GAME INFO
Wednesday, Nov. 20 -- at Saint Louis (St. Louis, Mo.) 7 p.m. CT
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The High Point University men's basketball team (0-4) closes out its mid-week road trip for the Gotham Classic at Saint Louis University (3-1) on Wednesday (Nov. 20) evening.  
 
The Gotham Classic, run by the Gazelle Group, is an 'multi-team exempt' college basketball event (or MTE), allowing all four contests to count as just one toward the cap of 31 scheduled games. This marks the first time HPU has appeared in the Gotham Classic, and are joined by Eastern Washington, Belmont, Boston College and Saint Louis.
 
Matchup History

• This is the first matchup between the Panthers and Saint Louis.
• This is the second time head coach Tubby Smith has faced the Billikens in his 28 seasons as an NCAA Di head coach. Smith's 1998 NCAA Championship Kentucky Wildcats team defeated SLU 88-61 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

 
Panther Notes

• High Point is coming off of a 90-51 loss at 2019 NCAA Tournament team Belmont on Monday (Nov. 18). Freshman John-Michael Wright led the team with 11 points.
• Wright has recorded double digits in three of his first four collegiate contests and is currently second in scoring amongst all Big South freshmen averaging 11.0 points per game
• Wright was named Big South Freshman of the Week (Nov. 11) after scoring a team-leading 17 points against William & Mary on High Point's opening night. Wright also brought in five rebounds and added an assist and a block against the Tribe. At Wofford, Wright scored 11 points, while shooting a game-high 75% from three-point range as he went 3-4 on the evening.
• Fellow freshman Emmanuel Izunabor currently ranks tied for sixth in the Big South with a 1.0 blocks per game average, which tops all freshmen in the conference.
• Redshirt sophomore Caden Sanchez ranked tied for seventh in the Big South with 2.5 offensive rebounds per game average and tied for 12th in the league with 5.8 boards per game.

 
Across the Bench

• The Billikens won their first three games of the season before dropping an 83-66 contest last Sunday (Nov. 19) against No. 12-ranked Seton Hall. Saint Louis earned wins versus Florida Gulf Coast, Valparaiso and Eastern Washington a part of a season-opening six-game homestand.  
• SLU is one of four 2019 NCAA Tournament teams that the Panthers will face this season and one of two who won its opening game in the tournament. The Bruins join Wofford, Belmont and Gardner-Webb on the HPU slate who went "dancing" last season.
• Jordan Goodwin leads the Billikens in scoring with 15.3 points a game, shooting 50 percent from the field and 44 percent beyond the arc. The junior also contributes below the basket with 7.3 rebounds a contest.
• Fellow junior Hasahn French is second on the team with 15 points per game, while leading the team with 7.5 caroms a contest.
• SLU is led by head coach Travis Ford. Who enters his fourth season at the helm. Ford previously spent eight seasons as the head bench boss at Oklahoma State, leading the Cowboys to five NCAA Tournament appearances. Prior to OSU, Ford had head coaching gigs at UMass and Eastern Kentucky, while leading the Colonels to the NCAA Tournament in 2004-05.

 
Up Next: The Panthers will return to High Point this weekend (Saturday, Nov. 23) when it concludes the Gotham Classic against Eastern Washington. Tipoff from Millis Center is scheduled for 2 p.m.

This men's basketball preview is brought to you by Omega Sports.