Panther’s Toothsayer: La Salle Explorers
- Tyler
- Dec 19, 2025
- 4 min read
📍 Context & Stakes: Familiar Faces, Different Jerseys
High Point returns home after a record-setting victory over Mary Baldwin, sitting at 9–3—a record that, oddly, still feels a bit hollow. For a roster this talented, losses to Southern Illinois and App State linger. Those were games the Panthers had chances to close and didn’t.
Now comes La Salle, a team built with many of the same traits that have bothered High Point over the last month.
This matchup also carries some history and scars.
La Salle arrives 4–7, ranked outside the top 250 in most efficiency models, but led by a very familiar face. Darris Nichols, now in his first season at La Salle, went 2–8 against High Point while at Radford, losing seven straight to the Panthers and never winning in the Qubein Center. His last meeting with HPU was a Big South Tournament semifinal nail-biter, where High Point survived and went on to a historic postseason run.
Several of Nichols’ most trusted players followed him north: Truth Harris, Josiah Harris, and Justin Archer. They’ve played in this building, felt this crowd, and would love nothing more than a little revenge.
La Salle isn’t a good shooting team. They crash the glass relentlessly, value the ball, and are coached by an experienced staff with guards who know how not to beat themselves. Unfortunately for High Point, those exact traits have exposed cracks in Flynn Clayman’s squad recently.
Can he adjust? This feels like an important measuring stick before conference play begins.