Western Carolina Catamounts men's basketball
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The Western Carolina Catamounts men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men' basketball team that represents
Western Carolina University Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...
. The team currently competes in the
Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...
. Western Carolina won the 1996 Southern Conference tournament and participated in the 1996 NCAA tournament.


Team history

The school's first basketball team convened for the 1928-29 season and has played continuously since. The Catamounts were 1930 Southeastern Junior College champions and made their first NAIA tournament appearance in 1947. Jim Gudger brought success to the program, leading them to its first 20-win season in 1952-53, a North State Conference tournament championship in 1959, two Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championships in 1962 and 1963, four NAIA District tournament appearances in 1959, 1963, 1966, and 1968, and an appearance in the 1963 NAIA national championship game where the Catamounts lost to Texas-Pan American (now UT Rio Grand Valley). After leaving for Texas A&M, Commerce, Gudger was succeeded by Jim Hartbarger who continued the Catamounts success by appearing in the 1971 and 1972 NAIA District tournaments. After moving to
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
, the Catamounts made their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
after winning the 1996 Southern Conference tournament. They fell to 1 seed Purdue 71-73, almost becoming the first 16 seed to beat a 1 seed in NCAA tournament history.


Larry Hunter (2005-2018)

In 2005, Western Carolina hired
N.C. State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest u ...
assistant coach, and former
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
and
Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...
head coach, Larry Hunter to succeed Steve Shurina as head coach. Hunter led the Catamounts to their first winning season since 1999-00 with a record of 16-15 and a co-Southern Conference North Division title during the 2008-09 season. Hunter followed up this success in 2009-10 by leading the Catamounts to a 22-12 record and an appearance in the 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament, their first 20-win season since 1971-72 and their first postseason birth since 1996. Hunter again led the Catamounts to a co-Southern Conference North Division title during the 2010-11 season. On February 2, 2012, Hunter won his 100th game as head coach of the Catamounts with an 82-76 win over Chattanooga. The Catamounts made an improbable run to the 2012 Southern Conference tournament championship game before falling to
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91-93 in double overtime, their first appearance in the championship game since 1996. Hunter led the Catamounts to another run during the 2014 Southern Conference tournament, this time falling to Wofford 53-56 in the championship. Hunter returned the Catamounts to the postseason in 2016, accepting a bid to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) where they fell to
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
in the first round. Larry Hunter resigned as head basketball coach on March 4, 2018. He finished his career at Western Carolina with a record of 193-229, two postseason appearances, and two divisional titles.


Mark Prosser (2018-2021)

Mark Prosser Mark Prosser is an American college basketball coach and current head coach of the Winthrop Eagles men's basketball team. Playing career Prosser played one season of basketball at Marist before injuries stopped a playing career. He continued on ...
was hired to succeed Larry Hunter on March 27, 2018. After leading the team to a 7-25 record in his first season, Prosser led the Catamounts to a 19-12 record during the 2019-20 season. The 12 win improvement was the second-most in Division I. The Catamounts were set to compete in a postseason tournament before the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
canceled all postseason basketball tournaments. After leading the team to an 11-16 record during the 2020-21 season, Prosser accepted the head coaching job at Winthrop.


Justin Gray (2021-)

On April 13, 2021, former Wake Forest standout
Justin Gray Justin Gray is an American comic book writer working mostly for DC Comics. Career Gray has often collaborated with fellow writer Jimmy Palmiotti on series such as '' Hawkman'', ''Jonah Hex'', ''Power Girl'', '' 21 Down'', '' Uncle Sam and the Fr ...
was hired to succeed Prosser as the 19th head coach in program history.


Facilities

Breese Gymnasium served as the home of Catamounts basketball until 1956. The team moved into the larger Reid Gymnasium the next year and played there until 1986. The success under Jim Gudger, combined with the compacted seating, gave a home-court advantage to the Catamounts. The Catamounts moved to the
Ramsey Center The Liston B. Ramsey Regional Activity Center is a 7,826-seat multi-purpose arena in Cullowhee, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, and is home to the Western Carolina University Catamounts basketball and volleyball teams. It is also named "THE L ...
in 1986 and have played there since. The Ramsey Center was dedicated in front of a still-record crowd of 8,114 when the Catamounts hosted N.C. State on December 6, 1986. In addition to hosting N.C. State, the Catamounts have also hosted
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
,
Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
, and
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
in the Ramsey Center.


Notable players and coaches


Catamounts in the NBA


Rivalries


App State

Western Carolina and
Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...
played their first game against each other on December 16, 1927. The two teams met consistently until Appalachain State moved to the
Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...
in 2014. The last game between the two teams occurred on December 4, 2017, with the Catamounts winning 72-71 on a last-second dunk by Mike Amius. Appalachian State leads the all-time series 108-68.


Seasons

Since 2009-10


Notable moments


First 3-point shot in NCAA history

On November 29, 1980, Ronnie Carr hit the first 3-point shot in NCAA history against
Middle Tennessee State Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together of ...
in Reid Gymnasium. The ball is currently on display at the
Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...
.


Appalachian State free throw

On December 9, 2012, in a game against Appalachian State in Cullowhee, Mountaineer center Brian Okam shot a
free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...
that landed 10 feet short of the basket. A Western Carolina TV analyst commentating on the game soon reacted, in a surprised manner, "I'm not sure what that was. Good lord." The incident has gone viral on
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, reaching over 19 million views.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine


Postseason appearances


NCAA tournament

The Catamounts have appeared in one NCAA tournament. Their record is 0–1. In the 1996 Tournament, Western Carolina was seeded #16 and played #1 seed Purdue close before falling 71–73.


CIT

The Catamounts have appeared in one
CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) was an American men's college basketball postseason tournament founded by Collegeinsider.com. The tournament was oriented toward schools that did not get selected for the NCAA Division I men's ...
(CIT). Their record is 0–1.


CBI

The Catamounts have appeared in one
College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...
(CBI). Their record is 0–1.


NAIA tournament

The Catamounts have appeared in seven NAIA tournaments. Their record in the National tournament is 4–3 while their record in the District tournament is 6–4. In the 1963 tournament, the Catamounts made it to the national championship game where they lost to Pan American.


References


External links

* {{Western Carolina University