ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball is off to a 2-0 start in the Big South and will face another 2-0 team when it hosts High Point on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Winthrop Coliseum.
 

Game 16: Winthrop (10-5, 2-0 Big South) vs. High Point (9-7, 2-0 Big South)
Date	Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, 2 p.m. (EST)
Location	Rock Hill, SC (Winthrop Coliseum / 6,100)
Live Stats	Statbroadcast (click here)
Television/Stream	ESPN3 (click here) Mike Pacheco (PxP) – Bobby Stevens (Analyst)
Radio	94.3 FM/104.1 The Bridge / ESPN 730 | WGNC AM1450/101.1 FM (click here) / Dave Friedman (PxP) – Anders Broman (Analyst) – Pregame 1:30 p.m.
Notes	Winthrop | High Point
Social Media	@Winthrop_MBB | @WUEagles | #ROCKtheHILL | #WinthropMBB #WinthropEverStand
Tickets	Click Here

 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Winthrop
G         0          Nych Smith (5-10, Sr., 16.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G         3          Michael Anumba (6-5, Fr., 7.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G         13        Bjorn Broman (6-0, Sr., 10.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.2 apg)
G         21        Kyle Zunic (6-2, So., 10.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.6 apg)
F          25        Josh Ferguson (6-8, Jr., 11.8 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.4 apg)
High Point
G         1          Brandonn Kamga (6-5, Jr., 14.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G         3          Jamal Wright (5-11, Jr., 4.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G         13        Jahaad Proctor (6-3, Jr., 19.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.3 apg)
F          25        Ricky Madison (6-7, Sr., 6.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.4 apg)
F          34        Jordan Whitehead (6-5, Sr., 6.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.0 apg)
 
THE SERIES
Series Record vs. HPU: 18-21
Series Streak: W1
Record at Winthrop Coliseum: 2-3
Streak at Winthrop Coliseum: L1
Kelsey vs. High Point: 7-4
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and High Point meet for the 44^th time as the Eagles lead the all-time series 29-14
• Winthrop holds a 22-14 record against the Panthers during regular season league matchups
• The Eagles have won two straight in the series and three of the last four
• In 19 meetings with the Panthers at the Winthrop Coliseum, the Eagles are 14-5
• Winthrop hosts High Point in its conference home opener for the second straight season 

THE GAME

• Winthrop and High Point are two of the three teams in the Big South that are 2-0 in league play
• It will be a matchup of the top two teams in the league for rebounding margin as the Panthers lead the league at +6.2 and Eagles are second at +5.5
• Winthrop still leads the conference in scoring at 88.8 ppg while the Panthers rank 4^th in the league in scoring defense at 68.0 ppg
• Eagles hit 12 threes in the win at Campbell and lead the league with 12.7 per game
• High Point enters the contest having won three straight while the Eagles are on a two-game win streak
• Winthrop is 5-1 at home this season and looking for a fifth straight win at the Winthrop Coliseum and High Point comes to town 3-3 on the road 

WINTHROP       

• Head coach Pat Kelsey is in his seventh season with the Eagles (131-76)
• Eagles are now one of four teams in the conference with 10 or more wins on the season
• For a second straight game and second straight game on the road, the Eagles overcame a halftime deficit to win the game at Campbell
• Off to first 2-0 start in league play since 2015-16 and looking for first 3-0 start to league play since 2006-07
• Senior's Nych Smith and Adam Pickett combined for 50 points in the win at Campbell on Thursday
• Smith made 12 field goals en route to a career-high 27 points while Pickett finished with 23 points
• Smith had missed the previous two games with an injury and came off the bench to post his career-high
• Austin Awad made his second straight start and chipped in with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting behind the arc for back-to-back games in double-figures
• Have won four of the last five games and eight of the last 10
• The 10-5 record is the second best start through 15 games during Kelsey's tenure 

HIGH POINT

• Tubby Smith is in his first year as head coach of the Panthers and his 28^th season overall
• Smith has a career-record of 606-309 and is a three-time National Coach of the Year
• Jahaad Proctor leads the team in scoring at 19.4 ppg as he's led the team in scoring in nine games
• In 2017-18 Proctor averaged 14.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg while shooting 36 percent (4-of-13 from three) against the Eagles
• Brandonn Kamga is the second leading scorer as he paced the Panthers with 25 points in the win over Presbyterian College and is averaging 14.7 ppg
• The three road wins for the Panthers have come at East Carolina, Valparaiso, and Charleston Southern
• Cliff Thomas Jr. has only played two games but recently returned from battling injury and in two games is averaging 9.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg as he's 6-of-9 from the field and 7-of-8 at the foul line 

RECORD BOOK WATCH

• Bjorn Broman now has 191 career threes and is all alone in 8^th all-time in program history as he became the 8^th player in program history with 180 made threes
• He is now nine threes away from becoming the 7^th player in program history to hit 200 threes
• Broman is just outside the Top 10 all-time in career three-point field goal percentage at .367 (LaShawn Coulter is 10^th at .373)
• The Eagles are now through 15 games on the season and are currently averaging 12.7 threes per game, which no other team in program history have averaged 10 or more for a full season
• There have been five seasons in Big South Conference history that a team averaged 10 or more per game, which was accomplished by VMI all five times (Single-season record is 13.69 in 2008-09)
• As a team the Eagles averaged 89.4 ppg in non-conference action, which is the most by any team in program history (second best is 86.2 set by the 2017-18 team) 

WHERE DO THE EAGLES RANK IN THE BIG SOUTH?
Winthrop currently leads the Big South Conference in scoring (88.8 ppg), defensive rebounds (30.1), assists per game (16.5), three-point field goal percentage (.393) and three-point field goals per game (12.7). Winthrop has led the Big South in scoring, scoring margin and three-point field goals per game the last two seasons. Nych Smith's 16.8 ppg ranks 6^th in the league while Josh Ferguson ranks second in rebounds per game (7.7). Bjorn Broman is 9^th in the Big South in three-point field goals per game (2.2). Smith also ranks 3^rd in field goal percentage, 4^th in free throw percentage, and 4^th in assists per game.

WINTHROP SPORTS SHOW AT ROCO
Every Thursday at The Roasting Company throughout the basketball season will be the Winthrop Sports Show at ROCO hosted by the voices of the Winthrop Eagles Dave Friedman and Mike Pacheco. The two will sit down weekly with head coaches Pat Kelsey and Lynette Woodard as well as other selected guests throughout the season. The show is from 6-6:30 p.m. and airs live on 94.3 FM & 104.1 The Bridge.

20 YEARS AGO
This season marks the 20^th anniversary of the first ever NCAA Tournament team in Winthrop history. The Eagles posted a 21-8 record on the year and 9-1 mark in league play on their way to the team's 2^nd Big South title and first ever birth to the NCAA Tournament. That year the team was 12 straight contests and defeated Radford in the championship game (86-74) at the Asheville Civic Center. The Eagles were a 16 seed and faced number one seed Auburn in Indianapolis, IN as the Eagles fell 80-41 to the 4^th-ranked Tigers. The Eagles were paced by a balanced offense with four players scoring in double-figures with Heson Groves leading the way with 11.9 ppg while Tyson Waterman averaged 11.5 ppg, Robbie Waldrop scored 11.4 per game and Roger Toxey averaged 11.0.