Jackson and Western Carolina host Mercer

Updated Jan. 13, 2024 3:43 a.m. ET
Associated Press

Western Carolina Catamounts (14-2, 3-0 SoCon) at Mercer Bears (8-8, 1-2 SoCon)

Macon, Georgia; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Catamounts -3; over/under is 139

BOTTOM LINE: Western Carolina visits the Mercer Bears after Tre Jackson scored 20 points in Western Carolina's 80-66 win over the East Tennessee State Buccaneers.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Bears are 5-2 in home games. Mercer is 1-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Catamounts are 3-0 against SoCon opponents. Western Carolina ranks third in the SoCon shooting 35.4% from 3-point range.

Mercer makes 44.8% of its shots from the field this season, which is 5.3 percentage points higher than Western Carolina has allowed to its opponents (39.5%). Western Carolina scores 6.4 more points per game (77.1) than Mercer allows (70.7).

The Bears and Catamounts match up Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jake Davis averages 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Bears, scoring 9.8 points while shooting 39.0% from beyond the arc. Jalyn McCreary is averaging 15.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals over the past 10 games for Mercer.

Vonterius Woolbright is averaging 21 points, 12.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists for the Catamounts. Jackson is averaging 15.7 points over the last 10 games for Western Carolina.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bears: 6-4, averaging 74.9 points, 37.1 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.6 points per game.

Catamounts: 8-2, averaging 76.4 points, 40.4 rebounds, 11.8 assists, 5.2 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 47.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.9 points.

___

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

share