ROCK HILL, S.C. – The High Point University and Furman University men's basketball teams will tip-off on college basketball's opening night, Monday, November 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center in the "Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon".

"I love challenging our team right away," Head Coach Flynn Clayman stated. "Opening night, there's going to be a ton of excitement. I expect this place to be absolutely rocking by tip-off. It's a first-class area and facility in Rock Hill. It's an elite place for a college basketball game."

This will be the Panthers and Paladins' first matchup since the 2022-23 season and the fifth meeting between the teams since the 2003-04 season (according to High Point's records). HPU has only defeated Furman once out of the four meetings back in 2022, the same season the Paladins earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The High Point University men's basketball team is coming off the best season in program history and is excited for the upcoming 2025-26 season with the new leadership of Head Coach Flynn Clayman. HPU returns eight players from the 2024-25 Big South Regular Season and Tournament Championship team while adding 10 newcomers for the upcoming season. Chase Johnston, the outside sharpshooter returns from the Panthers 2024-25 starting lineup and will be joined by three power four transfers and four postseason all-conference honorees from the transfer portal.

The Furman men's basketball team finished the 2024-25 season with a 25-10 overall record and an 11-7 record in the Southern Conference league play. In the SoCon Tournament the No. 5 seed Paladins defeated No. 1 seed Chattanooga in overtime of the semifinals to advance to the Championship game. Furman fell to No. 6 seed Wofford in the Championship game and was invited to the National Invitational Tournament to play North Texas. Furman is coached by Bob Richey who enters his 11^th season with the Paladins.

Tickets go on sale on September 5th at TicketReturn for the games in Rock Hill, SC.

The games will be broadcast on The Field of 68's YouTube Channel and X feeds, and the network's popular After Dark show will be broadcast live with a set at both venues.