HPU MBB hosts Charleston Southern Saturday on ESPN3

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s basketball team (15-9, 8-5) hosts Charleston Southern (9-16, 5-9) Saturday inside the Millis Center.

Tip-off between the Panthers and Buccaneers is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday’s game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN3, with Chris Hemeyer and Jeff Jackson providing commentary. In additon, Evan Lepler and Stafford Stephenson will call the game on the High Point Panthers Radio Network, with pre-game coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m.

PAW PRINTS
• HPU won the first meeting between the teams, 78-73, on Jan. 2 inside the Buc Dome. John Brown posted a game-high 27 points in the win.

• HPU is 10-3 at home this season, but has dropped three of its past four home contests.

• Last time out, HPU broke out of a 2-5 slump with a critical 68-67 win at Coastal Carolina on Feb. 11. The victory snapped the Chanticleers’ seven-game winning streak.

• HPU’s reserves posted 30 points in the win, which marked the bench’s highest scoring output since the Dec. 28 game vs. Methodist. High Point is 10-1 when its bench posts 20+ points.

• High Point held a +5 (31-26) edge on the glass against Coastal, the league’s top rebounding team. HPU is 10-1 when it out-rebounds its opponent this season.

• HPU opponents had shot at least 40 percent from 3-point territory in each of the Panthers’ last five losses. But the Panthers held the Chanticleers to just 28.6 percent (4-14) in Thursday’s win.

• Redshirt-senior John Brown posted 13 points (6-9 FG) and nine rebounds in the win, while senior Adam Weary added 13 points.

• Weary is averaging 15.0 points, 3.6 assists and shooting 54 percent over High Point’s last five games.

• Senior Lorenzo Cugini was held scoreless for the second time in three games Thursday vs. Coastal (0-11 FG, 0-7 3pt FG). Cugini is currently in a 10 for 40 slump from 3-point range (.250).

• Freshman Andre Fox provided a huge boost off the bench with 12 points in a career-high 30 minutes against the Chanticleers.

• High Point currently sits in fifth place in the Big South, but is just a game back in the loss column behind first place UNC Asheville.

A LOOK AT THE BUCCANEERS (9-16, 5-9 BIG SOUTH)
Charleston Southern was picked to finish eighth in the Big South preseason poll and currently holds that position with a 5-9 league mark. CSU is 3-9 on the road this season (3-3 in league play). The Buccaneers are coming off a 77-63 win over Presbyterian Thursday in Charleston. CSU ranks ninth in the country in 3-point field goals attempted and 19th in 3-point field goals made/game (9.6). Charleston Southern is led by freshman guard Armel Potter, who paces the team in scoring (13.6 ppg) and ranks fifth in the Big South in assists (3.3 apg). Senior Aaron Wheeler is second on the team in scoring (9.9 ppg), while redshirt-junior Raemond Robinson leads the conference and is 29th nationally in 3-point percentage (.433). He chips in 9.7 points per game.

HISTORY vs. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
Saturday’s matchup will mark the 35th all-time meeting between the Panthers and Buccaneers. HPU holds a slim, 18-16 edge in the all-time series and has won three of the past four matchups. High Point is 13-4 at home all time against CSU. The teams first met on Jan. 9, 1999, with the Panthers earning a 77-75 victory inside the Millis Center. High Point won the first matchup this season, 78-73, on Jan. 2. It marked the Panthers’ first win at the Buc Dome since the 2008-09 season. John Brown is averaging 25.7 points in his last three games against the Buccaneers.

CLASH OF STYLES
Charleston Southern ranks No. 9 in the nation in 3-point field goals attempted this season, while HPU is 337th out of 351 Div. I teams in that category. However, HPU is 25th in 3-point field goal percentage (.389), while CSU is 155th (.352). On the flip side, the Panthers rank 14th in the nation in percentage of points that come from 2-pointers (57.7%), while CSU is 306th (45.0%).

UP NEXT
High Point heads to Farmville, Va., to take on Longwood on Thursday (Feb. 18). Tip-off between the Panthers and Lancers is set for 7 p.m.