Furman hosts Western Carolina after Stansberry’s 20-point outing

By Canadian Press on January 3, 2026.

Western Carolina Catamounts (4-8, 0-1 SoCon) at Furman Paladins (10-4, 1-0 SoCon)

Greenville, South Carolina; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Western Carolina visits Furman after Cord Stansberry scored 20 points in Western Carolina’s 79-74 loss to the Wofford Terriers.

The Paladins have gone 7-1 at home. Furman leads the SoCon with 17.2 assists per game led by Alex Wilkins averaging 4.9.

The Catamounts are 0-1 against SoCon opponents. Western Carolina has a 2-7 record against teams above .500.

Furman is shooting 48.3% from the field this season, 1.6 percentage points higher than the 46.7% Western Carolina allows to opponents. Western Carolina scores 6.5 more points per game (77.0) than Furman allows to opponents (70.5).

The Paladins and Catamounts face off Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Charles Johnston is averaging 9.9 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Paladins. Asa Thomas is averaging 4.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Marcus Kell is shooting 45.2% and averaging 12.9 points for the Catamounts. Julien Soumaoro is averaging 2.2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Paladins: 9-1, averaging 82.1 points, 35.6 rebounds, 18.6 assists, 5.7 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 50.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.7 points per game.

Catamounts: 4-6, averaging 80.7 points, 36.0 rebounds, 14.2 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 46.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.5 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press