WCU basketball set to start anew in first game of season

WCU basketball lost a head coach and 12 players before the end of last season, leaving the team requiring an almost complete rebuild before the start of the 2021-2022 season. 

Head Coach Justin Gray, former professional basketball player and assistant coach at Winthrop University, joined the Catamount team in April of 2021. 

In his introductory press conference, Gray outlined his goals for the future of the team with the clever acronym of ABC, or academics, basketball, character. His focus is on creating a team of dedicated students, driven athletes, and outstanding representatives for the University. 

Despite losing 12 players to other teams, four Catamounts remained: Brad Halvorsen, Tyler Harris, Josh Massey, and Travion McCray. 

Two newcomers that arrived with high recommendations are Madison Monroe and Joe Petrakis.

As a sophomore at Independence Community College in Kansas, Madison, guard, averaged 14.9 points with 5.4 assists in 23 games. Petrakis, a 6’10” forward, transferred as a redshirt from Kansas State with an average of 1.5 points per game as a sophomore. 

With players coming from a variety of coaching backgrounds, Gray is now working to create unity through ‘terminology’ and ‘minutia’, or the communication through eye movement when passing the ball. 

The WCU basketball season is set to start with an exhibition match at the Ramsey Center against the Campbellsville-Harrodsburg Pioneer’s on Monday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. Their first ‘real’ season started will be on Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ramsey Center against Bowling Green. 

For the full roster and schedule of games, visit catamountsports.com.