Story Links
**UPDATE** Sunday’s game has been moved to a 1 p.m. tip-off tomorrow afternoon.
Cullowhee, N.C. – Riding a two-game win streak, including the momentum of a tight mountain-rivalry road win over ETSU on Thursday night, Western Carolina men’s basketball opens February on Sunday afternoon with a visit from the Samford Bulldogs on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center
The Catamounts will “Turn Back the Clock” as WCU welcomes home its basketball alumni, including members of the 1996 Southern Conference Championship team. Purple replica jerseys reminiscent of the 1996 season are to be given away to the first 800 fans, courtesy of Champion Credit Union.
Sunday’s action has an updated start time of 1 p.m. Please be advised, with the weather, admission is FREE, with no concessions available for spectators. Also, the Catamount Club’s pregame PurpleZone event has been canceled. Catamount Athletics advises all fans to continue to check CatamountSports.com and the athletics social media for any additional updates. WCU also urges fans to use their best judgment on travel through the weekend (DriveNC.gov).
Sunday’s WCU-Samford matchup is slated to be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live audio coverage through the Catamount Sports Network available online at CatamountSports.com. Live stats are also available via a link on CatamountSports.com.
The Catamounts enter the weekend with a 4-5 league record after Thursday’s 90-88 win over ETSU, handing the Buccaneers just their second conference loss and only the second defeat in Johnson City. Samford (3-6 SoCon) looks to rebound from a 78-73 road loss at Furman on Thursday night. Since winning on January 7 at home against WCU, the Bulldogs have fallen in four of their past five trips to the hardwood, with a Chattanooga (75-64) win last Saturday the only victory in the three-week stretch.
Men’s Basketball Matchup: Samford (10-12, 3-6) vs Western Carolina (8-12, 4-5)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 1
Time: 1:00 p.m. (UPDATED)
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Audio: Catamount Sports Network
Twitter: @CatamountMBB
MEDIA CENTER
About Western Carolina:
Western Carolina’s Tidjiane Dioumassi connected on his third 3-pointer of the night in front of his own bench with 66 seconds remaining to extend the Catamount lead to six points, 82-76, on Thursday night in Johnson City, Tenn. The Catamounts ultimately withstood the second-half push by the homestanding Buccaneers, including a late charge over the final minute of regulation to claim the season sweep of East Tennessee State, 90-88, at Freedom Hall.
Down by as many as 16 points in the game and 15 in the second half, the Bucs battled back to cut the deficit to 79-76 with 1:21 to play. Dioumassi’s late trey extended the lead with WCU holding on from the free throw line to claim the well-earned mountain rivalry victory over the Bucs, who entered the night ranked 18th nationally in the CollgeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
Redshirt junior Cord Stansberry and graduate transfer Julien Soumaoro both scored a team-best 19 points to lead six Catamounts in double figures. Marcus Kell finished with 14 points, Dioumassi had 11, and Tahlan Pettway poured in 10 in the win. In his first collegiate start, Samuel Dada recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Since Dec. 2, the Catamounts have averaged 81.8 points per contest, increasing their seasonal average from 71.9 to 78.3 during the stretch. Stansberry leads with 13.5 points per game, followed by Kell at 13.4 per game. Soumaoro rounds out the double-figure scoring trio in the stretch at 10.6 points per game. Dioumassi leads the squad with 42 assists, while Dada, who grabbed his fourth double-double of the season on Thursday, averaged 8.4 rebounds per game over the 13-game stretch.
The Catamounts have continued to crash the boards in 2025-26, averaging 39.6 rebounds per game through 20 contests, first in the SoCon. The Purple & Gold lead the league in offensive rebounds per game (14.1).
Dada leads the Catamounts in rebounding with 7.2 per game, ranking sixth in the SoCon. He is followed by sophomore transfer Abdulai Fanta Kabba, who is tied for eighth in the league in rebounding at 6.7 boards per game, though he missed Thursday’s action in Johnson City. Both players sit among the league leaders in offensive rebounding, Dada’s 62 offensive boards (3.1 per game), second in per-game average, and second in total offensive boards. Kabba checks in fourth in the league at 2.7 offensive boards per game and fifth in total offensive rebounds with 51.
In conference play, Dada is second in the league with 38 offensive rebounds, while he also ranks second in offensive boards per game at 4.22 thus far in SoCon play. He’s also fourth in overall rebounds at 9.11 per contest. Dioumassi averages 3.56 assists per contest, ranking in a tie for seventh in the league. The Paris, France native is also eighth in the SoCon in league play with a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Kell ranks eighth in league play at 47.9% shooting from the field.
Scouting the Opposition:
Samford (10-12, 3-6 SoCon) enters play on Saturday having dropped four of its last five, including a five-point defeat last time out against Furman. The Bulldogs rallied from down 14 to tie the game late before the Paladins held off the surge to secure the victory.
The Bulldogs, who were ranked third in the preseason polling, have wins over VMI, Chattanooga, and the home tilt against Western Carolina. Samford holds a 6-3 record in Birmingham, but is just 3-8 in true road games this season.
Graduate transfer Jadin Booth leads the Samford offense with a league-best 20.8 points per game, scoring in double figures in 17 games and notching 12 games of 20 or more points, including 23 at Furman on Thursday. Booth, a Florida Southern College transfer, leads the SoCon with 82 3-pointers and has been strong at the charity stripe, going 81-91 (89%).
Junior Dylan Faulkner averages 17.3 points over 20 games, ranking sixth in the league. He’s coming off a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds at Furman. Faulkner, who missed the first meeting with WCU, is second in the league with a 63.1% field-goal percentage (128-of-203). Redshirt senior Keaton Norris just missed double-figure scoring at 9.9 points per contest.
Faulkner tops the team with 7.5 rebounds per game, tallying five double-doubles on the season, and sits in a tie for fourth in the league in rebounding. Norris leads the Bulldogs in assists with 85 helpers, ranking third in per-game assists. Faulkner is third in the conference with 32 blocks at 1.6 per game, which ranks second in the league.
Veteran head coach Lennie Acuff leads the Bulldogs in his first season at the helm. Over his coaching career, he’s spent time at Berry, Belhaven, the University of Alabama at Huntsville, and Lipscomb before joining Samford this season, with over 430 career wins.
Last Time vs Samford:
Freshman Samuel Dada posted career highs with a double-double effort of 19 points and 14 rebounds, while tying his career benchmark with four blocked shots to lead Western Carolina at Samford. However, the Bulldogs used a 21-7 run late in the second half to rally for an 82-77 victory at the Pete Hanna Center.
The Catamounts led by as many as 18 in the first half in Birmingham, but saw the advantage whittled to four at the break, 38-34. The second-half lead grew to nine with eight minutes to play in regulation before Samford tied the game at 69 near the five-minute mark. A Booth 3-pointer at 3:53 gave the Bulldogs the lead for good in the five-point affair.
WCU had six players score in double figures, with Stansberry scoring 12, Soumaoro and Justin Johnson finishing with 11, and Dioumassi and Kell chipping in 10 apiece. But, Booth for Samford erupted for a game-high 33 points to lead four ‘Dogs in double figures.
Series History:
Saturday’s tilt marks the 36th all-time meeting between the two squads, with Samford holding a 21-14 lead in the series. Samford has won the last 10 meetings with the Catamounts, holding an 11-6 lead in matchups contested in Cullowhee. WCU looks for its first home win against Samford since Feb. 26, 2020, when the Purple & Gold grabbed a 109-78 win over the Bulldogs.
Up Next:
Following Sunday’s action, the Catamounts open a two-game road swing in Greensboro on Wednesday, Feb. 4, with their first seasonal matchup against the UNCG Spartans. The action with the Spartans is slated for a 7 p.m. start and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). Streaming audio from the Catamount Sports Network with live stats available online on CatamountSports.com.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men’s basketball and WCU Athletics through our social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@catamountmbb @wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@CatamountMBB @catamounts).
