ROCK HILL, SC—The top two scoring teams in the Big South Conference will square off Thursday night on ESPNU when Winthrop hosts league-leading High Point at the Winthrop Coliseum.

GAME SNAPSHOT 
Winthrop (10-6, 2-3 BSC) vs.  High Point (12-4, 5-0 BSC)
Game Time: 7 p.m. EST / Site: Rock Hill, SC (Winthrop Coliseum)
Live Video: WatchESPN Television: ESPNU (Kevin Fitzgerald/Adrian Branch) / Audio: 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 6:30 p.m. with Dave Friedman/Ron Mikels)
Live Stats / Live Video / Live Audio




Winthrop Probable Starters
G    1      Bjorn Broman (6.4 ppg, 1.5 rpg)
G    5      Keon Johnson (20.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg)
F    12     Xavier Cooks (12.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
F    44     Jimmy Gavin (16.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg)
C    25     Zach Price (6.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg)

SERIES HISTORY
This will mark the 38^th meeting all-time between Winthrop and High Point. The Eagles hold a 25-12 lead in the all-time series, including a 18-12 mark in regular season league games only. It has been High Point with the better of the series as of late, having won the last two meetings and seven of the last eight meetings. The lone victory in that stretch was a 62-60 victory over the Panthers in the 2013 Big South Conference Quarterfinals. The last four meetings between the Eagles and Panthers have been decided by three points or less.

HOME SWEET HOME
This season the Eagles are 7-1 at the Winthrop Coliseum and 41-11 (78 percent) since 2012-13 when Pat Kelsey took over the program as head coach. Under Kelsey the Eagles hold a 46-12 mark when scoring at least 70 points in a contest and are even more impressive in home games when doing so at 31-3. One those three losses came at the hands of High Point in 2014-15 season, 90-87 in double overtime. Since the 2004-05 season, the Eagles are 84-7 at home when scoring 70 or more points. Since 1998-99 the Eagles have won 81 percent of their home games (70 percent all-time in home games).

PERKINS COULD BE OUT UNTIL MID-TO-LATE FEBRUARY
Junior Rod Perkins was injured in practice on Jan. 5 and is expected to miss up to six weeks with a hand injury. Perkins has started six straight games before missing the game at UNC Asheville and against Ferrum. Before his injury, Perkins was averaging 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists.

THE MATCHUP
Winthrop enters the game having lost three straight league games and looking to avoid a 2-4 mark in the Big South as it fights to stay near the upper part of the conference standings. During the three-game skid the Eagles have shot the ball well at a combined 48 percent from the field, but just 33 percent behind the arc and only 65 percent at the foul line. The Eagles are currently ranked 31^st in the country in free throw percentage at 74 percent. On the flip side Winthrop's opponents have shot 50 percent from the field, 37 percent from three and 72 percent at the line for an 85.7 scoring average. Offensively the Eagles rank at the top of the league with 83.4 ppg, while the Panthers are the only other school in the league averaging in the 80's at 80.1. The Panthers are one of two undefeated teams in the league at 5-0 as they've won four straight games and nine of the last 11. They lead the league in field goal percentage at .498, which ranks 10^th nationally. One of the things that has made the Panthers difficult to beat this season is their low turnover margin, which ranks 9^th nationally at +5.0.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Two-time Big South Conference Player of the Week  Keon Johnson continues to lead the Eagles in scoring at 20.0 ppg, which ranks second in the Big South. He has eight games of scoring 20 or more points after he put up 23 in the road loss to UNC Asheville and has been in double-figures in every game this season. Following his first game without a three-pointer (loss at Coastal on Jan. 2) he was 4-for-9 from three and 6-for-12 from the field against the Bulldogs. Senior Jimmy Gavin is the Big South's fifth leading scorer at 16.6 ppg, but is averaging just 12.2 ppg in five conference games. Gavin, who has six games of 20 or more points this season is due for a breakout game in conference play. High Point's John Brown leads the Panthers in scoring at 18.9 ppg, which ranks 3^rd in the league. The two-time Big South Player of the Year is averaging nearly the same in league play at 18.8 and shooting 59 percent from the floor and 83 percent from the foul line (24-for-29). Lorenzo Cugini is the team's second leading scorer at 13.8 ppg as he leads the entire country in three-point field goal percentage at 61 percent (43-for-71).

LAST TIME OUT
The Eagles stepped away from league play for the final time in the 2015-16 regular season as they hosted Ferrum College and earned an 81-63 victory. Jimmy Gavin led Winthrop with 19 points while Keon Johnson, Zach Price and Joshua Davenport all added 10 points and a total of nine players scored at least three points or more. The Eagles were able to get a lot of players some rest as nobody played more than 26 minutes.

THE COACHES
Pat Kelsey is in his fourth season at the helm of the Winthrop men's basketball program. He holds a record of 63-49 in four seasons with appearances in the Big South championship game the past two seasons. The Eagles are 30-25 in Big South games under Kelsey. During his tenure the team has a couple of the program's notable victories with wins at Clemson and Auburn. High Point is under the direction of Scott Cherry for the seventh season. The 2014-15 Big South Coach of the Year has a career record earned his 100^th career win this season and holds a career mark of 108-95 overall and 67-42 in the league.

MILESTONES
Junior Keon Johnson joined an elite club as he became the 23^rd player in the program's history to reach 1,000 points in his career. The 5-7 guard from Mansfield, OH drilled a three for his 18^th point of the game which gave him 1,000 in his career. He finished the game with a team-high 25 points. In his career to this point he's averaging 13.5 ppg and if he were to maintain that average for the remainder of his career (estimation of at least 44 possible games to play) he would finish with over 1,600 points, which only two players in school history have achieved. Johnson now has 1,082 career points, moving into 17^th all-time as he just passed Eddie gay (1,079). He is the third player to reach 1,000 career points in Pat Kelsey's four years (Keon Moore/A. Smith). Johnson also joined an elite club of 30-point scores as he recorded his third of the season and his career with 32 in the loss to Campbell. He became just the fourth player in the history of the program to reach 30-points or more for a third time. Charles Brunson has the most 30-point games with nine and Fred McKinnon had five while Johnson is now tied with Torrell Martin for the third most with three. Johnson moved into the Top 10 for free throws made and three-pointers made. He's currently made 270 (9^th) in his and is among the top free throw shooters in the history of the program as he's currently shooting .844 in his career, which ranks fourth all-time. He's currently 9^th all-time in made threes with 158, which is two away from 8^th (David McMahan). Duby Okeke is averaging 2.8 blocks per game, which leads the Big South and ranks in the Top 10 in the nation. In 13 games he's blocked 37 shots and the program record for blocks in a season is 66 by Josh Grant in 2002-03. Okeke moved into 9^th all-time with 83 career blocks and Xavier Cooks has 68. Billy Houston is the all-time leader in career blocks with 139.