Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Catamounts Announce Basketball Schedule

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina head men's basketball coach Steve Shurina announced the Catamounts' 2003-04 schedule Aug. 22, which features 14 home games and road games at Southeastern Conference members Georgia and Arkansas, as well as Big East Conference member Virginia Tech.

Western Carolina will open its 2003-04 season on Nov. 21 at Georgia, then face Virginia Tech on Nov. 25. The Cats will return for home games versus Milligan (Nov. 29) and High Point (Dec. 2) before opening Southern Conference play at Wofford on Dec. 4.

On Saturday, Dec. 6, Western Carolina will host region rival UNC Asheville in a doubleheader at the Ramsey Activity Center. Tip-off for the women's Catamount-Bulldog game is set for 4:00 pm, with the men set to begin at 7:00 pm. The men will continue a run of home games on Dec. 15 and Dec. 17, then travel to Arkansas (Dec. 22) before taking a break for the Holidays. The Cats will resume play at Montana State, playing in Holiday Stores Classic Tournament from Dec. 29-30. Western will play Southeastern Louisiana on the 29th at 5:30 pm (MT) and play either Montana State or Morgan State on the 30th.

"We have put together a terrific schedule," Shurina said. "We have two difficult road games with Georgia and Virginia Tech to open the season. Hopefully our experience this summer will prepare us for those games. I am excited that seven of our 11 non-conference games are at home or on a neutral court. Our games at Arkansas and at the Montana State tournament will be a great experience for our team against tough competition."

The remainder of the schedule has Western Carolina playing home games versus the College of Charleston (Jan. 7), Elon (Jan. 10), UNC Greensboro (Jan. 19), The Citadel (Jan. 26), East Tennessee State (Jan. 31), Piedmont (Feb. 2), Chattanooga (Feb. 7), Furman (Feb. 16) and Appalachian State (Feb. 28). In addition to Wofford on Dec. 4, the Cats will play road conference games at Davidson (Jan. 13), East Tennessee State (Jan. 17), Chattanooga (Jan. 24), Georgia Southern (Feb. 9), Appalachian State (Feb. 14), Elon (Feb. 21) and UNC Greensboro (Feb. 23).

The Catamounts return 10 players from last year's team, including junior guard Kevin Martin, one of the top scorer's in the nation over the past two seasons, and senior Rans Brempong, who is on pace to set the Southern Conference record for blocked shots. Also back are seniors Emre Atsur and Alex Osipovitch; junior Terrence Woodyard; sophomores Jared Outing, Corey Muirhead, David Berghoefer and James Johnson; and redshirt freshman Taylor Yanchar. New to the team is freshman Kyle Greathouse and junior college transfers Lunzaya Nlandu and Brandon McKinney.