Western Carolina Catamounts (8-20, 4-13 SoCon) at Mercer Bears (12-18, 5-12 SoCon)
Macon, Georgia; Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bears -7.5; over/under is 156.5
BOTTOM LINE: Western Carolina aims to stop its three-game skid with a victory over Mercer.
The Bears are 6-6 on their home court. Mercer leads the SoCon in rebounding, averaging 35.7 boards. Alex Holt leads the Bears with 6.8 rebounds.
The Catamounts have gone 4-13 against SoCon opponents. Western Carolina ranks sixth in the SoCon with 9.1 offensive rebounds per game led by Vernon Collins averaging 2.2.
Mercer's average of 8.4 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.9 fewer made shots on average than the 9.3 per game Western Carolina gives up. Western Carolina's 39.4% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.6 percentage points lower than Mercer has given up to its opponents (42.0%).
TOP PERFORMERS: Ahmad Robinson is averaging 16.5 points, five assists and 1.9 steals for the Bears. Tyler Johnson is averaging 17.7 points over the last 10 games.
Bernard Pelote averages 2.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Catamounts, scoring 14.2 points while shooting 35.6% from beyond the arc. Marcus Kell is shooting 50.0% and averaging 19.5 points over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Bears: 2-8, averaging 70.7 points, 35.9 rebounds, 11.2 assists, 6.8 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 42.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.0 points per game.
Catamounts: 3-7, averaging 73.8 points, 36.1 rebounds, 12.7 assists, 4.1 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 40.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.4 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
