HPU MBB Travels To Charleston Southern Saturday

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s basketball team (10-4, 3-0) hits the road for a Big South matchup with Charleston Southern (5-8, 1-1) on Saturday (Jan. 2) inside the Buc Dome.

Tip-off between the Panthers and Buccaneers is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday’s game will be streamed live on the Big South Network. In addition, Kevin Burke will broadcast the game on the High Point Panthers Radio Network, with pre-game coverage beginning at 5 p.m.

PAW PRINTS
• HPU is 3-0 in Big South play for the first time in nine years. The Panthers began the 2006-07 league slate with a 6-0 mark.

• In 2014-15, the Panthers set a new program best with six road Big South wins. HPU won at Gardner-Webb (66-64), on Dec. 5 in the first league roadie of the season.

• Last time out, HPU powered past Radford, 77-60, on New Year’s Eve inside the Millis Center. The win marked HPU’s 11-straight home victory, which is the longest current streak in the Big South.

• High Point shot 50 percent for the game and limited the Highlanders to just 34.5 percent. HPU is now 7-0 when it shoots 50 percent or better from the floor this season.

• Junior Jorge Perez-Laham posted a season-best 14 points vs. Radford, while redshirt-senior John Brown registered his second double-double of the season and 15th of his career with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also tallied four assists.

• Senior point guard Haiishen McIntyre posted a game-high five assists and added seven points. He leads the Big South in assists/game (4.7) in conference games this season.

• HPU leads the Big South and is 10th nationally with a +5.3 turnover margin this season. The Panthers turn their opponents over on 21.4 percent of possessions, which ranks 47th in the country.

* The Purple & White are ranked No. 138 in the Jan. 1 RPI report and No. 94 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings system.

BROWN NO. 6 NATIONALLY IN OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
Redshirt-senior John Brown is the sixth most efficient offensive player in the nation according to Ken Pomeroy, trailing only Buddy Hield (Oklahoma), Denzel Valentine (Michigan State), AJ English (Iona), Kahlil Felder (Oakland) and Nathan Boothe (Toledo). The offensive rating system is an advanced statistical formula developed by statistician Dean Oliver.

A LOOK AT THE BUCCANEERS (5-8, 1-1 BIG SOUTH)
Charleston Southern was picked eighth in the 2015-16 Big South preseason poll after graduating four of five starters from last season’s Big South co-regular season championship team. The group included 2015 Big South Player of the Year Saah Nimley. This season, CSU has earned Div. I victories over ETSU (77-76) and at Liberty (68-61). Four of the Bucs’ eight losses have come in guarantee games, including setbacks at Wichita State (88-63), Stanford (93-59), Arkansas (93-75) and Florida State (75-64). CSU is 10th in the country in 3-point field goal attempts (383) and fifth in 3-point field goals made per game (10.7).

Charleston Southern is led by freshman guard Armel Potter, who paces the team in scoring (14.1 ppg) and ranks fifth in the Big South in assists (3.8 apg). Junior guard Patrick Wallace chips in 12.8 ppg and is sixth in the league in 3-point percentage (45-113, .398), while redshirt-junior guard Raemond Robinson is averaging 9.7 points and is fourth in the conference in 3-point percentage (.453, 34-75).

HISTORY vs. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
Saturday’s matchup will mark the 34th all-time meeting between the Panthers and Buccaneers. HPU holds a slim, 17-16 edge in the all-time series and has won two of the past three matchups. High Point is 13-4 at home against CSU but just 4-12 in the Buc Dome. The teams first met on Jan. 9, 1999, with the Panthers earning a 77-75 victory inside the Millis Center. Last season, HPU and CSU split a pair of matchups. High Point won, 72-61, at home on Jan. 8, 2015, and fell 97-93, in a triple overtime game in Charleston on Feb. 28 in the regular season finale. John Brown averaged 25.0 points in the two contests last season. The Panthers have not won at the Buc Dome since the 2008-09 campaign

UPCOMING SCHEDULE TIDBITS
High Point is currently in the midst of a three games in six days stretch that wraps up with the Jan. 2 game at Charleston Southern. HPU opened the slate with wins over Methodist (96-50) and Radford (77-60). After Saturday’s game, HPU will play just two games in 12 days. That duo of contests includes a home game vs. Presbyterian (Jan. 9) and road contest at Winthrop (Jan. 14) that will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

UP NEXT
High Point enjoys a week-long competitive break before returning to action next Saturday (Jan. 9) with a home matchup vs. Presbyterian College. Tip-off between the Panthers and Blue Hose is scheduled for 4 p.m.