Barbour closes in on history, Panthers struggle in Big South
HPU Men's Basketball player Nick Barbour.
By Nolan Stout
Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned.
Although the High Point Panthers Men’s basketball team has more wins than they did at this point last season (7-12, 3-6), they have lost three straight and four of the last five and the Panthers are just not performing as well as Coach Scott Cherry thinks they should be.
“We’re not where we want to be but we’re making progress,” Cherry said, “We could easily be 6-3 or 5-4 in the conference.”
Of their 12 losses, seven have been by fewer than ten points and of those seven, two have been in conference play.
While Cherry prefers to look at what the team could be, senior Nick Barbour prefers to look on the bright side of things.
“I really think these games will help us down the line at the conference tournament,” Barbour said. “When those close game situations arrive during the tournament, we will know what to do.”
Among the difficulties of the season, Barbour’s individual statistics are shining brightly. He leads the Big South with an average of 20.2 points per game.
Barbour currently has 1,891 career points. He recently moved to number four on the all time scoring list at High Point and that is also second on the scoring list since the University became a Division I school. Barbour is also in the top 10 on the Big South’s all time scoring list.
Barbour is now No. 3 on HPU’s list, passing Brett Speight’s 1,877 points with a 33-point effort versus Liberty, but still behind Arizona Reid’s 2,069 points, and all-time scoring leader Gene Littles’ 2,398 points.
Scoring 20.2 points per game, Barbour going to finish at least third, but perhaps second all-time in HPU’s history books.
The humble Barbour is not fazed by the accomplishments he has made over his four years at HPU. When asked, his answer focused on winning.
“If you start about stuff like that, you can’t play the game,” Barbour said.
With five games in the last ten days, the Panthers have not been able to get a break to better themselves with practice time.
But the schedule ahead should open up with more time for practice, and for the Panthers to pick up their pace.
And hopefully go on a run to make Barbour’s last year at HPU a memorable one.