Pantherstooth

🐾 Panther’s Toothsayer: Western Carolina Catamounts

Staff

Sat, Nov 29 • Qubein Center • High Point, NC

📍 Series & Setting
High Point returns home at 6–1, fresh off a Boardwalk Battle championship where the Panthers were tested by a couple quality mid-majors but took home the title by playing some of their cleanest, most balanced basketball of the season. Awaiting them is an opponent with a familiar face on the sideline but rocking a completely different colored tie: Tim Craft’s Western Carolina Catamounts (3–3).

After taking a year off, High Point squares off again against one of their most common foes, but this is the first meeting between the programs with Craft at the helm in Cullowhee. This will be the 61st meeting between the two purple big-cat North Carolina schools. The Panthers hold a 40–20 record over the Catamounts dating all the way back to 1946.

There is also plenty of shared history with Coach Tim Craft. Craft spent 11 seasons at Gardner-Webb, building the Runnin’ Bulldogs into a Big South force. Under Craft, Gardner-Webb made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and also developed a reputation for upsetting high-major programs. In his 11 seasons, Craft recorded six wins over Power Five teams. While he went just 10–12 against High Point, his teams consistently elevated their play in games where they were roster underdogs and Saturday will be another of those situations, with HPU likely to be heavily favored at home.

However, this WCU team isn’t last season’s 8–22 rebuild project. The Catamounts entered 2025–26 returning the second-most production in the SoCon, and they have already shown real improvement, particularly behind preseason All-SoCon forward Marcus Kell and a revamped, more experienced backcourt.

Still, they arrive in High Point with plenty of flaws the Panthers can exploit.

🔍 Overview: What Western Carolina Wants to Be
Western Carolina is very much a “Year 2 jump” project.

Last year
– 8–22 (4–14 SoCon)
– One of the youngest and least experienced teams in all of Division I
– Brutal offense: sub-100 AdjO, sub-30% from three

This year
– Most of that youth is back
– Added multiple veteran guards and bigs
– Still clunky, but notably more dangerous

Early profile (through six games)

  • AdjO: ~101
  • AdjD: ~111
  • Tempo: ~72
  • eFG%: 45.3% (still poor)
  • TO%: 21.7% (lots of giveaways)
  • OR%: 30.0% (crash the glass hard)
  • 3P: 27.3%
  • 2P: 48.4%
  • FT: 67.5%

Translation: they play hard, rebound aggressively, defend in stretches, but shooting and turnovers can absolutely sink them.

Meanwhile, High Point is tracking like a true mid-major problem:

  • AdjO: 115.3 (top-60)
  • AdjD: 106.1
  • eFG%: 56.7%
  • 2P: 60.7%
  • 3P: 33.8%
  • OR%: 31.2%
  • TO%: 11.8%
  • Deep, flexible rotation
  • Fletcher/Martin/Martinez all playing like all-league contributors

This is elite, modern, efficient offense versus a still-growing defense-first rebuild.

⚙️ Team Identity: Creators, Crashers, and Craftball

🎯 Creators
WCU leans heavily on:

  • #0 Cord Stansberry (G, 11.2 PPG) — streaky but dangerous shooter; 91% FT
  • #33 Marcus Kell (F, 11.7 PPG last season) — preseason All-SoCon; versatile stretch forward
  • #3 Julien Soumaoro (G) — veteran Craft disciple; stabilizer and secondary creator

They determine WCU’s scoring ceiling.

🧱 Crashers
Western Carolina’s frontcourt relentlessly attacks the glass:

  • Abdulai Fanta Kabba — elite shot-block timing, physical rebounder
  • Vernon Collins — high motor, offensive board machine
  • Chase McKey — efficient finisher and connective big

They form one of the best offensive-rebounding units HPU has faced this month. If there has been any consistent weakness for High Point this season it’s been the inability to complete stops and keeping opposing offenses to one-and-dones. This will be the Panthers’ biggest challenge on Saturday. 

🧩 Craftball Defense
Craft’s calling cards:

  • Physicality
  • Clean rotations
  • Walling off the paint
  • Strong interior contests

Expect WCU to shrink the floor, protect the rim, and force HPU to make jumpers, something the roster can obviously do but at times have been streaky so far this year. 

🧩 Key Catamounts to Know

⭐ #33 Marcus Kell — Preseason All-SoCon

  • 11.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG last year
  • 37.9% from three (44 makes)
  • Team leader in blocks, elite stretch-4 profile
  • Dangerous pick-and-pop threat
  • Defensive target for HPU’s physicality

⭐ #0 Cord Stansberry — Streaky Sniper

  • 11.2 PPG
  • 52 threes last year
  • 91.3% FT
  • Career-high six threes vs VMI
  • If he’s hot, WCU hangs around. If not, they struggle.

⭐ #3 Julien Soumaoro — Craft’s Guy

  • Played three years under Craft at Gardner-Webb
  • Strong shooter, decision-maker, competitor
  • Huge upgrade over last year’s backcourt turnover issues

Others

  • #22 Tidjiane Dioumassi (6’4 Gr G — Southern): elite passer, POA defender, non-shooter
  • #7 Abdulai Fanta Kabba (7’0 So C): rim protector, rebounder, lob threat
  • #33 Vernon Collins & #12 Samuel Dada: size + energy
  • #2 CJ Hyland, #20 Fischer Brown, #8 Tahlan Pettway: youth, shooting attempts, defensive effort

📈 Tempo-Free Snapshot

Western Carolina (3–3)

  • AdjO: ~106
  • AdjD: ~110
  • eFG%: 48.4%
  • 3P%: 27.6%
  • Turnovers: High
  • Offensive Rebounding: Strong
  • FT Shooting: A strength

High Point (6–1)

  • AdjO: 115+
  • AdjD: ~106
  • eFG%: 56.7%
  • 2P%: 60.7%
  • Tempo: Top 80
  • Turnover Rate: Top 25
  • Depth: Legit advantage

The Panthers are operating at a higher tier and the analytics reflect it.

🧠 Coaching Notes: Tim Craft

  • Record vs HPU: 10–12
  • Thrives in structure, scouting, and half-court execution
  • Historically struggles vs pace, turnovers, and high-efficiency offenses 
  • This WCU roster fits his defensive vision but has familiar offensive limitations

HPU’s pace, depth, and rim pressure are exactly the profile that traditionally gives Craft problems.

🏀 Matchup Outlook vs HPU

⏩ Pace Advantage: High Point
WCU wants a mid-possession, slower game.
HPU wants to run, rotate, and overwhelm.
Expect HPU to dictate the tempo early.

🧱 Interior Battle
WCU rebounds well, but the Panthers:

  • Have two elite rim finishers (Fletcher & Anderson)
  • Can rotate bigs to stay fresh
  • Stretch WCU’s centers into space

WCU’s offensive rebounding may keep them in range, but won’t swing the game unless HPU completely loses discipline.

🎯 HPU’s Shooting vs WCU’s Coverage
WCU protects the paint, but gives up open threes — a massive risk against a team with 7–8 shooters who can get hot.

🧨 The Breaking Point
WCU lacks the shot creation to survive extended droughts.
HPU’s depth routinely breaks opponents in the 2nd half.

🗝️ Keys for HPU

  • Control Kell on the perimeter
  • Rebound collectively
  • Pressure WCU’s guards
  • Run on makes and misses
  • Use lineup flexibility to pull WCU’s bigs away from the rim

🔮 Toothsayer’s Take
Western Carolina has improved pieces, a real star in Kell, and a coach who knows High Point as well as anyone outside the Big South. But the matchup leans heavily toward HPU in nearly every key area:

  • Pace
  • Depth
  • Shot creation
  • Rim finishing
  • Turnovers caused and avoided
  • Overall athleticism

WCU’s best hope is to slow the game down, rebound like madmen, and hope Kell and Stansberry go nuclear from deep. But at home, with HPU’s depth and efficiency trending upward, the Panthers should be too much.

Prediction:
High Point 92, Western Carolina 78

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