No. 12 High Point defeats No. 5 Wisconsin 83-82 in first-round NCAA Tournament game
No. 12 seed High Point rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat No. 5 seed Wisconsin 83-82 in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament on March 19, 2026, at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.[1]
The victory marked the first NCAA Tournament win in High Point history. The Panthers earned their bid by winning the Big South Conference tournament title for the second consecutive season.[1][2]
High Point, based in High Point, North Carolina, lost to Purdue in the first round of the 2025 tournament.[1]
Guard Chase Johnston scored the go-ahead layup with 11.7 seconds remaining, finishing with 14 points including four 3-pointers. The Panthers were listed as 10.5-point underdogs.[1]
Wisconsin's Nick Boyd missed a layup that would have given the Badgers an 84-81 lead. High Point's Rob Martin grabbed the rebound and passed ahead to Johnston for the breakaway layup, which was Johnston's first 2-point field goal of the season.[1]
Owen Aquino then blocked Boyd's next drive. Cam'Ron Fletcher missed a free throw, but Terry Anderson intercepted Andrew Rohde's inbound pass with 1.8 seconds left to seal the win.[1]
High Point coach Flynn Clayman, in his first year, said after the game: "It looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors early in the season. Because they said we didn't play nobody. We played somebody now."[1]
Clayman added: "I know how good of a team we are. But nobody would play us, just like they wouldn't play Miami (Ohio). But they gotta play us in this tournament."[1]
Sources
- Fox News, High Point Panthers upset Wisconsin in first March Madness win, March 20, 2026, https://www.foxnews.com/sports
- The Associated Press, NCAA men's tournament first-round results, March 20, 2026, https://apnews.com/hub/ncaabasketball
- High Point University Athletics, Men's Basketball, accessed October 2024, https://highpointpanthers.com/sports/mens-basketball
- NCAA.com, Division I men's basketball committee, accessed October 2024, https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2024-05-26/2026-ncaa-di-mens-basketball-championship-bracket-first-and-second-rounds-announced
- Wikipedia, Moda Center, accessed October 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moda_Center
