| Game 26: Charleston Southern (12-13, 6-7 Big South) vs. High Point (7-18, 4-8 Big South) |
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Charleston Southern hosts High Point seeking a regular season sweep as well as back-to-back wins over the Panthers. High Point leads the head-to-head matchup by a 22-17 margin since joining the Big South Conference in the 1998-99 season as both teams have used home court to their advantage. The Bucs lead 12-6 in matchups inside the Buc Dome while the Panthers lead 16-5 in showdowns from the Millis Center after a 79-60 runaway win from CSU in January.
Four of the last six matchups have been decided by single digits including last season's 51-50 nail-biter to open Big South play, coming in head coach Tubby Smith's Big South debut on the sideline. The Panther defense held CSU to .302 from the floor, the lowest percentage the Bucs would go on to shoot in Big South games during the 2018-19 campaign.
Dating back to the 2007-08 season, 15 of the 19 matchups have been decided by 10 points or single digits with the home team coming away with the victory 13 times.
Charleston Southern has shot .500 from the field five times in Big South play this season including a .560 mark in their 79-60 win from the Millis Center, their second-highest field goal percentage in league play.
Phlandrous Fleming Jr. scored a career-high 31 points at the time with 24 coming in the first half leading CSU to a 49-25 halftime lead.
Scouting the Panthers
- John-Michael Wright sits 9th in the Big South in scoring (14.2 ppg) and is the lone Panther averaging double figures to play in 75% of the team's contests. Both Wright and Rob Peterson III lead the Panthers in rebounding (5.0) while Caden Sanchez has blocked 26 shots on the season.
- High Point enters Thursday night with the lowest scoring offense in the Big South (63.0 ppg; 66.0 ppg in Big South play) and are the lone conference member shooting below .400 as a team (.398). High Point has scored 70-plus eight times this season against their Division-I opponents with a 3-5 mark that includes wins over Hampton, USC Upstate and Elon.
- Of their four Big South wins, three have come on the road - at UNC Asheville, USC Upstate and Campbell.
- Three players - John-Michael Wright, Eric Coleman Jr. and Emmanual Izunabor - finished the night in double figures the first time CSU and High Point matched up, but a 24-point first half from Phlandrous Fleming Jr. sparked a runaway win.
Series History
- The home team has historically owned the series between Charleston Southern and High Point with CSU holding a 12-6 mark in the Buc Dome and High Points with a 16-5 mark in the Millis Center.
- CSU nearly matched the largest margin of victory in series history as they blasted the Panthers 79-60 on their home floor thanks to a 49-25 first half lead.
- Neither team has won more than 5-straight in the series dating back to the 1998-99 season when HPU joined the Big South.
Last Time Versus High Point
- It was all Charleston Southern on their trip to North Carolina.
- Phlandrous Fleming Jr. had a career day scoring 31 points as Charleston Southern (9-9, 3-3 Big South) led by as many as 27 on their way to a 79-60 dominating victory over High Point (4-14, 1-4 Big South).
- Fleming had 24 in the first half as the Bucs shots .760 from the floor and hit 10 field goals from three-point range, opening up a 49-25 halftime lead. The second half was no different as CSU would add on to their margin before closing it out for a 2-0 trip to the Tar Heel state.
- Ty Jones and Travis Anderson each added 12 points as the Bucs finished the game shooting .560 from the floor while holding High Point to just .379 and below their season average of 64 points.
