Panthers Toothsayer: High Point vs. Southern Utah —
Revenge or Regret?
High Point scored 51 second-half points to put away Washington State. Now the Panthers host the program where Flynn Clayman spent six seasons and got his first chance to run a team.
Southern Utah (3–0) at High Point (3–0)
Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 7 p.m. ET
Qubein Center · ESPN+
Series & Setting
High Point and Southern Utah have never played each other. The history Thursday belongs to the man on High Point’s bench.
Flynn Clayman spent six seasons in Cedar City, rising from special assistant to associate head coach under Todd Simon. When Simon left for Bowling Green in March 2023, Clayman took over for the CBI. Southern Utah beat North Alabama and Rice before falling to Eastern Kentucky in double overtime in the semifinal.
Southern Utah, however, hired the more experienced Rob Jeter. Two days later, High Point announced Clayman as Alan Huss’s associate head coach.
When High Point’s own vacancy arrived in 2025, the Panthers elevated Clayman. He rewarded that decision with a 31–5 season, a Big South championship and the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory, an 83–82 upset of Wisconsin. Interestingly enough, Jeter’s mentor was Bo Ryan and the two spent four years in Madison with the Badgers longtime coach.
Jeter is currently 35-62 with the Thunderbirds.
SUU’s decision gives this revenge-game label some teeth. Southern Utah went outside the program after Clayman’s successful interim run. High Point eventually handed him the keys.
Thursday brings those decisions onto the same floor. Can the Panthers back their coach and deliver a message to the Thunderbirds brass on behalf of their leader?
Overview
High Point’s win over Washington State came with two very different halves.
The Panthers led 32–31 at the break despite shooting 4-for-14 from three and making only four free throws. Turnovers also continued to hurt High Point and everything looked difficult on the offensive half of the court.
In short, all the same ugliness from against UMES was showing up again.
Then High Point scored 51 points on 22 second-half field-goal attempts.
The Panthers went 15-for-22 from the floor, including 11-for-14 inside the arc, and made 17 of 21 free throws. Their three-point shooting improved to 4-for-8. Drives produced finishes. Help produced opportunities elsewhere. Contact produced points with the clock stopped.
Washington State still led 50–48 after RJ Jones’s three with 12:43 remaining. His technical seven seconds later opened the door, and High Point scored the next eight. CJ Brown attacked downhill. Braden Hausen supplied timely threes. Cam’Ron Fletcher delivered back-to-back dunks.
The Panthers closed 33–21 to win 83–71.
Lazerek Houston’s 31 points exposed work still to do defensively, but High Point had answers throughout its rotation. Brown finished with 17 points and four assists. Fletcher and Jason Rivera-Torres added 13 apiece. The bench supplied 38. The Panthers’ depth continues to be a difference maker in these contests.
Southern Utah arrives with three wins of its own, all against non-Division I opponents. The Thunderbirds have scored 374 points against West Coast Baptist, Grace and Bethesda, piling up 92 assists against 18 turnovers.
Thursday is their first road game and first Division I test. The room to execute is about to shrink.
Strategy & Tactics
Make the frontcourt defend decisions
Southern Utah’s best established pieces are Jaiden Feroah and JaJuan Nicholls. Feroah stretches the floor and protects the rim. Nicholls screens, rolls and attacks misses.
High Point needs to make that size move.
Brown’s first few ball screens should tell us plenty. If the defending big stays back, Brown can turn the corner and force a commitment. If help comes from the wing, Hausen or Williams becomes an outlet. If defenders overplay the pass, the cut behind them becomes available.
Reserve big Filip Brankovic’s ability to screen and pop gives High Point another way to pull size away from the basket. The Panthers can make Southern Utah defend a second action before its frontcourt gets comfortable.
Find Feroah beyond the first action
Jeter’s offense gives its bigs more responsibility than simply setting screens.
Feroah can space the floor, facilitate and bring the ball up himself. Plays including flare screens are also often drawn up for the talented fifth-year player. High Point has to track him away from the ball while accounting for Nicholls near the rim.
Southern Utah’s best possessions will move the ball before the Panthers’ help resets. At times High Point has been slow to rotate to shooters resulting in an open three. The Thunderbirds have multiple players who can bury open looks.
Southern Utah’s most difficult possessions will come when the first action stalls and a new backcourt has to create against the clock. The length, strength, and athleticism of the Panthers will be a major deterrent against these actions.
Finish the defensive possession
A good contest means little if Nicholls collects the miss.
High Point’s help defenders have to recover into box-outs, particularly when Feroah has pulled a big away from the basket. Fletcher’s rebounding can turn that work into immediate offense.
The Panthers should welcome opportunities to run before Southern Utah’s size gets set. Live-ball mistakes and unfinished defensive possessions give the Thunderbirds the same opportunity.
Numbers to Note
The shooting-efficiency gap
High Point’s offensive and defensive effective field-goal percentages through November 7. Through November 7, the Panthers made 63.5% of their twos and allowed 40.4%.
Can Southern Utah contest the paint without opening the perimeter?
Pressure cuts both ways
High Point has forced turnovers on 21.3% of opposing possessions but committed them on 20.8% of its own.
Which backcourt gives away the live-ball mistakes that become layups?
Finish the stop
The share of available offensive rebounds High Point allowed opponents to collect.
Can the Panthers secure the ball after rotating to help?
Pressure at the rim adds up
High Point attempted 48 free throws per 100 field-goal attempts. Against Wazzu, it went 21-for-29 at the line.
Can Feroah and Nicholls defend aggressively and stay available?
Know the Foes
Rob Jeter | Head Coach
Fourth season at Southern Utah
Jeter’s team returned to the Big Sky after four years in the WAC. Following a 10–22 season, the Thunderbirds were picked 10th of 11 by both coaches and media. Five returners joined 10 newcomers.
The opening results show a team willing to share the ball. Thursday tests whether those habits hold under pressure and against D1 talent.
Jaiden Feroah | Forward | 6-foot-9
The returning anchor
Feroah started all 32 games last season, averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds, blocked 52 shots and made 41.5% of his threes. He earned preseason All-Big Sky recognition.
What to Watch
How often he pulls a High Point big away from the basket and creates room for Nicholls.
JaJuan Nicholls | Forward | 6-foot-9
The finisher
The Tennessee Tech transfer opened 18-for-21 from the field through three games. His work as a screener, roller and offensive rebounder gives Southern Utah a dependable interior target.
What to Watch
Whether he can establish deep catches and extend possessions against High Point’s stronger resistance.
Anthony Breland | Guard | 6-foot-2
The first shooter to find
Breland made 40.3% of his threes at Miami Dade and has started 8-for-16 at Southern Utah. Five of those makes came against Bethesda.
All eight were assisted. Four of Houston’s five made threes against High Point were assisted, too. That makes locating Breland after the initial help rotation a priority. Lazerek Houston torched the Panthers from deep (5-for-8 from three and 31 total points). HPU has to do a better job defending Breland so he doesn't do the same.
What to Watch
What he produces when a timely closeout takes away the immediate three.
Jordan Brown and Rashaad Davis | Guards
The new organizers
Brown brings a pass-first approach. Davis has 13 assists through three games. Their decisions determine whether Southern Utah’s bigs receive the ball against a moving defense or a set one.
What to Watch
Who Jeter trusts when High Point disrupts the first option.
Marquee Matchups
CJ Brown vs. Southern Utah’s ball-screen coverage
Brown helped change the Wazzu game by getting downhill. The depth of Southern Utah’s big defender and the source of its help will determine his next read. High Point should keep returning to actions that force the Thunderbirds to handle both the drive and the pass.
Fletcher, Garrett and Sherman vs. Feroah and Nicholls
Southern Utah’s size has to translate into possessions. Fletcher, Isaac Garrett and Frankquon Sherman can limit that advantage by finding bodies after helping and securing the rebound. Every clean defensive rebound gives High Point a chance to make the bigs sprint back.
Breland vs. High Point’s second rotation
The first defender may have to help on Nicholls. The next defender has to locate Breland.
Houston demonstrated the cost of arriving late. Rivera-Torres’s return gives Clayman another long defender to use in those rotations, but communication and timing still have to finish the job.
Final Word & Prediction
Southern Utah has enough size to challenge High Point’s finishing and enough shooting to punish a careless rotation. Its upset path runs through clean ballhandling, second chances and Breland receiving open looks.
The Panthers have the stronger evidence behind their offense. Against Washington State, they found paint touches, free throws and production beyond the starting five. When the game demanded better possessions after halftime, High Point delivered them.
Expect roughly 72 possessions, with Brown’s penetration and the Panthers’ depth creating separation. Feroah and Nicholls can make stretches uncomfortable, especially if they stay out of foul trouble. Southern Utah’s new guards still have to prove they can keep the offense functioning against this level of pressure.
Southern Utah gave Clayman his first chance to run a team. High Point gave him a program to call his own.