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On the radio: Country Legends 98.3 FM and
highpointpanthers.com with Jason Benetti and Stafford Stephenson
Live Video: Live streaming video on the Big South Network with Matt Perry and Matt Wells
The Game: High Point University (1-1) hosts Hampden-Sydney (0-0) in the season opener for the Tigers, and the first-ever meeting between the two schools on Saturday at the Millis Center. The Panthers are coming off a hard-fought loss to Wake Forest in which HPU led by as many as nine points and trailed 42-39 at halftime before losing, 83-60.
Last Time Out: HPU put up a valiant effort in its only scheduled game against an ACC team, an 83-60 loss to Wake Forest at the Joel Coliseum on Wednesday. The Panthers opened up a 24-15 lead early in the game, going five-for-eight from three-point range. Wake Forest took its first lead with 1:58 remaining in the first half and led 42-39 at the break. Wake Forest pulled away early in the second half, including an 18-0 run en route to the 23-point margin at the final buzzer. HPU’s defense forced 18 turnovers and outblocked the Demon Deacons, 6-3 in the game. Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu led all scorers with 22 points and Chase McFarland was the game’s high rebounder, with 12. HPU was led for the second game in a row by Nick Barbour, who scored 15 points, and Eugene Harris scored 13 for the second game in a row. Cruz Daniels blocked five shots but Wake dominated in the paint, outrebounding High Point 42-28.
Saturday’s Opponent: Hampden-Sydney is an NCAA Div. III member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The team opens the season Saturday coming off a 14-14 campaign in its first season under coach Dee Vick, including a 7-9 record in the ODAC. The Tigers were picked to finish fifth in the ODAC behind HPU neighbor Guilford College, Virginia Wesleyan, Randolph-Macon and Eastern Mennonite. Hampden-Sydney advanced to the 2009 conference tournament semifinals with wins over Lynchburg and Roanoke before falling to Virginia Wesleyan, 66-58. The Tigers return six of their top eight scorers, including senior guard Turner King, who averaged 17.8 points last year, and sophomore Ben Jessee (10.6 ppg).
Simms Chipping In: Jairus Simms, the only true freshman on HPU’s roster, has gotten significant playing time in each of his first two games and led HPU in assists both times. Against UNC Pembroke last Saturday, Simms played 21 minutes and scored four points and had five assists in 21 minutes. Against Wake Forest, he played 18 minutes, scoring four points with three assists.
Daniels Gets 14th Five-Block Game: Senior Cruz Daniels blocked five shots against Wake Forest on Wednesday, the first time this season and 14th time in his career he has blocked five or more shots. Daniels’ career-high was eight blocked shots against Youngstown State on Dec. 19, 2008 and he has also blocked six shots in a game on five occasions. He already owns High Point’s career blocks record, which now stands at 229. Daniels’ 229 blocks are No. 2 all-time in the Big South behind only Liberty’s Peter Aluma, who had 366 from 1994-97. Daniels set the HPU single-season record of 83 in 2008-09 to lead the Big South and his 2.8 per game ranked sixth in the NCAA.
Harris Gets 1,000 points: Senior Eugene Harris scored his 1,000th-career point on a jump shot just before halftime of HPU’s 104-72 win over UNC Pembroke last Saturday. With 13 points in that game and 13 against Wake Forest on Wednesday, he has 1,017 points in his career. Harris is the 28th member of HPU’s 1,000-point club. Harris got significant playing time as soon as he arrived on campus, as he played in every game, averaging 8.4 points, and was named to the Big South All-Freshman team in 2006-07. He went on to set the HPU record with 90 three-pointers as a sophomore and averaged a career-high 12.6 points. Last season, Harris averaged 12.0 points and a team-high 32.5 minutes.
Barbour Named Co-Player of the Week: Sophomore Nick Barbour was named Big South Co-Player of the Week along with Coastal Carolina’s Joseph Harris on Monday. Barbour scored 38 points, including 10-for-11 from three-point range, in HPU’s 104-72 win over UNC Pembroke on Saturday. He made his final nine three-point attempts. His 38 points were a career-high and the third time he has scored 30 or more points in his career.
•HPU Div. I Record: Barbour’s 10 three-pointers made and .909 three-point field goal percentage were both HPU records in the Div. I era (1999-2000 to the present). His 38 points ranked third in the Div. I era behind Arizona Reid (42 at VMI on March 1, 2008) and Joe Knight (40 at Vanderbilt on Dec. 15, 2002).
•Big South Record: Barbour’s .909 three-point percentage is the highest in a single-game in Big South history.
•Best 3-Pt% in Div. I Since 2007-08: Barbour’s 10-for-11 mark was the best performance from three-point range in all of NCAA Div. I since Jan. 18, 2008, when Andre Smith of George Mason went 10 for-10 against James Madison. Last year, nobody shot 90 percent or better when attempting 10 or more three-pointers.
Cherry Gets First Career Win: Scott Cherry got a win in his first try as head coach last Saturday as the Panthers topped UNC Pembroke, 104-72. Cherry is the 11th head coach in HPU history, and eight have won their first game. Cherry and Dale Layer of Liberty are the Big South’s two first-year head coaches.
Season-Opening Win: HPU opened the season with a win for the first time since 2004-05 when it beat UNC Pembroke, 104-72, last Saturday at the Millis Center. The Panthers took a 55-23 lead by halftime on 20 points by Nick Barbour and 10 from Corey Law. Barbour made nine straight three-pointers to finish the game, including all six of his attempts in the second half, and he finished with a career-high 38 points. Eugene Harris scored his 1,000th-career point en route to a 13-point day and Law finished with 11. Senior Cruz Daniels led HPU with seven rebounds and true freshman Jairus Simms had five assists to one turnover. UNCP was led in scoring by freshman guard Shahmel Brackett, who scored 17 points. The win upped HPU’s all-time record vs. UNC Pembroke to 26-24.
HPU’s Exhibition: High Point hosted Johnson & Wales-Charlotte Campus in an exhibition game at the Millis Center on Nov. 10, serving up a 93-25 victory before 1187 fans. Sophomore Nick Barbour led the team with 17 points and redshirt freshman Corey Law recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Panthers had six players in double figures in scoring: Barbour (17), Law (11), David Campbell (14), Cruz Daniels (13), Jairus Simms (13) and Eugene Harris (11). Daniels and Campbell also had seven rebounds each and Daniels blocked four shots. Simms and junior Tehran Cox each added four assists. It was Johnson & Wales’ first men’s basketball game at the varsity level.
Attendance Improvements: High Point University’s attendance during its exhibition game last Tuesday was 1,187 and the attendance during the Panthers’ season-opening win over UNC Pembroke was 1,081 – a significant improvement over the team’s first two contests at the Millis Center last season. That’s in large part due to increased membership in the Panther’s Den, HPU’s student section. Last year, the Panther’s Den had 115 members. This year, with increased excitement about the team, membership has already swelled to 327 and is on pace to hit its limit of 350.
Class Breakdown: HPU’s roster features two seniors, four juniors (including transfer Tehran Cox), three sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and one true freshman. Eight of the Panthers’ 12 players have significant collegiate playing experience.
HPU Sixth in Preseason Poll: High Point University was ranked sixth in the Big South Preseason Poll. The Panthers were ranked behind (1) Radford, (2) UNC Asheville, (3) Winthrop, (4) Gardner-Webb and (5) VMI. HPU was ranked ahead of (7) Liberty, (8) Coastal Carolina, (9) Charleston Southern and (10) Presbyterian. HPU went 9-21 overall and 4-14 in conference play last season and finished tied for ninth in the Big South regular-season standings.
Barbour Preseason All-Big South: The league’s coaches recognized HPU sophomore Nick Barbour by voting him to the Big South Preseason All-Conference team. As a true freshman in 2008-09, Barbour led HPU with 14.2 points per game and was named to the Big South All-Freshman team. His role increased as the season went on, and he started the final 12 games of the season, averaging 21.4 points in those games. He scored a career-high 32 points against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 7.
Loaded Backcourt: Of the 12 players on HPU’s roster this season, eight are guards. This gives Coach Cherry many options in the backcourt, and HPU will most likely have three guards on the court for the majority of minutes. Senior Eugene Harris (93 games) and junior David Campbell (59 games) have the most experience in an HPU uniform, and junior transfer Tehran Cox played in 63 games at point guard over the past two years at Arkansas-Fort Smith. Sophomores Nick Barbour and David Singleton both got a lot of experience as true freshmen last season. Barbour led HPU with 14.2 points per game and was named to the Big South All-Freshman team. Singleton was the only player to start all 31 games and led the team and ranked fifth in the Big South with 4.8 assists per game. True freshman Jairus Simms, redshirt freshman Joe Stroman and sophomore walk-on Adam Hall are also guards who provide depth for HPU.
The Frontcourt: Senior center Cruz Daniels will be the Panthers’ key player down low this season and he will get help from junior forwards Earnest Bridges and Jourdan Morris as well as redshirt freshman forward Corey Law. At 6-foot-11, Daniels provides the most height and he has one of the greatest reaches in the NCAA. He led the Big South in blocks each of the last two seasons, and his 2.8 per game ranked sixth in the NCAA last season. He also averaged 7.7 points and 8.1 rebounds as a junior. Bridges has averaged 11.6 minutes in 55 career games at HPU and at 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds brings a physical presence to the court. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds last year. The 2008-09 season was Morris’s first in an HPU uniform and he averaged 6.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 24 games. He played the 2006-07 season at St. Bonaventure, where he played in 23 games. He then sat out the 2007-08 season to meet NCAA transfer requirements. Cherry inserted Law right into the starting lineup in the exhibition game and the first two regular-season games and he has averaged 7.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in the first two games. Law brings great athleticism after starring at Deep Creek High in Chesapeake, Va.
Carolina Connection: Both head coach Scott Cherry and assistant coach Wes Miller played for North Carolina and won national championships with the Tar Heels. Cherry played at UNC from 1989-93 and was captain of the 1993 NCAA champ team. Miller played for current head coach Roy Williams from 2004-07 and was a member of the 2005 NCAA title team. Miller was captain of the 2006-07 Tar Heels, leading the team to 31 wins, the Elite 8 and ACC title.
Close Calls: HPU went 2-8 in games decided by five points or less last season, including a 1-5 mark in games decided by three or less.
Milestone Watch: Several HPU players have worked their ways into the HPU record book. Last Saturday, senior Eugene Harris became the 28th member of HPU’s 1,000-point club. Both Harris and senior Cruz Daniels have played 93 games and should work their way into the top 10 in career games played. Bruce Floyd (1978-82) ranks 10th with 106 games played and Landon Quick (2003-07) is the leader with 122. Daniels is already HPU’s career leader with 229 blocks after Wednesday’s game, and Harris is the all-time leader in three-pointers, with 215. Nick Barbour made 65 three-pointers as a true freshman last year, and with his 10 last Saturday and three Wednesday, he is tied for ninth with Doug Alves (2000-02) with 78 three-pointers made in his career. Barbour’s 10 three pointers and .909 three-point percentage against UNC Pembroke were both HPU records in the Div. I era. Sophomore David Singleton already has 146 assists and is just 52 from Derek Van Weerdhuizen (198), who ranks 10th in HPU history.