HPU Men’s Basketball Releases 2018-19 Non-Conference Schedule

HIGH POINT, N.C. — First-year High Point University head men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith has announced the Panthers’ non-conference schedule for the 2018-19 season. The slate features three Division I home games at the Millis Center and a November trip to the Bahamas.

SCHEDULE

“We’re pleased with the teams that we were able to attract to come here to High Point,” Smith said. “We have three Division I home games this year that are going to be competitive and we structured our schedule so that we can have some return games here in the future. I like the way our guys are looking right now and they are working extremely hard, but we will be tested early and often, starting with a road trip to William & Mary and a tough game at home against Wofford.”

The Panthers will host Guilford in an exhibition on Oct. 30, before drawing the curtain on the regular season at William & Mary on Nov. 7. Coach Smith’s first regular-season home game in charge of the Purple & White will be against Wofford on Nov. 10.

High Point will participate in the 2018 Bimini Jam Nov. 16-19 at the Gateway Christian Academy in Bimini, Bahamas. The Panthers will face off against South Dakota on Friday, Nov. 16 and will also take on Air Force and UMBC in the round-robin tournament. UMBC made headlines a year ago, becoming the first 16-seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

“The Bimini trip will be a very competitive tournament that will test our guys with three games in four days,” Smith said.

After returning the U.S., the Panthers will travel for road contests against East Carolina (Nov. 24) and The Citadel (Nov. 27) before hosting Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 1.

A road trip to Valparaiso on Dec. 4 awaits before the Panthers break for exams.

Following the exam break, High Point hosts Western Carolina (Dec. 15) and North Carolina Wesleyan (Dec. 17).

The Panthers will travel up to Washington, D.C., to take on Richmond in a neutral-site matchup on Dec. 22. The game will take place at the brand-new arena for the Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards’ G-League team. Following Christmas, HPU will head to Columbus, Ohio, to take on Ohio State on Dec. 29.

High Point rings in the new year and closes out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a game against Washington College (Md.) on Jan. 2, 2019 at the Millis Center.

The Panthers return four starters from the 2017-18 squad that went 14-16 overall and 9-9 in Big South play. HPU welcomes four freshman and a one transfer that sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules.

The Big South conference portion of the schedule, as well as times for the non-conference schedule, will be announced at a later date.