High Point basketball nearly sent March Madness brackets to the shredder Thursday. Alan Huss and his crew gave Purdue all it could handle, but fell 75-63 in Providence.
The private Methodist university in North Carolina entered as a massive underdog. Purdue got favored by 7.5-points. The Boilermakers, though, were facing a High Point team labeled with Cinderella potential. High Point took the lead four times early before Purdue pulled away off a suffocating defense and beating the Panthers in the paint.
Huss left Dunkin Donuts Center optimistic about the effort shown in front of a national audience, though. His Panthers squad proved they can hang with a renown national powerhouse. Let alone a Boilermakers team that advanced to the National Championship one year ago.
The 46-year-old head coach fired off this loud message postgame, captured via Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. And this message got sent to the top programs in the nation ahead of the 2025-26 season.
“I’ll be on the record to every high-major coach out there: We’d like to play you next season. We are open to any and all,” Huss said.
Huss and High Point have laid out the challenge. The Panthers are open to beefing up their non-conference schedule.
Did High Point almost schedule Purdue before NCAA Tournament?
High Point and Purdue nearly emerged as a non-conference meeting this past season, per Norlander.
“Huss followed by saying that Purdue was effectively the only power-conference program that entered into a good-faith discussion about scheduling High Point last offseason, but logistics wouldn’t allow it,” Norlander posted. “The curse of a great mid-major: the high-majors avoid you like a disease.”
Norlander included Houston and Alabama were two more programs that had discussions with High Point. But ultimately pivoted elsewhere.
High Point struggled to establish offensive consistency. D’Maurian Williams led HPU with only 12 points. Trae Benham dropped 11 points off the bench. No other Panthers player hit double figures in scoring. Justin Bodo Bodo surfaced as a force on the defensive end with six rebounds and two blocks. But he got held to eight points.
High Point finished the season at an impressive 29-6 overall and winning the Big South Conference. This season marked the Panthers’ first NCAA Tournament run. Now, Huss is expecting to hear back from power conference foes as High Point creates next season’s schedule. Perhaps Purdue head coach Matt Painter will consider adding the Panthers in a March Madness rematch.
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