BOSTON, MA – High Point Men's Basketball Head Coach Alan Huss has been named one of 20 finalists for the 2023-24 Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award and one of 16 finalists for the 2023-24 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award. Both awards were announced by collegeinsider.com on Tuesday, March 19.
 
The Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award is presented annually to the top mid-major head coach in college basketball.
 
Earlier this season, coach Huss was named a mid-season recipient for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year Award. This award is presented annually to the top rookie, first-year head coach in division I college basketball.
 
Taking over at the helm in the spring of 2023, Coach Huss has guided the Panthers to an overall record of 25-8 during the 2023-24 season, which is the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history, and the most wins in HPU's NCAA Division I era. The team finished the conference regular season with an overall record of 13-3 and were crowned the Big South regular season champs for the first time since the 2015-16 season, earning the No. 1 seed at the Big South Tournament. Coach Huss was named the Big South Coach of the Year while while Juslin Bodo Bodo was named the Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year and Duke Miles was named the Newcomer of the Year. Miles, Kimani Hamilton & Kezza Giffa were named to the First Team All-Conference selections while Bodo Bodo and Titas Sargiunas were named to the All-Freshman team.

Hosting the Big South Tournament, the Panthers made it to the semifinals and fell in overtime to Longwood (80-79).

Coach Huss transformed an entire new team (11 newcomers) and coaching staff that were picked seventh in the Big South Preseason polls, to a regular season championship team in less than a year.

Out of 31 rookie head coaches across the country, Coach Huss finished at the top with the most wins.
 
During the season, Coach Huss was named a "mid-season" recipient for the 2024 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award in early January and was later named the ESPN Coach of the Week in the Men's Power Rankings on January 29. As a team, High Point University was named the Field of 68 Mid-Major Team of the Week on February 6, along with Indiana State, after going 2-0 at home with wins over Longwood University and Presbyterian College in league play. Coach Huss produced seven Big South Players of the Week and 12 Big South Freshman of the Week, as Bodo Bodo recorded nine Freshman of the Week awards for a Big South and program record in a single season. Giffa was named one of five players to the Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week on January 21. On January 11, Miles was named to the Lou Henson Award watch list and became the third Panther to be named to the mid-season watch list in program history.
 
HPU cracked the College Insider mid-major top 25 on December 22^nd and never dropped from the top 25, reaching as high as No. 5 on February 5.
 
At one point in the season, the Panthers held the longest active win streak in the country with 12-straight wins (December19 - February 7), which is the longest win streak in D1 program history at HPU. The previous streak was set during the 2006-07 season with eight.
 
The Panthers ended the non-conference regular season with a win over Bellarmine which earned the team's 11th win in non-conference, making it the most ever since becoming Division I in 1999. The Panthers also finished the non-conference season at home undefeated with an 8-0 record. 
 
After earning his first official win as the new head coach on November 6 over St. Andrews, 105-51, Coach Huss guided the team in pursuing multiple program records throughout the season. HPU knocked down 21 three-pointers as a team against St. Andrews, blowing the previous record (15, vs. GWU in 2012) out of the water. The team registered 13 threes in one half and also tied the program record for the most rebounds in a single game with 61. Six games later, the Panthers recorded the second most points scored in a single game in program history with the 122-73 win over Mount Olive. Through most of the season the Panthers were top in the country in free-throws made, free-throws attempted, and free-throw percentage. The team also finished the regular season top-10 in scoring offense averaging just over 84 points per game.
 
The Panthers have been invited to the 2024 Ro College Basketball Invitational and enters the bracket as the overall No. 1 seed with a bye to the quarterfinals on Monday, March 25 at 12:00 p.m. High Point awaits the winner of the 8/9 seed game between Northern Colorado and Cleveland State which will take place on Sunday, March 24th at 11:00 a.m.
 
This will be the Panthers fifth time making a postseason tournament and the program's first appearance in the CBI since becoming Division I in 1999. HPU appeared in the NIT during the 2013-14 and 2015-16 seasons and the CIT during the 2012-13 and 2014-15 seasons during HPU's four-year stretch of Big South regular season titles. The farthest High Point has made it in postseason play was to the second round of the CIT during the 2014-15 season after defeating Maryland Eastern Shore, 70-64, in the opening round.