HIGH POINT, N.C.-- The High Point University men's basketball team begins the third season in The Tubby Smith era and a season that will be unlike any other. The Panthers return for one more season in the Millis Center and for the first time will play 20 Big South conference games in the newly inputted consecutive day, same site format.
 
Tubby Smith is entering his third season as the head coach of the High Point Panthers which is significant because his third season is historically when he has experienced great success which he was able to build off of at his previous schools. In his third season at Tulsa in 1993, Coach Smith achieved his first 20-win season as a head coach as the Golden Hurricanes won six more games than the year before finishing with a 23-8 record and made it to the Sweet 16. In his third season at Minnesota in 2009, he maintained the Golden Gopher's success from the previous season again winning over 20 games and making it to the NCAA Tournament. In his third season at Texas Tech in 2015, the Red Raiders won 19 games for the first time since 2010 and made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006. Smith and the Panthers are hoping to see this third-year trend continue this season.
 
THE ROSTER
 
Returners
 
HPU returns a lot of talent this season including three of its five top scorers from a year ago in John-Michael Wright, Eric Coleman Jr., and Caden Sanchez. The Panthers return seven players, with six of them having started games a season ago.
 
John-Michael Wright enters his second year for High Point after an outstanding freshman campaign. Wright earned Big South Freshman of the Week honors five times last season, he was the Panthers leading scorer averaging 14.2 points per game a year ago. His career-high in points came against Gardner Webb on January 23rd. Wright scored double digits 23 times last season. Wright earned Big South Honorable mention honors and was named to the 2019-2020 Big South All-Freshman Team. Entering his sophomore season Wright was selected to NABC Player Development Coalition Roster. The NABC Player Development Coalition is a diverse collection of Division I men's basketball student-athletes that will provide valuable perspective and feedback on college basketball issues. Wright was selected to the Big South Preseason second team.
 
Eric Coleman Jr. returns after being second in scoring for the Panthers a year ago as he averaged 8.7 points per game. Caden Sanchez enters his third season after proving himself as a reliable option for the Panthers in his first two seasons. Sanchez increased his output from his freshman season, averaging higher totals across the board in his second year Sanchez averaged 7.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 22.4 minutes per game as a redshirt sophomore.
 
Bryant Randleman is another freshman who made a big impact in his first year for the Purple and White. He appeared in 32 games and started in 29 of High Point's contests. Randleman averaged 3.7 points per game, his career-high came against Presbyterian on February 20th as he scored 11 points in the Panther win.
 
Rob Peterson III appeared in 31 games, starting in 15, he averaged 5.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 26.5 minutes per game as a sophomore. Denny Slay II is the team's lone senior, Slay appeared in 29 games and started in two games while averaging 5.7 points per game.
 
Newcomers
 
While High Point returns a lot of familiar faces, The Panthers have quite a few newcomers coming in as well, six in total. Five of the six newcomers are freshmen made up of Zach Austin, Bryson Childress, Ahmil Flowers, Alex Holt, Jaden House, and the sixth newcomer is a grad transfer from Livingstone College Lydell Elmore.
 
Elmore comes to HPU after a very successful career with Livingstone in the CIAA. Elmore's points per game averaged increased each year during his Blue Bear career. Elmore averaged 6.8 points as a freshman and in his last season for Livingstone he averaged 15.8 points as well as 7.8 rebounds. Elmore received All CIAA Front Court honors two years in a row (2019,2020). Elmore was named a 2020 BOXTOROW Division II All American. He was selected to the BOXTOROW All-American Second Team.
 
Zach Austin played this past season at Moravian Prep after a high school career at Winston Salem Prep. Austin averaged 11.6 points per game and 9.7 rebounds a game his senior season and helping lead the Phoenix to a 23-5 record and the fourth round of the NCHSAA 1A State Tournament.
 
Bryson Childress played this past season at Hargrave Military Academy, helping them to a 35-4 overall record. Before Hargrave, he attended North Stanly High School, where he averaged 26.1 points per game and five steals a game in 30 games played during the 2018-2019 season. He also played AAU for former NBA player, Raymond Felton, in the Team Felton organization.
 
Ahmil Flowers played at Grimsley High School where he averaged 15.3 points per game and 5.7 rebounds a game in 26 games played in 2018-19. Flowers also plays for the Greensboro Warriors travel team. He was ranked No. 18 within the state of North Carolina according to hoopseen.com.
 
Alex Holt played at Lexington high school, where he averaged 17.9 points per game and 17.7 rebounds per game in 27 games played in 2019-2020. His high school senior campaign included being named MaxPreps Player of the Game nine times and helped lead the Yellow Jackets to a 22-6 record and the third round of the NCHSAA 2A State Tournament.
 
Jaden House is coming off a season in which he averaged 24.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game for Middleburg Academy, leading the Dragons to a 22-5 record. During his high school career, House was a First Team All-State selection and VISSA-2 leading scorer.
 
THE SCHEDULE
 
High Point will play 26 games in total – 20 Big South Conference games, five non-conference games, and an exhibition contest.
 
"This will be a different type of a year with the pandemic as our schedule has been condensed," Coach Smith said. "We will start our season with a very talented Davidson team on the road. Our non-league schedule is pretty competitive, especially with four of our first five non-league games on the road, which will be a real test for us. We have North Florida at home on December 5th and Coker which will be an exhibition game on the 15th. Those will be our only home games that we will have during the month of December. We will start our conference schedule in December because we increased our conference schedule to twenty games. We will have ten Big South home games and ten Big South road games and each series will be back-to-back. This will be the first time I have ever coached in a situation where you have back-to-back games. I know that we have been picked to finish near the bottom of the Big South, but I'm impressed with our players."
 
High Point kicks off the 2020 season with a trip to Davidson, N.C. to take on Davidson College on the night before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, November 23. This will be the first meeting ever between the two schools and also the first time Coach Smith has faced a Davidson team. On Saturday, the Panthers will travel to Elon to take on the Phoenix on November 28. After not playing each other since 2006 until last December, HPU faces Elon for the second consecutive season.  HPU defeated Elon at home in thrilling come from behind fashion last year in the Millis Center.
 
After two road games to start the year, High Point will return for one last home opener in the Millis Center against North Florida on December 5th. The Big South will play 20 conference games this season which will cause conference games to start earlier this season. Also this season, Big South games will be played back to back at the same location, instead of the traditional home-and-home series format.
 
The Panther's first Big South contests will come on the road against UNC Asheville on December 11th and 12th. On the 15th, HPU returns home to face Coker in an exhibition game. Four days later, HPU travels up to Williamsburg, Va. to challenge William & Mary on the 19th. The Panthers conclude non-conference play on December 22nd when Coach Smith returns to the state of Kentucky as the Purple and White challenge Eastern Kentucky.
 
On December 30th, High Point resumes Big South play as USC Upstate comes to the Millis Center for a pair of conference games on the 30th and 31st. The Panther's first games of 2021 will come against Campbell in Buies Creek on January 4th and 5th. High Point hosts another pair of conference games on January 9th and 10th when the 2020 Big South Champion Winthrop comes to HPU. After a nine-day break, the Panthers will see more Big South action when they travel to Farmville, Va. on January 19th for two games against Longwood. The Purple and White return home to host the Blue Hose when they face Presbyterian on January 24th and 25th. HPU wraps up the month of January with two road games at Hampton on January 29th and 30th.
 
The month of February contains three more Big South series for the Panthers. HPU will take on Charleston Southern at home in High Point on February 4th and 5th. The Panthers take their last regular-season road trip of the year on February 11th and 12th to compete against Gardner-Webb. High Point's last regular-season home games will take place on February 18th and 19th as the Panthers host Radford.
 
The Big South Tournament will take place March 2nd to March 7th with the first round taking place on the 2nd and the championship concluding on the 7th. Like it has been since 2017, the highest seed will host the Big South Conference Tournament.
 

This men's basketball season preview is presented by Beamer Tire and Auto.

 
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