#12 High Point Upsets #5 Wisconsin in First Instance of March Madness This Year

Yesterday, the 12th-seeded High Point Panthers gave us our first taste of March Madness this season by beating the fifth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers 83-82 for the school's first-ever Division I NCAA Tournament win.

“[It’s] tough to even put into words what just happened,” said High Point head coach Flynn Clayman after the game. “Couldn't be more proud of this team.”

This was arguably the most exciting matchup of the day, with five ties and/or lead changes in the final 2:34 of action. High Point senior guard Chase Johnston had the play of the game when he made a layup - his first successful two-pointer of the season - to put the Panthers ahead 83-82 with 11 seconds remaining in the contest.

“When Rob (Martin) threw that up, I was just like, ‘I’ve got to put this in the hoop and win this game,’” Johnston explained. “I wasn't really thinking whether it was a two or three. I was just trying to put it in and win this game.”

Johnston is a known three-point specialist with 138 of his 142 shot attempts on the season coming from beyond the arc. Before converting that layup, he was 0/4 on two-point field goal attempts this year.

“That's the kind of player he is,” Clayman said of Johnston. “He's been an all-conference player two times already before he came here. He was two times all-conference in the ASUN. We started this season 8-3, and I really got down to the nitty-gritty of what we needed to do because at High Point, that's not good enough for our standard. And with how small we were at the point guard spot, I felt like I kind of mixed up our roster composition, and I asked him to take a bench role because we were a little small starting games. His willingness to take that role and keep leading, and then at the end of the season, to be doing what he's doing. Just again, it speaks to how selfless these guys are.”

Though Chase Johnston was the hero of the game, senior guard Rob Martin had one of the best performances of his life, with a team-high 23 points and four three-pointers on ten attempts.

“My teammates [were] just finding me in the right spots and just making the right play if it's open for me or my teammates,” he said. “I try to make the right read, and [it’s] really coach just trusting me having the ball in my hand. So, I just go out there and make the right play, and whatever happens, I feel like I'm confident enough in my work and the way I work.”

For Wisconsin, the season once again ends in disappointment. After making it to the Sweet 16 in the first season under head coach Greg Gard in 2017, the Badgers have failed to advance past the Round of 32 in their last six NCAA Tournament appearances.

“First of all, congratulations to High Point. They played a terrific game, [and] hit some unbelievable shots, and that's the heartache that comes with this tournament is that [a] team plays exceptionally well, and you get sent home when you don't take care of things you need to take care of,” Gard told reporters during his postgame press conference. “Today sucks. Today stinks.”

The postgame interviews didn't lack any controversy. In his opening statement, Flynn Clayman used the opportunity to highlight how difficult it is for mid-major schools to bolster their NCAA Tournament résumés with out-of-conference opponents.

“It's pretty obvious to me that something needs to be done about this non-conference scheduling,” he explained. “High Point and Miami, Ohio are 2-0 in Quad 1 games. We couldn't get games. They couldn't get games. Akron couldn't get games. UNCW couldn't get games. Belmont couldn't get games. We won 22 of our last 23 games, and we didn't move up one spot in the metrics. Not one. We won 22 of our 23. We've won 25 games by double-digits. That team right there (Wisconsin) is a fantastic team that beat five top-ten teams. If we can get games like this on neutral courts and some home games, I think we'd know who's really the best teams.”

Regardless, Clayman knows that the job isn't over yet.

"I'm proud of these dudes, and we're not just here to win one game," he said. "We're here to get to the Sweet 16."

On Saturday, High Point will face the fourth-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks. That game will begin at 9:45 p.m. EDT.