October 26, 2026
Coming off a Big South Conference championship and their first NCAA appearance in school history, High Point has reloaded through the transfer portal which helped them move to No. 4 in the preseason Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
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The team seems to be in rebuild mode as 11 of the 19 players are either portal pickups or freshmen. Despite last year's success not many people expected newly appointed head coach Flynn Clayman to go all in on the portal. Some of the notable additions include individuals who played major minutes at their previous schools like Vincent Brady II (Missouri State), Rob Martin (Southeast Missouri), Babacar Diallo (Missouri-Kansas City) and Conrad Martinez (Arizona).
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“Those are all great players so they are gonna help and I'm really excited to see how they perform this season,” Clayman said.
On the flipside, Panthers fans will be able to see some familiar faces as the squad returns eight players from last year's group. Chase Johnston, Josh Ibukunoluwa, Liam Carney and Braden Hausen are some of the notable returners, providing experience for a roster filled with new and young talent. Everyone is aware that it takes a team to be successful at this level and willing to put the team before individual stats and performances.
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“Something we talk about a lot is sacrifice and how in order to do something special we must sacrifice our egos for the betterment of the team,” Johnston said.
The Panthers expectations are through the roof despite the new pickups and the new coach. High Point, the defending Big South champs, enter the new season trying to balance the pressure of being ranked in the Top 25 with the expectations based on last year's success.
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Clayman has stressed that with all of these changes he still wants to keep the winning culture around his locker room and has preached the importance of showing up day in and day out to every one of his players.
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The team tipped off the season defeating UNC Wilmington 99-98 in overtime on Oct. 18. in an exhibition game and followed that up with a 88-60 win against North Carolina A&T. The Panthers open up the regular season on Nov. 3, when the team takes on Furman in Rock Hill, S.C.