Inside the Numbers: High Point at Winthrop

 

High Point forward Terry Anderson (0) had a stellar day for the Panthers in a Saturday victory.  (Photo:  High Point Athletics)

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ROCK HILL, S.C. – It’s not common for Winthrop to lose at home. It’s especially uncommon for the Eagles to lose by a significant margin at home.

High Point made a strong case for back-to-back Big South regular-season titles Saturday, shaking off short rest and a boisterous crowd in Winthrop Coliseum. The visiting Panthers logged four double-digit scorers and used two massive scoring runs to put away the Eagles, 88-66, before an announced crowd of 2,736.

“You’ve got to keep pace, and today, we weren’t able to,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said. “We haven’t lost in this building, so that’s not what we want. Obviously, this stings. We’ll be better on Monday. We’ll look at it and we’ll make the proper adjustments. Today, we just didn’t shoot the basketball well.”

You know what happened. To find out how it happened, let’s go…Inside the Numbers!

• Two of the biggest numbers in the game were somewhat related. Let’s start with the first and head to the last.

High Point center Juslin Bodo Bodo played 11 minutes. The dominant big man hauled in two boards and did not attempt a shot. Forward Kimani Hamilton played nine minutes. Preseason Big South Player of the Year Kezza Giffa played just over 17. The trio combined for 18 points – 16 of those from Giffa.

Conversely, forwards Terry Anderson and Josh Ibukunoluwa joined with guard Bobby Pettiford to score 35 points, snag 16 boards, and dish seven dimes. The High Point bench scored 49 points to Winthrop’s 13, keyed largely by the aforementioned trio. The edge was as large as 47-8 for the Panther reserves before a late flurry from the end of Winthrop’s bench.

I presented the question to High Point coach Alan Huss after the game of what he would have said if I’d told him before the game that this would be the scenario.

“I would have told you that you needed to have your head checked,” Huss said with a laugh. “We had an absolute plan to go deeper (into the bench) earlier, given the quick turnaround (High Point defeated Longwood at home Thursday night). For them to produce (like that), no way. Those guys are awesome.”

On the topic of Pettiford, Huss drew a comparison between him and Giffa.

“I wish I could play him more,” Huss said. “He’s terrific when he’s out there every game. He’s good defensively, he’s such a willing facilitator, and when you have talented players around him, having a guy that facilitates to the level he does, that’s so important. I think he’s the difference between our team and a lot of other teams. It’s the fact that we have that punch off the bench – a lot like Kezza gave us last year in a different way. He comes off the bench and he elevates what we do.”

Huss added a story about Anderson and Hamilton.

“The best part about it was that I had kind of gone over to Kimani and told him to get on the stationary bike and get ready, because he’s been a little nicked up. He came back to me and Terry had just gotten a bucket and a stop on the other end. Mani came right up to my ear and was like, ‘Coach, you’ve got to let him finish.’ You’re starting to get somewhere when your best player does that.”

• The bench numbers made Huss happy but not surprised.

“That’s what we thought we were going to be most of the year,” Huss said. “I played for Dana Altman in college, and that’s what we did. I was a boarding school coach forever and I had five spots, and there was usually a big drop-off (after the starters). The first year (at High Point), we had a big drop-off after our starters. Now, we’re kind of where we want to be. When you want to win big, you have to have a bench, so like on days like today when Bodo didn’t have it on a quick bounce-back and Kimani didn’t have it on a quick bounce-back, those guys are ready.”

• High Point had two significant runs after two significant events in the game. In the first half, Winthrop forward Kelton Talford was assessed his second foul and exited the game. The visiting Panthers tore off a 17-2 run after Talford’s exit. In the second half, Winthrop used a 13-2 run out of the locker room to snip the High Point advantage to one at 45-44. High Point again counterpunched, burying the Eagles with a 20-5 burst that largely put away the home side. Winthrop would cut that 16-point deficit by two but could draw no closer.

“If you look at the quality of their shots during the initial five minutes of both halves, they capitalized in the start of the second half and didn’t in the start of the first. Our level of play wasn’t high enough. To respond both times, that’s awesome. That’s what it’s about.”

“There was a lull in the first half where it went from a one-possession game to a three or four possession game,” Prosser said. “Then it was a one-possession game at the 16-minute mark and it turned into a four, five, 27-possession game or however it ended up. In critical moments, I thought we got some pretty good looks, We missed a couple front ends of one-and-ones at the free throw line that – those are big, game-changing – it gives energy to the opponents. We picked a poor time for that to happen today.”

• Talford and Winthrop guard Kasen Harrison combined for 33 points in the game. Harrison enjoyed early success in driving the paint, but the Panthers responded to space the floor a bit better defensively. Talford scored 12 and grabbed seven boards but struggled with a 2-for-8 performance from the free throw line.

“(Harrison’s) just too good – when you talk about either one of those guys, they’re so good as a tandem,” Huss said. “They know all the little details of screening angles, when to flip the screen, when they go under what to do, sealing the switch, offensive rebounding when they overcommit to Harrison. They have so much chemistry that you can’t just assign two bodies to that. When you give those two the middle third of the floor, you get what happened at our place a year ago. I think Kasen had a career-high and Talford may not have been far off. They just crushed us.

“There are just certain guys that you can’t play two-on-two against. Those two guys are certainly of that caliber.”

• Winthrop made just 2-of-21 from beyond the arc Saturday. This was the lowest performance from distance by an Eagle side in over three years, as Winthrop made just two against Radford in February of 2022.

“Our deal was to keep them in short close-outs. I thought we did a decent job of that,” Huss said. “I also think they missed some shots. It’s a make or miss game sometimes. I’d love to say it was all our defense, but we both know better. There’s some luck involved. We were lucky that they – that game could have gotten away from us in the first five minutes, because we gave them the looks they wanted. They probably didn’t finish some plays they’d like to have back.”

• High Point scored another sizable number in points off turnovers. The Panthers outpaced Winthrop, 21-4, in the category, helping flip around a number that has haunted High Point.

“We have a really hard time after turnovers and we have a really hard time after missed free throws,” Huss said. “We’re in the bottom five percent nationally in guarding in both of those situations. We’re not going a good enough job of self-policing and re-centering as a group without the coaching staff.

“(The four points off turnovers) is especially (significant) in this building. They’re a different defensive team here. They’re more active, they’re more aggressive, and they’re more physical. I thought that was the difference in the game.”

“I think we turned it over a lot trying to throw into the post today,” Prosser said. “KT’s an elite player and we’re going to make efforts to get him the basketball. We’ll see on film where they came from.  It felt like – and I know the final score doesn’t indicate it – we guarded them. For the vast majority of (the game) we guarded them.”

• Huss offered his assessment of his team after the game.

“I think we were good today,” Huss said. “I liked the way we won. I liked the fact that we got punched and responded. I like the fact that our bench stepped up. I like the fact that Laye Thiam, who’s done all the right things and was sick the other night and didn’t get to play – Terry’s been capable. He was one of our best players in the summertime. He had knee surgery and missed three months and has just been a shell of himself. It was just awesome for him, who’s kept the right attitude, and Laye Thiam, who’s kept the right attitude, just to watch those guys. It touches you a little bit as a coach when the guys who handle things that way are the ones that finally get to have some success. That was awesome.”

• One final nugget, courtesy of our great friend Brett Redden in the Winthrop sports information department. Saturday's contest featured the second-highest wins total of any game played in Division 1 basketball. Only Auburn and Alabama's 43 combined wins eclipsed High Point and Winthrop's combined 40 wins. 

Quick tempo numbers:

High Point:  1.239 PPP (71 trips), 54.9% scores, 8.5% turns, 46.3% shooting (31-67), 36% three-point shooting (9-25), 85% free throw shooting (17-20)

Winthrop:  .930 PPP (71 trips), 46.5% scores, 19.7% turns, 39.7% shooting (23-58), 9.5% three-point shooting (2-21), 64.3% free throw shooting (18-28)

Both teams resume play Wednesday. High Point hosts Charleston Southern at the Qubein Center, while Winthrop travels to the Templeton Center in Clinton, S.C., to square off with Presbyterian. Both games are set for 7:00 tips, with streaming coverage over ESPN+.

HIGH POINT 88, WINTHROP 66

HIGH POINT (23-5, 11-2 BIG SOUTH)

Hamilton 0-3 2-2 2, Bodo Bodo 0-0 0-0 0, Giffa 5-8 4-5 16, Johnston 2-6 0-0 6, Williams 4-9 5-5 15, Anderson 6-10 2-4 14, Pettiford 4-7 0-0 8, Hildebrandt 1-3 2-2 4, Benham 0-2 0-0 0, Thiam 3-8 0-0 8, Ibukunoluwa 5-8 2-2 13, Sargiunas 0-2 0-0 0, Irving 0-0 0-0 0, Carney 0-0 0-0 0, Sineway 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 31-67 17-20 88.

WINTHROP (18-10, 8-5)

Talford 5-8 2-8 12, Doucet 2-7 2-3 7, Kamarad 2-4 0-0 4, Johnson 2-9 5-6 9, Harrison 7-14 7-8 21, Wilson 0-2 0-0 0, Jones 2-7 1-2 6, Baker 0-2 0-0 0, Duncomb 1-1 1-1 3, Diallo 2-3 0-0 4, Van Bibber 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 16-19 78.

Halftime:  High Point 43-31. 3-Point goals:  High Point 9-25 (Giffa 2-4, Johnston 2-6, Williams 2-2, Anderson 0-2, Hildebrandt 0-2, Benham 0-1, Thiam 2-6, Ibukunoluwa 1-2), Winthrop 2-21 (Doucet 1-3, Kamarad 0-2, Johnson 0-5, Harrison 0-1, Wilson 0-1, Jones 1-6, Baker 0-2, Van Bibber 0-1). Fouled out:  NA.  Rebounds:  Winthrop 40 (Talford 7), High Point 37 (Ibukunoluwa 8). Total fouls:  High Point 23, Winthrop 19. Technicals:  NA.

Points off turnovers:  High Point 21, Winthrop 4.  Points in the paint:  High Point 44, Winthrop 42. Second-chance points:  High Point 11, Winthrop 11.  Fast-break points:  Winthrop 13, High Point 9.  Bench points:  High Point 49, Winthrop 13.