First Look: Purdue's first opponent - High Point and possible second opponents

When a team has lost six of nine games, No. 4-seed Purdue will not be looking past its first opponent in the No. 13-seed High Point Panthers. Here are some quick details about the Big South regular season and tournament champs who the Boilermakers will face Thursday at 12:40 p.m. in the Midwest Regional in Providence, Rhode Island. Purdue is a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth consecutive year, a streak twice as long as the second longest streaks (Tennessee, Arizona).

HIGH POINT PANTHERS

Record: 29-5 overall; (14-2 conference) Big South conference and tournament champions. The Panthers have won 14 games in a row and haven’t lost since Jan. 16. High Point goes have 10 players that average 15 or more minutes per contest. High Point is in the top-25 nationally in offensive efficiency, but 227th defensively and is one of the “flavors of the week” as an upset pick over Purdue. The Panthers have wins over UAB, North Texas, Southern Illinois but lost to Cuonzo Martin’s Missouri State’s squad only beating one Kenmpom 100 team (North Texas, 72) and only two top 150 KenPom teams (UAB).
Roster | Stats | Results
NCAA appearances: First
Coach: Alan Huss; Second year coach who worked with Purdue assistant Paul Lusk at Creighton and coached Rapheal Davis in prep school at La Lumiere in northern Indiana.
Location: High Point, North Carolina
Other Purdue connections: Jahaad Proctor, a 6-foot-3 guard, was a graduate transfer who came to Purdue from High Point for the 2019-20 season He played in 31 games, starting 18 and averaging 9.0 points and 2.3 rebounds and averaging 25.6 minutes per contest.
Series: Purdue won 67-65 on Nov. 14, 2011 in Mackey Arena; the only matchup between the schools. It was the second game of the 2011-12 season, and the contest immediately following the Boilermakers’ 96-34 season opening win over Northern Illinois in the Mackey Arena re-dedication contest. Ryne Smith led Purdue with 26 points. Robbie Hummel had 18 points and Anthony Johnson 13 in front of a crowd of 13,882. The Boilermakers led the entire contest, but never had a lead of more than six points.
Purdue in Providence: The Boilermakers have played at the Amica Mutual Pavilion (formerly Providence Civic Center) on three occasions. Coach Fred Schaus’ team won 68-62 (OT) on Dec. 4, 1976 and Gene Keady’s first Boilermaker squad won 64-59 on Dec. 10, 1980, but was upset 67-62 on Dec. 27, 1998 when Purdue was ranked ninth.
Odds: Purdue -10.5
Related: Podcast: Purdue’s NCAA Tournament Draw (a belated version of Saturday Simulcast)

CLEMSON TIGERS

Record: 27-6 (18-2 conference), T2 in ACC, lost in ACC Tournament semifinals. Three of Clemson’s six losses came in overtime. Clemson finished 5-3 inside Quad 1 with three losses coming outside the first quadrant. The Tigers play at one of the slowest paces in the country, but they rank inside the top 25 in both offensive and defensive efficiency on KenPom. Four Clemson players score in double figures.
Roster | Stats | Results
NCAA appearances: 15th
Coach: Brad Brownell. The Evansville native played his college basketball at DePauw, boasting an Indiana connection to Purdue. He’s in year 15 at Clemson, taking the Tigers to their fifth NCAA Tournament under his guidance. A season ago, he led Clemson on a run to the Elite Eight as a six seed before losing to Alabama.
Location: Clemson, South Carolina
Series: Purdue and Clemson have met six times, with Clemson holding a 4-2 series advantage. In the early 1970s, the Tigers won a pair of matchups that went to overtime, a 72-66 triumph at Clemson on Dec. 11, 1971 and an 81-80 victory in Mackey on Dec. 5, 1973–against a Purdue team that ended up winning the NIT (Who can forget Wayne “The Tree” Rollins?). In the 21st century, 20th-ranked Purdue defeated the Tigers in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Mackey on Dec. 3, 2003. The two split Big Ten/ACC Challenge meetings played at Littlejohn Coliesum. In 2007, 18th -ranked Clemson rallied late to defeat the Baby Boilers 61-58, but the Boilermakers won 73-61 on Nov. 28, 2012. The Tigers took the most recent meeting, a 2020-21 COVID season contest in the second game of the season, 81-70 in the Space Coast Challenge a game played in Melbourne, Fla. Purdue played shorthanded in that game without Jaden Ivey and Eric Hunter Jr. but freshman Zach Edey, playing in his second college game, led Purdue scorers with 17 points and eight rebounds.

MCNEESE COWBOYS

Record: 27-6 (19-1 conference), Southland regular season and tournament champion. McNeese played just two Quad 1 games, dropping both, and won just one of three Quad 2 games. The Cowboys rank respectably on both sides of the ball but not at an elite level. They feature a balanced offensive approach, as they play at a slower tempo but get offensive rebounds at a strong clip.
Roster | Stats | Results
NCAA appearances: 4th
Coach: Will Wade. Just 42 years old, Wade saw a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks. He spent two seasons as the head man at Chattanooga and VCU before getting a power conference gig at LSU. Despite winning more than two-thirds of his games in Baton Rouge, he was terminated in 2022 following NCAA investigations. Since getting a fresh chance at McNeese, the Cowboys are 57-10.
Location: Lake Charles, Louisiana
Series: Purdue opened the 2016-17 with a 109-65 thumping of McNeese. Caleb Swanigan, led the 15th-ranked Boilermakers and began his All-American campaign with 23 points and 20 rebounds, while Carsen Edwards introduced himself to Purdue fans with a 20-point night. That remains the lone meeting between the two programs.