High Point Men’s And Women’s Basketball Earn No. 1 Seeds At 2014 Big South Tournament

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The seedings for the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Tournament were announced on Saturday. The High Point University men’s basketball team is the No. 1 seed in the North Division and will face either Winthrop or Liberty on Friday at noon. The women’s basketball team also earned the No. 1 seed and will face the winner of No. 8 UNC Asheville against No. 9 Radford on Thursday at noon.

HPU is the first Big South school since 1995-96 to win both the men’s and women’s regular seasons outright.

The men’s basketball team went 12-4 in Big South play and won the 2013-14 Big South Regular Season Championship. It’s HPU’s first outright Big South title in men’s basketball.

HPU beat Winthrop 65-64 at the Millis Center in the teams only meeting this season. The Panthers beat Liberty twice this year, with a 76-70 win in Lynchburg, Va. and a 67-60 victory at home.

The Panthers are 10-12 all-time in the Big South Tournament. HPU is 0-4 against Winthrop in the tournament but the teams have not met since 2007-08. The Panthers are 1-2 against Liberty in championship play, including last year’s 61-60 loss in the quarterfinals. The team’s win came in the 2011 quarterfinals.

The women’s basketball team went 16-4 in Big South play to win the second regular season title in program history and first since 2006-07. The Panthers set a program record with 16 Big South wins.

HPU will face either No. 8 UNC Asheville or No. 9 Radford at noon on Thursday. The Panthers swept both teams in the regular season. High Point is 2-1 against Asheville in championship play. The teams last met in the quarterfinals of the 2008-09 tournament with High Point winning 72-67. HPU is 2-0 against Radford in the Big South Tournament with wins in 2002-03 and 2011-12. High Point is 12-14 all-time in the Big South Tournament.