Previewing Tonight:
Furman will begin its highly-anticipated 2025-26 basketball season on a neutral floor as a part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon. It will mark the first meeting between the Paladins and Panthers since the 2022-23 season, with the Panthers coming away from Greenville with an 85-82 win.
The Paladins would go on to cap what was a memorable 2022-23 season by returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years, defeating Chattanooga 88-79 in the tournament title game before claiming a 68-67 win over No. 4 seed Virginia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, finishing off what was a school-record 28-win season.
Two years later, another team in purple found its way into the NCAA Tournament, as High Point made its maiden appearance in the NCAA Tournament last March, and like Furman had done two years earlier, won a school-record number of games, as the Panthers finished the 2024-25 season with 29 total victories
In contrast to how Furman's 2022-23 season ended, High Point found met a much different an unexpected end to its campaign following its three-point, non-conference win over the Paladins at Timmons Arena.
The Panthers came to Greenville having won eight out of their first nine games, and the Panthers would leave Greenville with a 9-1 record under first-year head coach GiGi Smith. Unlike Furman, things wouldn't end well for the Panthers in the 2022-23 campaign, as the Panthers would end up losing eight-straight and after a 9-1 start, and would finish the season after the win over the 'Dins going just 5-16 to finish 14-17 overall.
It culminated with a change in leadership for the Panthers. After the hiring of top Creighton assistant Alan Huss, the success would be almost instantaneous, as he would lead the Panthers to a 27-9 record in the 2023-24 season before getting upset in the Big South Tournament with an 80-79 overtime loss to Longwood in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
The Panthers would eventually close out the season with a trip to the College Basketball Invitational, making the tournament championship game before losing to Seattle in the title game.
While the Panthers would fall short in 2023-24, they would certainly get it right in the 2024-25, finishing off a 29-6 season (14-2 in Big South) in Huss' second season at the helm. The Panthers made a SoCon venue--ETSU's Freedom Hall--a memorable one, as it would be the location which will live on in High Point history as one of its biggest athletic achievements, knocking off Winthrop, 81-69, in the title matchup to punch their first-ever ticket to an NCAA Tournament as a Division I member.
In fact, the 2024-25 season started with a 71-56 exhibition win over ETSU at Freedom Hall, and it ended with a storybook ending to the conference tournament title game won over Winthrop.
Like Furman in 2022-23, the Panthers went into the tournament as a No. 13 seed, facing off against Purdue and despite giving the Boilermakers fits for most of the afternoon, ended up running out of gas with a 75-63 setback.
Success in NCAA Division I college basketball is oftentimes bittersweet, however, as the Panthers would come to find out. With the 29 wins, Big South regular-season and tournament titles, and the program's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament would lead to the departure of Alan Huss, who opted to return to Creighton to become the coach-in-waiting whenever Greg McDermott decides to retire.
Keeping continuity, philosophy, program momentum and culture in mind, the hiring of Flynn Clayman was almost a no-brainer. With the culture shift in the past couple of seasons, the Panthers have gone from 37 wins in final three seasons of the Tubby Smith/GiGi Smith era to 56 wins under the leadership of both Huss and Clayman in the past two.
Clayman was Huss' top assistant during his time at High Point and was part of both teams that helped win nearly 60 games over the past couple of seasons. He inherits a team that still has some veterans around that helped lead the Panthers so that NCAA Tournament success last season, and the Panthers are once again the favorite in the Big South Conference after a really strong recruiting haul from the transfer portal.
Furman's mantra after having to replace 70.8% of its scoring from a year ago has been being about being a developmental program, and with eight of the top 10 back in the rotation, look for the Paladins to also be a factor in Southern Conference once again in 2025-26.
Furman and High Point will be doing battle on the hardwood for just the fifth time in series history, with the Paladins holding a 3-1 series edge enter Monday night's clash.
Both Furman and High Point are among the elite teams in all of mid-major basketball, with the Panthers checking in at No. 8 in the preseason CollegeInsider.com poll, while the Paladins enter the season at No. 14.
A Look at the Paladins:
Furman comes into Monday night's much anticipated season opener against the Panthers having played a pair of preseason exhibition games against both Alabama and a secret scrimmage against UNC Asheville.
Head coach Bob Richey enters his ninth season as the head coach of the Paladins' basketball program, and unlike last season, which saw the Paladins have to replace 70.8% of their scoring from the previous season, the Paladins return eight letterwinners from a year ago. However, that doesn't mean there aren't at least some question marks entering the season, and that includes how do the Paladins go about replacing their top two scorers from a year ago, in Nick Anderson and PJay Smith Jr., who were responsible for connecting on 207 of the team's 380 three-point field goals a year ago.
Replacing three-pointers isn't always as easy as it might seem, even though head coach Bob Richey (181-81/9th yr at Furman) has done a pretty good job of it in each of his previous eight seasons as the head coach. Under Richey, the Paladins have connected at a pretty high rate from three-point range. All told, Furman has connected on 2,690-of-7,162 attempts from three-point range over the past eight seasons, which computes to an impressive 37.5% shooting clip over that same span.
The Paladins dropped a 96-71 contest before a sellout crowd at the re-imagined Timmons Arena, and there were some good things the Paladins did in their game against the Crimson Tide. Those notable things the Paladins did well were get 19 offensive rebounds against an elite SEC foe, as well as turn the ball over only nine times with a new man running the point guard spot. The Paladins also took 11 more shots (74-63) than the Crimson Tide.
There is so much anticipation surrounding this Furman team primarily as a result of maybe the program's best signing class in its rich basketball history. While the Paladins brought in six freshmen, with five on scholarship and four slated to play this season, including three that could see some pretty major minutes.
It all starts with 6-5 Alex Wilkins (Mattapan, Mass/Brooks Academy), as he logged a little over 14 minutes of court action against the Crimson Tide, starting the game for the Paladins. He was the first-ever freshman point guard to start for Bob Richey in now his ninth season as the head coach.
Wilkins is a four-star recruit out of Mattapan, Mass., and he wasn't lacking for confidence in the exhibition opener against, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and 2-for-7 from three-point range, despite fouling out with 12-and-a-half minutes remaining. He was one of two Paladins to end with a positve in the +/- category, as he finished +5 for the game.
His defense, passing, length and athleticism are potential game-changers for the Paladins at the point guard spot, which is a far different skill-set than Furman had last season with PJay Smith Jr., who was a scorer and an outstanding perimeter shooter.
Other highly anticipated freshmen players that should see major minutes in Monday night's season opener against High Point are both 6-3 Collin O'Neal (Nashville, Tenn/Montgomery Bell Academy) and 6-5 Abijah Franklin (Greenville, S.C./Wren HS). O'Neal was notably solid on the defensive end in the opener against the Crimson Tide, as he saw 12-and-a-half minutes of floor time, finishing with four rebounds, two points, two assists, and one steal.
Franklin logged 10-and-a-half minutes of action on the floor, and though he had only one point and was 0-of-6 from the field in his debut for the Paladins, Franklin gave Furman fans glimpses of a bright future and finished second on the team in overall assists, dishing out four of the team's 21 helpers.
The other primary option to add some support behind Wilkins at point guard is Eddrin Bronson, who is in a much better position this season than he was a year ago, as he was still rehabbing to get back from a broken foot he suffered during the off-season. He's 100% healthy now and will serve as one of the best on-ball defenders for the Paladins this season.
Bronson, a native of Tampa, comes off a 2024-25 season which saw him end by playing some of his best basketball against North Texas, as he poured in 15 points to lead the Paladins in a road loss to North Texas, while also leading Furman in scoring against Kansas (14 pts) and in a late January road win at Mercer (career-high 16 pts).
All told, the product of Tampa Catholic finished out his first season playing for the 'Dins averaging 5.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG and 1.3 APG. Perhaps his biggest play during his freshman season with the 'Dins had nothing to do with scoring, as he ended up with a steal of a Garrison Keeslar inbounds pass in Furman's 80-77 overtime upset of top-seeded Chattanooga, clinching the win and allowing No. 5 seed Furman to move into the SoCon Tournament title game at the Harrah's Cherokee Center last March.
Bronson struggled in the exhibition against Alabama, as he saw as he was 0-of-5 from the field and 0-for-2 from three-point range, but went 1-of-2 from the line to finish with a single point. He also had one rebounds in 13-and-a-half minutes of floor time in the exhibition.
Set to team with Wilkins as the other starting guard in the backcourt is Clemson transfer Asa Thomas. Thomas is from Lake Forest, Ill., and is a player that Furman recruited out of high school before Thomas eventually ended up at Clemson.
The 6-7, 200 redshirt sophomore guard was the only player the Paladins sought the services of from the transfer portal during the off-season, and he spent most of last season struggling with injuries and to find time in Clemson's rotation.
Thomas has found the fit nicely at Furman so far, and coach Richey and staff love Thomas' shooting ability. He has one of the quickest releases on the team, making his shot especially hard to block and shoots well coming off screens without needing a lot of time to square up and fire. Not only is Thomas a great shooter, but he's also a deceptively good athlete with the ability to drive the ball to the hoop.
In the exhibition loss to Alabama, Thomas saw 31 minutes of floor time, posting all nine of his points in the opening half of play, as he finished the game 3-of-14 from the field, which included going 3-for-10 from three-point range. Thomas is a bigger and more athletic version of Nick Anderson, which will be especially important on the defensive end of the floor this season.
"Well you get in that portal and it's like...a little bit of a needle in a haystack and you've got to find somebody that fits your place and you've got to somebody that fits your program and you've got to find somebody that you feel like is leaving for the right reasons and so you get in there and the funnel gets really tight really quickly and then you have to figure out who you can afford so then you got to say well you've probably go best player because there is only so many options and so are you going to take a less talented guy that might not fit you as well to get the quote unquote position you need and when we had the opportunity to get Asa [Thomas] it was just one of those situations where you know coming from Clemson...you know Brad [Brownell] and I have some similar values and we're good friends," head coach Bob Richey said at SoCon Media Day in early October.
"We recruited Asa in high school and he can really shoot it and knows how to cut and knows how to play and then you have to ask yourself do we need a point or do we need to replace shooting...point guard in today's game and we're playing 94-feet offense and we're just trying to get the ball out of the net and go play...So we've taken two two-guards and turned them into all-conference point guards," Richey added.
Rounding out the primary guard rotation in the backcourt will be Tom House, who transferred into Furman from Florida State last season, and his impact would gradually come into effect towards the latter portion of the season when he would begin to catch fire as a perimeter threat for the Paladins, as he got more and more confident as a shooter. Over the final 11 games of the season, House was elite as a shooter and exceeded his scoring and rebounding average of 6.8 PPG and 2.7 RPG in each of Furman's final five games last season.
His breakout, 26-point effort in what was a 96-72 home win over Mercer at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in mid-February saw confidence in his perimeter shot at an all-time high last season. In the regular-season home finale against The Citadel, House scored 21 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 from three-point range. In Furman's quarterfinal rout of Samford in the SoCon Tournament, House went 6-for-7 from long-range, finishing with 21 points in the 95-78 win.
House’s 54 three-point field goals last season rank as the most returning three-pointers on the club, and he shot a blistering 40.6% (54-of-133) from long-range. Interestingly, House shot 56% from three and averaged over 11 PPG in Furman’s final seven games of the season. House was one of two Paladins selected to the preseason all-conference squad last month at the league's annual media day held in Greenville.
In the frontcourt, Furman has would might be considered the best collection of talent returning of any team in the Southern Conference, beginning with Furman's ultimate "glue guy" and veteran, in 6-7 Ben Vander Wal. Vander Wal is the lone holdover that saw minutes from that Furman title-winning team back in 2022-23, and his floor leadership and ability to do "winning things" on the floor is why he factors in as such a big piece to the puzzle for the Paladins.
If he's not getting a big offensive rebound, setting a key screen, or making a key pass or cut on the offensive end of the floor, his impact can usually be felt on the defensive end where he might grab a key rebound off a solid boxout, drawing a key momentum-changing charge or coming up with a key steal. He was the centerpiece of everything Furman did down the stretch last season, as he essentially served as the team's quarterback on the offensive end.
Though Vander Wal is among the Paladins' most-skilled players on the offensive end, he's not noted for his shooting ability. What he does well is virtually everything else. In the exhibition loss to the Crimson Tide, Vander Wal saw 30 minutes of floor time, contributing seven points, six rebounds, two assists and posted five of the team's nine steals. He also drew a pair of charges in the game against the Crimson Tide.
Vander Wal's contributions and importance supplement Furman's version of the twin towers--6-11 junior center Charles Johnston and 6-11 junior forward Cooper Bowser--nicely. In fact, judging from the numbers put up by both Johnston and Bowser against the most elite front court Furman will see at least through the end of the regular-season, the Paladins have a chance to be scary good in the front court this season.
Johnston's performance was particularly notable, as he was 100% healthy for the first time in his Furman career, and following a season, which saw the staff have to manage his minutes due to both knee issues and back problems, it was blatantly obvious just how good he could be underneath for the Paladins when he is fully healthy. In 30 minutes of action against Alabama, Johnston finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and a steal. He connected on 5-of-11 shots from the field and was 2-for-6 from three-point range.
Johnston's progression over the course of the off-season has been notable, according to Richey, especially as a true post player. Johnston spent most of his first season with the ‘Dins as a primary perimeter threat, but now he’s put on some more muscle and dedicated the off-season to becoming more of a low-post threat. Also, Johnston is a sneaky good post defender, and that will be another aspect of his game to watch this season. Last season, Johnston averaged 5.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG off the bench, while also adding 33 three-point field goals, shooting an impressive 38.8% from downtown.
Bowser rounds out what should be an outstanding front court for the Paladins in 2025-26. If Jalen Slawson's progression as a junior told us anything about his development and ultimate NBA potential, we should expect to see that same kind of jump from Bowser this season, who has arguably even more attractive tools like wingspan and overall length attractive to the NBA than his predecessor.
With that said, his first audition against Alabama was outstanding, as he the native of Woodbridge, VA., finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and had two steals He went 6-of-7 from the field and was 2-for-4 from the line in the exhibition loss to the Crimson Tide.
Bowser joined House as a preseason All-SoCon selection, and he is Furman's leading returning scorer from a year ago, averaging 8.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG, as well as shooting a blistering 64.6% (115-of-178) last season, while leading the SoCon with 57 blocks. Coach Richey hopes that Bowser's block percentage around the basket will improve this season. Bowser is now joined on the roster by his brother--6-6 wing Cole Bowser out of Dematha Catholic--and Cooper is thrilled to have his brother on the roster. Cole Bowser, a three-star recruit, will likely redshirt this season.
Finally, one of the few drawbacks that came in the exhibition loss to Alabama was the loss of 6-6 Davis Molnar, who suffered an apparent season-ending knee injury, although that's just my own speculation. Molnar was going to serve as another glue guy in the paint this season along with Vander Wal and would have likely seen anywhere from 10-15 minutes a game.
Richey’s Offensive Innovation
Though Furman won 25 games last season, it still finished fifth in SoCon and did hit a lull in the middle portion of conference play. While Furman’s offense and shooters against uncommon opponents was something it had great success with, racing to a 13-1 start, including a 12-1 non-conference record, when the Paladins got in league against the good coaches that make up the league, there was a game-plan that seemed to work early on.
Part of Furman’s philosophy under Richey has been trying to always have five perimeter threats on the floor, and in most seasons, that has not necessarily always been easy, but it’s always made Furman so hard to account for defensively.
Aside from their offensive actions, which seem like QB progressions in that each action has four or five options that the Paladins can go to if an opponent shuts down one, is Furman has shot the ball maybe as well as it ever has from three over the past eight seasons under Richey, which included setting a single-season SoCon record with 401 triples in the 2021-22 campaign. All told, Furman has connected on 2,690-of-7,162 attempts from three-point range over the past eight seasons, which computes to an impressive 37.5% shooting clip over the past eight seasons.
While Furman had two of its best shooters from three in eight seasons under Richey, in Smith and Anderson, it also had guys like Cooper Bowser, Ben Vander Wal and Garrett Hien that were basically minimal perimeter threats at best, with only Hien really factoring in as a potential long-range threat, and outside of his sophomore season, had struggled to hit from long-range with great efficiency.
So the strategy from the opposition in the SoCon was to play off Furman shooters by a process known as “painting”, which meant it could more closely keep tabs on Anderson and Smith at all times with the luxury of an extra defender by playing off Furman’s non-shooters.
Richey's innovative offensive strategy that used Vander Wal as the quarterback and free screener for both Anderson and Smith down the stretch was nothing short of brilliant because it didn't allow teams to just play off Vander Wal like they had done when Furman took a bit of a tumble in the standings, and it forced the opposition to have get out and engage Vander Wal in some manner with a defender. It was a move that kept teams from essentially having an extra player defensively as it had off-set the balance by making it a 4v5 game before when playing off Vander Wal
Those changes led to a major turnaround for Furman basketball during the 2024-25, as the Paladins would win six-straight games, which included the very team they would lose to in the championship--the Wofford Terriers--to reach the championship game.
Pack Line Paladins
What’s striking about the Paladins this season is they are a big team, and one of the bigger teams in the SoCon. It will be interesting to see what the change to a pack line defense will look like and how much the Paladins will use it this season, as that was one of the main reasons new assistant coach Joe Pierre III was brought in from Ritchie McKay’s staff at Liberty. Furman playing the pack line with Johnston and Bowser on the floor at the same time and with their length, as well as being in a mid-major league that features smaller, quicker guards, it all makes a lot of sense.
Final Word on Furman
“This is the most returning plus new I’ve had since I’ve been here as the head coach…six new players…I’ve never had that…but also a good clump of returners back and so really getting the young and the old assimilated quickly you know I think that’s going to be a big challenge for us and getting the point guard spot figured out…we’ve got talent there but it’s going to be young talent…We are going to have a new point guard and I can guarantee you this…the 40 point guard minutes this year will all be all guys that have never played point guard before in a college game,”—Bob Richey at SoCon Media Day 2025.
Probable Starting Five for Furman:
G-Alex Wilkins
G-Asa Thomas
F-Ben Vander Wal
F-Cooper Bowser
C-Charles Johnston
A Look at High Point's Personnel:
High Point enters 2025-26 with high expectations, despite having a new head coach and almost a completely brand-new roster of the players. That hasn't deterred expectations, however, and in fact, Flynn Clayman enters his first season as the head coach with an embarrassment of talent from other places, with only a few players still around that contributed to that milestone moment of the Panthers breakthrough, 29-win campaign of a year ago.
The lone holdover from that team that cut down the nets as Big South Tournament champions for the first time is 6-3 graduate sharp-shooting guard Chase Johnston. Johnston, like most of High Point's roster entering the 2025-26 season, is well-traveled himself, having spent time in the Atlantic Sun, playing at both Stetson and Florida Gulf-Coast prior to his arrival in the Gate City. He also spent a redshirt season (2019-20) as a Mastodon at Purdue-Fort Wayne before transferring to Stetson during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his time in the A-SUN, Johnston was the A-Sun's Freshman of the Year in 2020-21 and would go on to garner second-team all-conference honors in 2021-22 with the Hatters. He played his junior and senior seasons at FGCU before making his way to Greensboro to play for High Point as a graduate student in 2024-25.
Johnston is one of the better shooters in mid-major basketball, and he comes off a season, which saw him start 34 of 35 games for the Panthers, averaging 6.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG and 1.0 APG last season. Johnston blistered the nets to the tune of 42.5% last season, connecting on 71-of-167 shots from long range. He posted 213 of his 241 points from three-point range last season, and his 71 threes led the Panthers for the season, averaging 4.8 made threes per game.
Johnston, who originally experimented with entering the portal to see if he could get any major offers but returned to the Panthers in the off-season and became a voice that the new head coach could lean on as a leader in the locker room.
Most of the rest of the incoming talent is new and talent acquired from other places, giving the Panthers one of the most talented rosters from top-to-bottom in mid-major basketball. y
The addition or SEMO transfer guard Rob Martin is one of the more anticipated new additions on the roster for the Panthers, and he will offer experience and scoring ability at the position, as he comes off a solid final season for the Redhawks, averaging 14.8 PPG and 4.5 APG a year ago. Martin is a prolific scorer and scored a career-high 31 points in a late regular-season road game at SIU Edwardsville, who was the team that kept Martin and SEMO from making it to the NCAA Tournament last year. In that late regular game win over SIU-Edwardsville, Martin scored those 31 points by blistering net the nets at a blistering 68.4% (13-of-19) shooting effort from the field.
In fact, Furman will face three of those guards from that OVC title game last season, with SIU-Edwardsville guard Brian Taylor II transferring to East Tennessee State, while the Martin's backcourt mate at SEMO last season--Terry Washington Jr.--opted to finish out his career at reigning NIT and SoCon regular-season champion Chattanooga. For both Martin and Washington, they played a key role in helping SEMO to the program's second-most wins (21) in program history.
Like Johnston, Martin can flat out shoot the basketball, connecting on 40.4% from the beyond the arc last season, connecting on 46-of-113 shots from long range a year ago. His 14.8 PPG led the Redhwaks last season, while his 46 threes ranked third on the team.
At 5-10, Martin is extremely quick and takes great care of the basketball an impressive 2.63 assist-turnover-ratio to go along with his 4.8 APG last season and was a first-team All-OVC selection. He will be matched up against Furman's length and good athleticism at the point spot, in both Wilkins and Franklin in the game.
While those two have good athleticism, both Bronson and O'Neal are hard to get downhill against because of they are two of the strongest players on Furman's roster. It will be something to watch in tonight's opener for both teams. Martin has some extremely big shoes to fill this season, having to replace one of the best to play point guard in program history, in Kezza Giffa last season. In addition to being an outstanding three-point shooter, Martin also excelled as a free throw shooter last season, connecting on a solid 82.8% from the charity stripe last season.
Two other players that came from programs in the Show Me State and will close out their respective careers in the Tar Heel State are both senior guard Vincent Brady II (Missouri State) and 6-6 senior wing Boubacar Diallo (UMKC). Brady is another double figures scorer transfer, as he averaged 13.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG and dished out 2.5 APG last season. Like teammates Martin and Johnston, Brady is another good three-point shooter, connecting on 38.0% (49-of-129) from three-point range last season. The 6-3 guard is a good rebounding guard and that's something the Paladins will have to be aware of this evening.
Diallo has good length and athleticism, and he is potentially a glue guy type for the Panthers, as he excels as a defender. When he was with UMKC last season, Diallo averaged 7.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 3.5 APG, while shooting 50.5% from the field and 35.7% from three-point land. Diallo, a senior graduate student, started 23 of 33 games last season for the Kangaroos.
Adding another similar type of player to that of Diallo's skill set, and that is 6-6 senior Terry Anderson, who is also a holdover from that 29-win team of a year ago. Anderson transferred into High Point two years ago from Lamar, as he would log action in 26 games in 2024-25 for the Panthers. He ended up averaging 4.5 PPG and 2.8 RPG as essentially the first man off the bench for the Panthers. Like Diallo, Anderson is extremely athletic and excels on the defensive end of the floor as an on-ball defender.
University of Arizona transfer Conrad Martinez, who will have two years of eligibility remaining, will provide good depth at the point. The 6-0 point guard from Granollers, Spain has international experience, as well as being a good shooter and possessing good overall skill. However, unlike most of High Point's transfers, he's not a noted scorer and is more of a true floor general.
Another high profile talent from the portal is Cal State Northridge wing guard transfer Scotty Washington. In the 2024-25 season, the 6-4 guard garnered All-Big West Honorable mention accolades after leading his team in scoring average 14.6 PPG, field goals made (161), three-point field goals made (53) and total free throws made (106).
He also finished the 2024-25 season as a solid three-point threat, connecting on 35.1% from downtown, while ranking 10th in program history in single-season free throw percentage, connecting at an impressive 85.5% clip for the season.
Maverick Miller is a player that redshirted last season for the Panthers, but figures to add depth at two-guard this season. Miller is a good shooter, as he showed in his high school career playing in one of the USA's basketball hotbeds, starring for Houston High School in Memphis, averaging 15 PPG as a senior in 2023-24.
Set to go up against Furman's strong frontcourt will be a talented one for the Panthers, although it won't possess the overall size the Paladins have underneath. At least one guy that will be comparable in size for the Panthers will be Yousouff Singare, who transferred into the High Point from UConn and will have two years of eligibility remaining. The 6-10, 230-lb junior logged action in a total of 16 games last season, and saw action in 23 games during UConn's 2023-24 national title run.
Singare's addition was made directly in response to the graduation of Juslin Bodo Bodo, who was a defensive menace and provided great rim protection for the Panthers. The native of Bamako, Mali, is still a bit of a project on the offensive end, but his athleticism and prowess around the basket could end up paying off big-time for the Panthers as the season progresses.
Maybe the most talented all-around basketball player from High Point's outstanding transfer portal recruiting haul is 6-7 Xavier transfer forward Cam'Ron Fletcher. He was limited to only 11 games in 2-2024-25 before suffering a season-ending injury. In addition to his one season at Xavier, Fletcher also spent time at both Florida State and Kentucky before finding his way to High Point. He enjoyed his best season of college basketball back in 2022-23 with the Seminoles, averaging 10.8 PPG and 7.5 RPG. He is a defensive menace and should be one of the top defensive players in the Big South this season. It will be interesting to see how Fletcher matches up against Furman's 6-11 Bowser.
Rounding out the front court for the Panthers are Owen Aquino, who comes to High Point from Liberty where he the 6-8 forward averaged 8.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.1 APG and shot 58.5% from the field in helping the Flames to the NCAA Tournament just last year. It's a player that newly hired Furman assistant Joe Pierre II will be well aware of, who coached Aquino while an assistant at Liberty last season. Aquino started all 35 games for the Flames, helping Liberty to its first Conference USA title along with an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Finally, one of the up-and-coming young talents in the High Point front court is freshman Caden Miller. The 6-9 freshman was runner-up for Mr. Basketball as a senior in the state of Kentucky, which is pretty impressive. Miller is also one of the top freshman recruits in the history of High Point basketball.
The season opening clash between Furman and High Point is a great game to kick things off in 2025-26 for both programs that once again aspire to reach the Field of 68. Fittingly, it was with that in mind that the Field of 68 put together another outstanding field of mid-majors for some must-see basketball to open the 2025-26 season, and fittingly, Furman and High Point is the culmination and main event so-to-speak of an outstanding three games at the Rock Hill Events Center.
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