Game Info
Tuesday, December 21st, -- vs Florida Atlantic
Watch | Live Stats |Â High Point Hoops Media Guide 2021-22Â | Game Notes
High Point University men's basketball (5-6) remains at home in the Qubein Center for its last home non-conference game of the year against Florida Atlantic on Tuesday (Dec. 22nd) at 7:00 PM. The game against the Owls is the last game before Christmas after the 25th HPU will be before heading to Michigan State and Kentucky to wrap up 2021. Big South play for HPU begins in the Qubein Center on January 5th.
Across The Bench
HPU faces FAU for the first time at home since facing them in Boca Raton in December of 2019.
FAU nearly upset Miami as the Hurricanes were able to just edge out the Owls 68-66 at the buzzer. Michael Forrest led FAU in scoring with 21 points on the night against Miami as the Owls nearly pulled the upset at home.
Dusty May is the head coach for FAU he is a long-term choice for the owls as he signed a five-year deal in 2018. Prior to being named the head coach of FAU, he was an assistant at the University of Florida.
FAU is 7-5 on the season coming off a 78-55 win over Florida Tech last Friday night.
Last Time Out
HPU's gutsy comeback effort fell just short 71-69 in overtime to UNCW on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 18). The Panthers trailed by as many as 14 with less than 10 minutes to play in the game and were able to force overtime. John-Michael Wright led the way in scoring for HPU with 28 points. It was his second consecutive game scoring 28 points or more, he has scored 26 points or more in four of his last five contests. Zack Austin was the second Panther with double digits finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks.
Local Production
HPU is third in the nation in most points per game that are scored by in-state players as High Point's North Carolina natives are averaging 59.9 points per contest. HPU's 59.9 follows UCLA's 60.2 from its California-born players while Iowa leads the nation with 60.3 ppg for its Iowa-born players.
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The Wright Way
Wright is averaging 22.2 points per game which leads the Big South and gives him the 3rd highest points per game average in the nation. Wright is currently 8th all-time on the HPU scoring list with 1151. He is 23 points away from moving into 7th and surpassing Dustin Van Weerdhuizen.
Tubby and the ThreeÂ
The Panthers are shooting at 36.1 percent behind the arc, which is the 80th highest three-point percentage in the nation. This is the second time since his 1998 National Championship winning team that Tubby Smith has coached a team in the top 100 of three-point percentage. High Point (36.9, 66th, 2021-22) Minnesota (39.9, 9th, 2009-10).
Block Party
Austin is second in the Big South and 9th in the country in blocks per game with an average of 3.36.
Non-Conference Play
High Point will play 14 non-conference games in total, nine of them taking place inside the beautiful Qubein Center in its inaugural season and the other five occurring on the road. Four of the Panthers' five opponents on the road are Power-Five teams.
UP NEXT
HPU wraps up non-conference play with two Power-5 games against Michigan State and Kentucky. The Panthers will face Michigan State in East Lansing on December 29th then will travel to Lexington as Tubby returns to Kentucky as HPU takes on Kentucky on New Year's Eve on the SEC Network.
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