turnovers per game, good for a nationally fifth-best turnover ratio of 7.8. The Catamounts are ranked eighth in steals.

Tonight’s game is the first of a three-year three-game series with the Braves; two in Illinois, one in Cullowhee.

2009-11-29 – WCU at #52 in the national RPI, one spot behind Bradley, who Western plays next week.

2009-11-29 – Western Carolina forced 29 turnovers in a comfortable 75-59 win Saturday at Gardner Webb. As the the Shelby Star reported, Western beat the Runnin’ Bulldogs at their own up-tempo game. Brandon Giles, a senior all-conference selection, had 24 points after a quiet start to his season. This was Larry Hunter’s first win in four tries against Gardner Webb.

2009-11-26 – WCU tops Duquesne (post)

CULLOWHEE–Former Western Carolina basketball player and current NBA standout Kevin Martin got the royal treatment in Indonesia this week, as he visited to head up the inaugural Indonesia Development Camp as part of the NBA Cares program.

Martin took his grandma along — and went despite some bombings that preceded his trip by a matter of days.

Here’s an excerpt from the Sacramento Bee’s feature about the trip:

It was a new experience in almost every way even for Martin. Upon his arrival, the newspaper in Surabaya splashed a greeting across the top of its front page showing Martin with his arms spread wide. Upon his departure, the paper ran a full-page ad from the DBL with pictures of Martin’s visit and messages from dozens of the league’s players wishing him well and encouraging him to become an All-Star for the first time this season.

“One time, I felt like (President Barack) Obama – and that’s no exaggeration,” Martin said. “There were like a thousand … people with signs around the basketball court (in the arena during a DetEksi game). It was crazy.

“It’s fun to be able to give back to the community and the world in a good way. It just makes you look at the other side of it, beyond basketball.”

Read the piece from the Bee here.

BECKLEY,WV–Former Western Carolina basketball standout Nick Aldridge, who left the team in late 2007, is playing for NAIA Mountain State University in Beckley, WV.

Aldridge was an all-conference performer as a Catamount freshman in 2006-07, and was the Cats’ leading scorer when he was asked to leave the team before the Christmas break in 2007. He transferred to the University of Cincinnati — where he’d originally been recruited by Bob Huggins — but was dismissed there after a scrape with the law.

He debuted with the nationally second-ranked Cougars in their 127-32 win over Ohio State-Marion on Dec. 26, scoring 13 points off the bench.

Mountain State (10-1) was national runner-up last year, national champion in 2004, and appeared in the elite eight and the sweet sixteen in two of the three years in between.

More WCU sports here

DAVIDSON–Western Carolina’s women’s basketball team got off to a bumpy start in league play Sunday, falling 84-66 at Davidson in its Southern Conference opener. The Lady Cats didn’t back into the game – Western upset Middle Tennessee last time out – so the 18-point loss comes as a surprise.

Senior forward Brooke Johnson scored a career-high 26, but senior guard Lauren Powell went 0-for-9 and Davidson out-shot Western by some 12%.

Read game stories here and here.

CULLOWHEE–Pick your headline:

Dewey defeats Truman.
Martians invade New Jersey.
Beelzebub frostbitten on the butt.
Western Carolina basketball nationally ranked.

Release from Western’s sports information department:

CULLOWHEE–Collegiate Basketball News released its first Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Report for men’s basketball today with Western Carolina leading the Southern Conference with an RPI of 28. The Catamounts are currently riding a three-game winning streak stemming from its pair of neutral court wins at the Great Alaska Shootout, and last Saturday’s win over Kent State on the road.

The SoCon, which features four teams in the nation’s top 100 RPI, debuted at an all-time high of sixth overall as a conference among the 32 NCAA Division I conferences. In addition to WCU, preseason SoCon favorite, Davidson, is ranked 50th on the list, followed by conference counterparts Wofford at 68th and Georgia Southern in 92nd.

Gonzaga is the national RPI leader in the first rating report, with the Atlantic Coast Conference representing the league leader. The Big Ten ranks second, just ahead of the Big East, Big 12 and Mountain West in fifth.

The RPI is used by the NCAA basketball committee to supplement the selection of at-large teams and the seeding of all teams for the NCAA basketball tournament. Using statistics generated through games played Dec. 7, the list is an independent duplication of the RPI without input from the NCAA. It is derived from three component factors: Div. I winning percentage (FI, 25%); schedule strength (FII, 50%); and opponent’s schedule strength (FIII, 25%).

Games against non-Division I opponents are not used in calculating the RPI.

According to the CBN RPI list, WCU boasts the nation’s 15th toughest strength of schedule, with the SoCon rated first in the same category. Catamount opponents Connecticut and San Diego State rank 12th and 35th, respectively, with upcoming foe, Marquette, standing 75th on the list.

WCU, which has tied its best start under fourth-year head coach Larry Hunter, is amidst final exams this week, with the team not returning to practice until late in the week to concentrate on studies. The Catamounts return to the court to host Tennessee Wesleyan on Monday, Dec. 15 at 7:00 pm in the Ramsey Center.

For the complete RPI list: http://rpiratings.com/mensrpi.html

ANCHORAGE–Western Carolina’s men’s basketball team showed evident promise for the season by taking two of three games over the weekend at the Great Alaska Shootout tournament in Anchorage.

Western opened the tournament Thanksgiving night against tournament favorite and eventual champion San Diego State, and led almost the entire way before losing by one, 59-58. The Aztecs won the tourney by beating Seattle University 75-56 and dismantling Hampton 76-47. San Diego State’s only loss this year was a seven-point setback at the hands of Arizona State.

From the Anchorage Daily News:

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Catamounts, a team that led for most of the game and outplayed its opponent just about everywhere on the court except the foul line.

“It was a heckuva ballgame,” Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter said. “They just did a good job getting to the foul line.”

The Catamounts outscored the Aztecs from the floor, outrebounded them and often confounded them defensively. San Diego State won the game with free throws, hitting 18 of 30. Western Carolina, which had key players in foul trouble down the stretch and had three starters foul out, hit 7 of 12.

Aztecs coach Steve Fisher — a former national coach of the year who’s been around the game for a couple decades — offered condolences to the Catamounts for the win that got away them. He’s been on the other side of down-to-the-wire games, including some where his team — like Western Carolina’s on Thursday — should have won but didn’t.

“It’s excruciatingly difficult in the Western Carolina locker room right now,” Fisher said. “When you look at the whole body of work, they played better than we did.

“I feel badly for Larry and his team. But we’re not giving it back.”

Story continues below

More about the Great Alaska Shootout

More from us on Western basketball
San Diego State game story from the Anchorage Daily News
Louisiana Tech game story from the Anchorage Daily News
Northern Illinois game story from the Anchorage Daily News
Photoblog from the Anchorage Daily News

The game might be remembered as a breakout showing for Catamount guard Harouna Mutumbo. The 6-4 Mutumbo, a redshirt freshman from Toronto, had 20 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists. His astounding four straight open court steals helped give Western a 31-19 lead late in the first half.

The Cats never trailed by more than one.

WCU's Harouna Mutumbo, all-tournament. (Anchorage Daily News photo)

Freshman guard Greg Avery, whose two missed free throws might’ve cost Western the game against San Diego State, bounced back on Friday with 17 points to help the Cats to a 74-62 win over Louisiana Tech in a game WCU blew open shortly after the half. The game wasn’t as close as the final score shows, and Western got good scoring deep into its bench.

Junior sharpshooter Jake Robinson ran his string of double-digit scoring performances to nine, and put the Northern Illinois game away at the free throw line. (WCU photo by Mark Haskett)

The Cats faced Northern Illinois Saturday night in their final game of the tourney, and edged the Huskies 71-67. Western built an early lead in the game, but a horrible night at the free throw line and a long dry spell in the second half nearly doomed the Cats. Junior Jake Robinson hit five of six free throws in the closing seconds to preserve the win. Mutumbo knocked down 22 for Western.