WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018 | 7 p.m.
WHERE: Williamsburg, Va. | Kaplan Arena (8,600)
SERIES RECORD: 9th meeting, HPU leads, 5-3
LIVE STATS: Click Here
AUDIO: High Point Panther Radio Network
VIDEO: TribeAthletics.com
GAME NOTES: High Point | William & Mary
 
HIGH POINT, N.C.—The High Point University men's basketball team opens the 2018-19 season Wednesday evening (Nov. 7) at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Tip-off at Kaplan Arena is set for 7 p.m.
 
Kyle West will be on the call on the High Point Panthers Radio Network, with coverage starting at approximately 6:50 p.m.
 
PAW PRINTS
• The Panthers are 67-24 all-time in season openers and 11-8 in the Division I era, including last year's win over William & Mary. 
 
• The Panthers were picked seventh out of 11 teams in the Big South preseason poll. Defending tournament champion Radford was picked to win the league with 28 out of 33 first-place votes.
 
• The Panthers welcome four new players in 2018-19, including freshmen Curtis Holland III, John-Michael Hughes, Rob Peterson III and Othello Smith. In addition, sophomore Tim Cameron is eligible to play after sitting out last season due to NCAA guidelines after transferring from UTEP.
 
• HPU returns nine letterwinners and four players who started 22 or more games last season, including senior Jordan Whitehead (24 starts), juniors Brandonn Kamga (28) and Jahaad Proctor (24) and sophomore Denny Slay (22). The quartet accounts for 65.3 percent of games started last season.
 
• Proctor was named to the Preseason All-Big South Second Team after being named to the All-Big South Second Team in 2017-18. Proctor was also recognized on the NCCSIA All-State Second Team.
 
• High Point has a new head coach in HPU Athletics Hall of Famer Tubby Smith, who is in his 28th season as a Division I head coach. Coach Smith played for High Point College from 1969-73.
 
• Coach Smith has a 597-302 record in 27 seasons and ranks 29th on the NCAA winningest active coaches list, across all divisions. Coach Smith is 23-4 in season openers as a Division I head coach. 
 
HISTORY vs. WILLIAM & MARY
This will be the ninth meeting all-time between the two programs, with the Panthers leading the series, 5-3. HPU won last year's meeting, 100-66, on Nov. 10, 2017 at the Millis Center in what was the season opener for both teams. Jahaad Proctor, making his Purple & White debut, dropped a game-high 28 points and was 6-7 from 3-point range. Andre Fox added 22, while Brandonn Kamga, also making his HPU debut, scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds. The 100 points scored was the first time High Point had reached the triple-digit mark against a Division I opponent since VMI (109-92) on Feb. 24, 2007. The Panthers shot 60.7 percent (37-61) from the field, which was the eighth-best shooting night in HPU's DI history and third-best against a Division I opponent.
 
A LOOK AT THE TRIBE (19-12, 11-7 CAA in 2017-18)
William & Mary comes into the season after finishing 2017-18 with a 19-12 record and a semifinal appearance in the CAA Tournament. The Tribe was 11-3 at home at Kaplan Arena last season. W&M returns three starters, including 6-10 junior forward Nathan Knight, who averaged 18.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and was named a Lou Henson Mid-Major All-American and member of the All-CAA Second Team. Matt Milon (13.0 points per game) and Justin Pierce (14.7 ppg, 8.6 rpg) also return as starters.
 
HISTORY vs. OPPONENTS FROM VIRGINIA 
High Point has complied a 82-76 (.519) record all-time against Division I programs hailing from the Old Dominion State. HPU's most common opponents are Radford (21-24, .467), Liberty (17-24, .415) and Longwood (24-8, .750). High Point is 62-56 (.525) against Big South programs from Virginia and 20-20 (.500) against the rest of the state's Division I teams. HPU was 5-3 against teams from Virginia this season after defeating William & Mary, Liberty, Longwood (twice) and Radford, but also fell to Radford, at Liberty and against Longwood in the Big South First Round.
 
TUBBY SMITH vs. WILLIAM & MARY AND CAA
HPU Head Coach Tubby Smith is 1-0 against the Tribe in his coaching career. Smith's Kentucky Wildcats defeated William & Mary, 92-47 on Dec. 22, 2004. Coach Smith is 2-0 against members of the Colonial Athletic Association, having also defeated College of Charleston with Kentucky on Nov. 28, 2006 (77-61). 
 
NEXT UP
The Panthers host Wofford in their home opener on Saturday, Nov. 10. Tip-off at the Millis Center is set for 2 p.m. Wofford won last year's matchup, 70-57, on Dec. 17, 2017 as part of the Mountain Invitational in Asheville.
 

2018-19 HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY MEN'S BASKETBALL SEASON PREVIEW

The High Point University men's basketball team enters a new era in the 2018-19 season, but with a very familiar name at the helm as legendary head coach Tubby Smith has returned to his alma mater to lead the Panthers.
 
Smith, a 1973 graduate of High Point College and a member of the HPU Athletics Hall of Fame, brings 27 years of Division I head coaching experience, along with 597 wins and 18 NCAA Tournaments. The three-time National Coach of the Year is one of two coaches that has taken five different schools to the NCAA Tournament.
 
"We're excited to be back here at High Point and we feel like it's home for us," Smith said. "Getting to see a lot of friends and getting to know the player, we've done this a few times and it's never easy, but we're excited."
 
His job now is to aide the Panthers, who finished 2017-18 with a 14-16 overall record and a 9-9 record in Big South play. Smith is happy with what he has seen from his new team so far.
 
"I've been impressed with our players' attitude and their basketball intelligence," Smith said. "They seem to really enjoy competing against each other. I'm very pleased with how they have accepted coaching from our staff, who is very talented."
 
The Panthers return four starters, including junior guard Jahaad Proctor, who was named to the All-Big South Second Team last season and has been selected to the Preseason All-Big South Second Team for 2018-19. Other HPU starters that return include senior forward Jordan Whitehead, junior guard Brandonn Kamga and sophomore guard Denny Slay.
 
HPU welcomes four freshmen to the fold, including center Othello Smith, forward Rob Peterson III and guards Curtis Holland and John-Michael Hughes. Also making his Panther debut will be sophomore guard Tim Cameron, who sat out last season after transferring from UTEP.
 
"I think our veteran players like Jahaad, Brandonn and Ricky, who have been here multiple years, and a guy like Jordan Whitehead, who was a walk-on and earned a scholarship, have led the right way," Smith said. "We want to play a certain style, we want to play up tempo, but I told the team, we can't do that unless you're willing to be committed to playing that style. We have to be in the best shape possible, be stronger, be an unselfish team and play the right way. The veteran players have been great, but I also like our underclassmen."
 
The Panthers have been selected seventh in the Big South Preseason Poll, receiving 192 points, behind defending champion (357), Winthrop (280), Hampton (253), Campbell (239), Charleston Southern (231) and Gardner-Webb (230), but ahead of UNC Asheville (151), Presbyterian (104), Longwood (77) and USC Upstate (64).
 
HPU has a challenging non-conference schedule, featuring road matches at William & Mary (Nov. 7), East Carolina (Nov. 24), The Citadel (Nov. 27), Valparaiso (Dec. 4) and Ohio State (Dec. 29). The Panthers will host Wofford (Nov. 10), Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 1), Western Carolina (Dec. 15), North Carolina Wesleyan (Dec. 17) and Washington College (Md.). 
In addition, High Point will travel to the Bahamas to take part in the Bimini Jam Nov. 16-19 where it will face Air Force, South Dakota and UMBC. The Purple & White will also play Richmond in a neutral-site contest in Washington, D.C.
 
"We are playing a very competitive schedule that will test us and measure where we are," Smith said. "With being on the road for a good portion of the non-conference schedule, that will build character and make us better."
 
Back Court
High Point's backcourt returns two of the Panthers' three leading scorers from 2018-19 in Proctor and Kamga. Proctor led the team with 16.4 points per game as well as 3.0 assists per contest. Kamga averaged 10.9 points and grabbed 3.4 rebounds per game. Both will see time along with Cameron, a quick, athletic shooting guard from Norcross, Ga., and Holland, a physical fundamentally-sound guard from Churchton, Md.
 
Up top, Slay and junior Jamal Wright will again fight for time at the point guard position. Slay started 22 games at the point, while Wright averaged 3.6 assists per game in 29 starts as a freshman in 2017-18. 
 
"I'm pleased with our freshman," Smith said. "Rob Peterson understands how to play and you can appreciate that he is a coach's son. I think our most fundamentally sound shooter on our team is Curtis Holland. I'm very impressed with those guys and add them to Tim Cameron and of course Jahaad and Brandonn, along with Jamal Wright and Denny Slay, we have some real battles for playing time and that will help us improve. Our strength right now is our back court." 
 
Front Court
The Panthers' front court features experience with senior Ricky Madison and Whitehead leading the way. Whitehead was the feel-good story of the 2017-18 season as the walk-on who had only scored 13 point and played in a total of 51 minutes in two seasons, started 24 games and posted big career-highs in minutes (20.8), points (5.2) and rebounds (4.5) last season. For his efforts, Whitehead was given a scholarship for his final season in the Purple & White.
 
Madison started 29 games in 2016-17 and was one of the first players off the bench last season, playing in 16.2 minutes per contest and producing 5.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. In addition to Madison and Whitehead, senior Sam Berlin will look to make a bigger impact in the middle, while athletic junior Cliff Thomas adds depth. 
 
Adding to the mix down low is freshman Othello Smith, a long, athletic 6-10 center from Brooklyn, N.Y., who brings the Panthers a real shot-blocking threat.
 
"Guys like Sam, Ricky, Caden and Jordan we are asking to do more in terms of ball-handling and run the offense through them," Smith said. "They are showing improvement and it will be beneficial to our back court players."
 
Final Word
"When you look on paper at who has who coming back, we are probably going to be picked to be a team in the middle of the pack (in the Big South), but if we can stay healthy, develop our guys the right way and play as one, then I think we can compete with anyone and be one of the top teams in the league," Smith said.