Barkley leads East Tennessee State against Western Carolina after 24-point game

East Tennessee State Buccaneers (12-5, 4-0 SoCon) at Western Carolina Catamounts (5-10, 1-3 SoCon)

Cullowhee, North Carolina; Wednesday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: East Tennessee State faces Western Carolina after Blake Barkley scored 24 points in East Tennessee State’s 86-60 win against the UNC Greensboro Spartans.

The Catamounts are 4-1 on their home court. Western Carolina has a 1-1 record in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

The Buccaneers are 4-0 against conference opponents. East Tennessee State is fourth in the SoCon with 15.0 assists per game led by Allen Strothers averaging 3.5.

Western Carolina makes 43.6% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.6 percentage points higher than East Tennessee State has allowed to its opponents (40.0%). East Tennessee State has shot at a 49.5% rate from the field this season, 3.4 percentage points greater than the 46.1% shooting opponents of Western Carolina have averaged.

The matchup Wednesday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Adbulai Fanta Kabba is averaging 6.2 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Catamounts. Marcus Kell is averaging 14.5 points over the last 10 games.

Cam Morris III is averaging 14 points for the Buccaneers. Barkley is averaging 14.9 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Catamounts: 2-8, averaging 79.0 points, 34.8 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 7.0 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 84.1 points per game.

Buccaneers: 6-4, averaging 76.6 points, 30.1 rebounds, 14.0 assists, 8.7 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.6 points.

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