Western Carolina Catamounts (15-15, 11-8 SoCon) vs. East Tennessee State Buccaneers (22-10, 14-5 SoCon)
Asheville, North Carolina; Sunday, 4 p.m. EDT
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Buccaneers -3.5
BOTTOM LINE: East Tennessee State and Western Carolina play in the SoCon Tournament.
The Buccaneers are 14-5 against SoCon opponents and 8-5 in non-conference play. East Tennessee State is seventh in the SoCon with 22.5 defensive rebounds per game led by Blake Barkley averaging 4.4.
The Catamounts’ record in SoCon play is 11-8. Western Carolina is 8-5 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents and averages 10.6 turnovers per game.
East Tennessee State’s average of 7.5 made 3-pointers per game is 1.4 fewer made shots on average than the 8.9 per game Western Carolina gives up. Western Carolina has shot at a 44.7% clip from the field this season, 2.4 percentage points greater than the 42.3% shooting opponents of East Tennessee State have averaged.
The teams play each other for the third time this season. Western Carolina won the last meeting 90-88 on Jan. 30. Julien Soumaoro scored 19 to help lead Western Carolina to the win, and Brian Taylor II scored 24 points for East Tennessee State.
TOP PERFORMERS: Taylor is averaging 14.4 points for the Buccaneers. Barkley is averaging 13.9 points over the last 10 games.
Samuel Dada is averaging 6.8 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Catamounts. Cord Stansberry is averaging 14.4 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Buccaneers: 7-3, averaging 78.6 points, 30.1 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 7.7 steals and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 48.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.0 points per game.
Catamounts: 7-3, averaging 79.9 points, 33.9 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 5.3 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.4 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
