ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's basketball is part of a five-way tie for second in the Big South Conference as it looks to keep pace when it travels to High Point Wednesday for a 7 p.m. contest.
The Eagles have won two straight and five of their last six games as they enter the game with a 13-10 record and 8-4 league mark. High Point is also 8-4 in the league and sport a 17-7 overall record. The game will air on the Big South Network or fans can listen to Dave Friedman call the action live on 104.1 The Bridge.
This will mark the 37
th all-time meeting between Winthrop and High Point as the Eagles hold a 25-11 lead but head to the Millis Center where they haven't won since 2007, six straight losses. High Point has had the upper hand in this series in recent years having won six of the last seven meetings and six straight regular season contests.
During league play the Eagles have enjoyed success on the road with a 4-2 record with wins at Presbyterian College, UNC Asheville, Liberty and Coastal Carolina. The two losses came at Gardner-Webb and Radford, where the Eagles led both games at halftime. In fact, the Eagles have led all six road games in Big South play at the half. Through their six road games in league competition the Eagles have averaged nearly 70 points per game (69.5).
Winthrop hasn't played since Feb. 4 as it got a much needed break after playing three games in five days and four in eight days. Winthrop it made it 3-1 through that stretch.
Senior
Andre Smith has stepped it up offensively the last two weeks as he's averaging 16.8 points while shooting 52 percent, 47 percent behind the arc and 90 percent at the foul line. He is coming off 21 points against Liberty and had 18 in the win over Charleston Southern last week to help him earn Big South Conference Co-Player of the Week honors. On the year he's averaging 11.5 points and just became the school's 5
th player ever to reach 200 career three-pointers. He's closing in on 1,000 career points as he is now 26 away.
Smith and senior
Keon Moore were the only players that averaged double-figures in the two games last week. Moore averaged 18.5 points, 6.0 rebounds while shooting 65 percent from the field and 62 percent from three. He continues to lead the team with an 18.2 average, which currently ranks fourth best in a single-season in the program's history.
The two teams met on Jan. 3 as the Panthers won 90-87 in double-overtime after the Eagles erased a 10-point deficit with 7:03 left in regulation. Moore posted a career-high 30 points in the loss as he scored 28 of his 30 points after halftime. It was the third straight game the Eagles and Panthers played that came down to the final possession of the game.
High Point is coming off a 65-60 loss at Coastal Carolina on Feb. 6 and has now lost two straight for the first time all season. The Panthers haven't lost three straight Big South games since the 2011-12 season when they lost five straight.
Reigning Big South Conference Player of the Year John Brown continues to lead the Panthers as he's averaging 18.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals. He's shooting 54 percent from the floor (2
nd in the Big South) and also averaging 1.3 blocks per game. On the year he's posted nine games with 20 or more points and dropped in a season-high 33 against the Eagles in the first meeting.
Brown is just one of three Panther players averaging double-figures as Adam Weary is second on the team with 11.0 ppg and Devante Wallace is averaging 10.6. Weary is second on the team in assists and is second on the team in field goal percentage at 50 percent. Wallace has 46 made threes on the year while Lorenzo Cugini is next with 40 (46 percent).
Against the Eagles on Jan. 3, Weary scored 15 off the bench to go along with two assists and two steals as he was a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line.
Like the Eagles, High Point is 4-2 at home and 4-2 on the road. Surprisingly High Point has averaged more on the road than at home as it is scoring 69.5 at the Millis Center and 72.5 in away games. During Winthrop's six-game losing streak at the Millis Center, it has averaged just 61.7 points with three of the losses coming by a single point.
This will be a matchup of two of the league's top four offenses as the Eagles average 74.0 and the Panthers are averaging 72.8. Winthrop ranks third in the league in defensive field goal percentage (.408) while High Point leads the Big South in field goal percentage (.475). Winthrop is first in the league in three-point field goal defense (.318) and blocked shots (4.87).
