Mercer looks for home win vs WCU

Western Carolina (12-5, 4-2) vs. Mercer (8-11, 2-4)

Hawkins Arena, Macon, Georgia; Wednesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Mercer looks for its fourth straight win over Western Carolina at Hawkins Arena. The last victory for the Catamounts at Mercer was a 72-65 win on Feb. 18, 2016.

FAB FRESHMEN: Western Carolina’s Mason Faulkner, Onno Steger and Xavier Cork have collectively accounted for 42 percent of the team’s scoring this season and have scored 48 percent of all Catamounts points over the last five games.

DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS: The Bears have allowed just 70.3 points per game to Southern opponents thus far. That’s an improvement from the 74.5 per game they gave up in non-conference play.

CREATING OFFENSE: Faulkner has been directly responsible for 42 percent of all Western Carolina field goals over the last five games. The senior guard has 23 field goals and 32 assists in those games.

WINLESS WHEN: Mercer is 0-9 this year when it scores 71 points or fewer and 8-2 when it scores at least 72.

PERFECT WHEN: Western Carolina is a perfect 9-0 when its defense holds opponents to a field goal percentage of 43.9 percent or less. The Catamounts are 3-5 when allowing opponents to shoot any better than that.

DID YOU KNOW: The Western Carolina offense has scored 81.2 points per game this season, ranking the Catamounts 14th among Division I teams. The Mercer defense has allowed 72.1 points per game to opponents (ranked 221st overall).