Tigers Open Season With Exhibition Game At Division I Western Carolina
Wittenberg men's basketball will kick off a promising season by re-connecting with former head coach Larry Hunter for a preseason contest Nov. 8.
Springfield, Ohio – Wittenberg University’s men’s basketball program will open the 2013-14 season with a preseason exhibition game at Western Carolina University, an NCAA Division I program coached by former Tiger head coach Larry Hunter, at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, in the 7,826-seat Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, NC.
Western Carolina, a member of the Southern Conference, returns all five starters and nine of its top 10 scorers from the 2012-13 season when the Catamounts finished with an overall record of 14-19. Western Carolina is picked to finish third in the Southern Conference in a preseason poll of the league’s coaches and media.
Hunter coached the Tigers from 1977-89, guiding the team to an NCAA Division III national championship in his first season and eventually earning a place in Wittenberg’s Athletics Hall of Honor after ending his career with the most wins in men’s basketball program history. Hunter, who now ranks second on Wittenberg’s wins list behind current Head Coach Bill Brown, has gone on to accumulate more than 600 victories as a head coach, including 12 years at Ohio University and eight years leading the Catamounts.
Brown is looking forward to the opportunity to play a preseason game versus an opponent the caliber of Western Carolina. Wittenberg figures to be one of the favorites in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) in 2013-14 as Brown returns eight letterwinners, including six players who started at least 12 games a year ago.
“Competing against a Division I program should be a really fun opportunity for our players,” Brown said. “Let’s face it, many of them grew up dreaming of playing DI basketball and now they get to realize some portion of that dream. We all are really appreciative of Larry for giving our program this opportunity. And, if we go down there, take care of the basketball, play decent defense and compete really hard, we can make it an important learning tool for the start of our regular season against Wisconsin-River Falls a week later.”
The game against Wittenberg kicks off an extraordinarily busy month of games for Western Carolina, which will open regular season competition with a home date against the University of North Carolina-Asheville on Monday, Nov. 11. The Catamounts are scheduled to play nine regular season games in a 19-day span, culminating with a road trip to nearby Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, for a game at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30. (Western Carolina Season Outlook)
Wittenberg opens the 2013-14 campaign with games on back-to-back nights at the Lee Pfund Classic, hosted by Wheaton College (Ill.). The Tigers will square off with Wisconsin-River Falls at 6 p.m. (CST) Friday, Nov. 15, and will play either Blackburn College or Wheaton on Saturday, Nov. 16. (Wittenberg Season Outlook)
Written By: Ryan Maurer