Game Info

Saturday, Feb. 27 -- VS USC Upstate (5-17) (5-11) (Millis Center) 4:00 PM on ESPN3

Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3) | Game Notes

The High Point University men's basketball team (8-14) (6-11) stays home for a rematch against the Spartans in the first round of the Big South Conference Tournament. This is The Panther's second year in a row meeting USC Upstate in the first round. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Matchup History

• HPU is 4-2 against USC Upstate since becoming a D-1 program in 1999. This season The Panthers are 1-1 against USC Upstate
• Coach Tubby Smith is 4-2 all-time against USC Upstate
• The last time these two sides met was for back-to-back games this season on December 30th and 31st where the Panthers won the first game (63-52) and lost the second game (51-60).
• Saturday's game will be a rematch of the Big South First Round a season ago as this will be the second straight year the two sides have faced off in the first round. 

Across the Bench

• USC Upstate enters the Big South Tournament with a record of 5-17 this season and a 5-11 conference record
• The Spartans are led by head coach Dave Dickerson who is in his second season 
• Tommy Bruner leads USC Upstate in scoring. The sophomore from Columbia, South Carolina averages 13.6 points per game which ranks him ninth overall in the Big South.
• Nevin Zink is always a threat when facing the Spartans, Zink the 6-9 center ended the regular season averaging 8.6 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game. 

Panther Notes

Wright Answer

John-Michael Wright averages a conference second-best 20.8 points per game. The sophomore's scoring average currently ranks him 14th in the nation in points per game. Wright has scored at least 20 points in 13 out of the 20 games he has started and appeared in this season. Wright does more than just score, he averages five rebounds a game and has 32 steals on the year.

Flowers as a Freshman: A Budding Career

Ahmil Flowers has started in every game for HPU this season. Flowers is third on the team in scoring and has finished in double digits in 8 out of 22 games. He has logged a lot of minutes for the Purple & White averaging 30.8 minutes per contest. Flowers career-high came against PC where he scored 20.

House Call

Jaden House had a big night off the bench for HPU against Campbell on Tuesday (Feb. 22). The freshman scored 12 points off the bench against Campbell. The freshman has provided great energy off of the bench all season long. 

Panther Block Party

HPU is 96th in the nation in block shots as they average 3.7 per contest. HPU has recently recorded a seven-block performance as a team against the Eagles of Winthrop on Friday (Feb. 19).

Vote FlyDell 

Lydell Elmore has been selected to participate in the 2021Dark Horse Dunker Fan Vote where 16 players are put in a bracket and the fans vote to decide which one gets the opportunity to participate in the 2021 Great Clips College Slam Dunk Championship. Go to http://www.darkhorsedunker.com/ to vote daily for Lydell!

Panther Dunk Counter

Throughout the entire 2019-20 season, the Panthers totaled 24 dunks. After seventeen games, the Panthers surpassed that total with 38 jams on this season.

FlyDell

Elmore has 21 dunks so far this season for The Purple and White, which leads the squad for jams made.

Tubby All-Time Wins Tracker

Coach Smith has 630 wins which currently ranks him 35th all-time in wins amongst D-1 coaches.

#GoHPU