ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop looks for a 2-0 start in the Big South for the second straight season as it hosts preseason favorite High Point at the Winthrop Coliseum Saturday afternoon. Tip is set for 1 p.m.
The Eagles have won two straight and are 6-6 on the year. They are coming off an 82-72 overtime victory over Longwood in the conference opener and can match last year's 2-0 start but will be a tough task against a talented Panthers team.
In the victory over Longwood, the Eagles let a 12-point second half lead get away from them but exploded offensively in the extra period and outscored the Lancers 17-7. In the game, the Eagles connected on 13 threes and shot 44 percent but committed 17 turnovers (third highest total this season).
Senior
Keon Moore turned in his best offensive performance of the season as he tied his career-best of 27 points. The 6-5 guard was 8-for-15 from the floor and 6-for-10 behind the arc while also pulling down four rebounds, dishing out two assists and leading the team with three steals. It was his fifth 20-point game of the season and sixth straight game in double-figures. Moore leads the team and is ranked fourth in the Big South at 17.6 ppg. He's shooting 44 percent from the field and leads the Big South shooting 44 percent from three.
Freshmen
Xavier Cooks and
Joseph Lopez were big in the win over Longwood as junior starting forward
Tevin Prescott went down with an injury after only eight minutes of action. Cooks finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists and a career-high four blocks. Lopez added 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, a block and two steals in the win. Cooks is averaging 6.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. Lopez is averaging 4.7 points and 3.8 rebounds.
Moore wasn't the only one knocking down threes in the win over Longwood as senior
Andre Smith connected on four and finished with 14 points. Smith is second on the team in scoring at 10.8 per game and has a team-high 60 assists. He's ranked 3
rd in the Big South at 5.0 assists per game.
Winthrop has shot the ball well during its two-game winning streak combining for 55 percent from the floor, 50 percent behind the arc and 79 percent at the foul line to average 91.0 ppg. Defensively the Eagles have held its last two opponents to a combined 38 percent shooting from the field and 28 percent from three.
High Point enters the game with a 9-4 mark and 0-1 league record after falling to defending Big South champion Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, 83-68. The Panthers have won three of the last four and five of the last seven overall.
Preseason Player of the Year and reigning Big South Player of the Year John Brown leads the Panthers with an 18.1 scoring average, which ranks third in the league. The redshirt junior forward is second in the league in field goal percentage (.575) and 18
th in the league in rebounding at 5.3 per contest. He had 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks in the opener against Coastal. In his career, Brown has averaged 17.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 54 percent from the field and 82 from the line (9-for-11).
Second on the team in scoring is Devante Wallace at 10.2 points per game and has the most threes made on the team with 22. The senior guard had 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting against Coastal. Junior forward Lorenzo Cugini is coming off 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting against the Chanticleers Cugini is third on the team in scoring at 9.8 per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor.
The Panthers offense is very balanced as six players average 6.3 points or more as it averages 74.1 on the year, which is third in the Big South just .7 behind the Eagles.
This series historically has been dominated by the Eagles 25-10, but five of the last six have been won by the Panthers and eight of the last 11. In the previous meeting, Smith hit a last second three to lift the Eagles over the Panthers 62-60 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament. Prior to that game the Eagles had lost five straight to High Point. Three of the last four matchups have been decided by five points or less.
