2025-26 Exhibition Preview and Breakdown
Breaking down and previewing all SEVEN Big South Exhibitions
And the ball is tipped.
As we creep in closer to Nov 3rd, teams are now getting together and playing in scrimmages. Some secret, some very not secret.
Today, we are previewing the “not so” secret scrimmages, giving what I am hoping to see and learn about these times, and my overall prediction for the game.
Presbyterian at Clemson - Oct 17th 6pm EST
The first of the 7 Big South scrimmages takes us the LittleJohn Coliseum for an in-state battle between Clemson and Presbyterian. Both teams are coming off some of their best seasons in recent history, and both programs hope to see something in the exhibition to hopefully help move their program to the next level.
What I am hoping to see from Presbyterian:
Who is PG 1 and 2? I would assume Erik Taylor will be PG1, but that leads the backup PG spot wide open for either of the freshmen or maybe a two guard.
Who makes the yearly Presbyterian LEAP? It seems like year in and year out, someone on Presbyterian makes a massive leap from bench player/fringe starter to star player, who will that be this season? If I had to guess, Carl Parrish.
Can Presbyterian keep up with Clemson’s size? This is Presbyterian’s best sized team in recent memory, but they are still smaller compared to the likes of High Point and UNC Asheville. If Presbyterian can keep Clemson’s big men relatively quiet, it’d be a sign of good things to come for the Blue Hose.
Breakdown: As likely everyone else who might make a prediction on this, I do think Clemson wins, but I like Presbyterian to keep it closer. I think Presbyterian keeps it within about 15-20 points before Clemson starts to experiment near the end, in which I believe Presbyterian will close to around 10-15.
Official Prediction: Clemson 77 - Presbyterian 64
High Point at UNC Wilmington - Oct 18th 2pm EST
Game One of the Flynn Clayman tenure (while not the official game one) has High Point making the trip down I-40 E to Wilmington to face former Gardner Webb player and assistant and current UNCW head coach Takayo Siddle. Both teams coming off firsts, High Point coming off their first tournament in school history and UNCW coming off their first tournament during the Takayo Siddle era, and both are hoping to build off last season success.
What I am hoping to see from High Point:
Flynn’s first game, how does he handle it? This isn’t Flynn’s FIRST game as a Head Coach as he has stepped into that chair a few times either as an interim or after an ejection. Now there is neither of those, but that also means, a lot more things to handle and juggle and something to keep an eye on.
Hungry Hungry Hoopers. High Point has around 10-12 Big South level starters on their team in my opinion. All the way from Rob Martin to Cam’ron Fletcher to Conrad Martinez and more, it will be interesting to see how Flynn involves all that talent into this roster.
Same High Point, New Identity? Much of High Point’s offense is known, it’s one of the best Mid Major offenses in the country, but this offseason, a lot of the buzz from High Point has been on the defensive end and this will be our first sight of it.
Breakdown: This will likely be the closest scrimmage in the Big South and maybe the entire scrimmage slate for College Basketball. Both HPU and UNCW are viewed as Top 125-ish level teams with High Point being viewed as the slightly better team on a neutral court. With all that being said, I do lean UNCW to win it, but I call it a let down for High Point as long as it’s a close game.
Official Prediction: UNC Wilmington 77 - High Point 72
Georgia Southern vs Winthrop - Oct 25th 6:30pm EST
Last year when these two teams faced off at Rock Hill Sports and Events Center, it was one of the better Big South non conference games of the season, coming down to a late game miscue by Winthrop leading to an 89-87 loss during the Rock Hill Classic. Despite massive changes to both rosters, I would except a similar thriller of a game this go around.
What I am hoping to see from Winthrop?
No Talford, No Doucet, No Problem? For the first time since the 2020-21 season, Winthrop will be without Kelton Talford and or KJ Doucet. It will be interesting to see how Winthrop pivots, do they move to a guard led group, or still run through a two big system?
Live by the Line, Die by the Line. One thing has been very evident during Mark Prosser’s tenure at Winthrop, they get to the line, ranking #1 in FT Attempt Rate the past two season. If Winthrop keeps up this trend, they will need to buck their other trend of being one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the Big South.
Duncomb, Hamilton, or Nnamoko? The last major thing I want to see is who will take over the Big Man duties down low for Winthrop? Both Duncomb and Hamilton averaged around 15% of the minutes last year and then Winthrop added a solid talent in Nnamoko, will be interesting to see who will take the 5 spot.
Breakdown: If HPU/UNCW isn’t the closest exhibition, this one will likely be it. Truly all depends on whether Georgia Southern’s transfers mesh together as they only have one returner from last years squad. For that main reason, I do think Winthrop wins this by about 5-10.
Official Prediction: Winthrop 87 - Georgia Southern 79
North Carolina A&T at High Point - Oct 25th 7pm EST
The final scrimmage of the 25th, and the final scrimmage for High Point before opening the season is against nearby North Carolina A&T. The two former Big South foes are facing off for the first time since the 23-24 season in which High Point extended their winning streak over the Aggies to 3, but a lot has changed in those two years.
(Since this is High Point’s second scrimmage, will only cover stuff I haven’t covered)
Things I am hoping to see from High Point:
Keep the foot on the gas! One issue I saw in the end of High Point’s non conference games last season was they would always let teams back into the game, this is an opportunity to see if HPU will do the same this season.
Height Mismatch. Despite having the better roster on paper, NC A&T has one advantage, SIZE, especially at the guard spot with their smallest guard being 6’2”. It will be interesting to see how Rob Martin and Conrad Martinez matchup against these larger guards.
Breakdown: High Point should have this one pretty handedly, NC A&T is projected to be near the bottom of all of D1 basketball and only returned 3 player who appeared in significant-ish time last season. High Point probably leads by 20 or more at one point before getting their deeper bench some playing time. I lean High Point taking this by about 10-15 by the time it’s all set and done.
Prediction: High Point 85 - North Carolina A&T 71
Truett McConnell (Non D1) vs UNC Asheville - Oct 28th 6:30pm EST
Asheville’s one public scrimmage comes against Truett McConnell in which is the first meetup between the two schools and is UNC Asheville’s first public scrimmage since 2022 when they beat Mulligan University.
Things I am hoping to see from UNC Asheville:
Justin Wright’s Return from Injury: One of the big additions from last year’s portal class for Asheville was Justin Wright and many viewed him as an All Conference level player, but suffered a season ending injury in the preseason. Now Wright is back, and this will be our first look at how he looks post injury.
Second Big Man Breakout: UNC Asheville for the past few seasons has had two very effective big men, whether it was Toyaz and Pember, Toyaz and Gantt, or Pember and McMullen. This year we know Toyaz is expected to be one of those two but that second spot is up for grabs and this could be our first sight to who gets it.
Freshmen Flashes: The one good thing about playing a Non D1 school is you can usually see what you have with your Freshmen, and I expect this to be much of the same. Interesting to see what Asheville might have hidden on their bench for years to come.
Breakdown: Asheville should win this one pretty easily, in both of Truett’s D1 games last year they gave up 99 in both and only put up 67 and 64 respectively. I don’t see this being like last year’s Non D1’s for Asheville but I still think Asheville wins by more than 30.
Official Prediction: UNC Asheville 95 - Truett McConnell 62
SC Central Christian College vs Presbyterian - Oct 28th 7pm EST
One of the more puzzling scrimmages in my opinion for multiple reasons. One, Presbyterian added this scrimmage after their schedule was released. Two, SC Central Christian College is a team that is completely out matched here. In their one game last year that I can find results for, SC Central Christian College lost to Apprentice School by a score of 119-74.
Things I hope to see from Presbyterian:
Presbyterian Pummeling: There isn’t much we will learn about Presbyterian from this scrimmage, but we can see how much Presbyterian can win these “buy games” by and see how it compared to another D1 in Tennessee Tech whom also faces SC Central Christian College.
How deep is Presbyterian? I think you see the bench enter this game pretty early, so it will be interesting to see how the Freshmen and RS Freshmen play, much like the UNC Asheville scrimmages.
Breakdown: This one will be over about 10 minutes into the game as long as Presbyterian plays those 10 minutes like they would in the regular season. SC Central is just clearly mismatched in every single facet of the game unfortunately. I think Presbyterian wins this one by more than 40.
Official Prediction: Presbyterian 103 - SC Central Christian College 50
Radford vs Bridgewater - Oct. 29th (TBD on Radford Website)
The last Darris Nichols public scrimmage and the first Zach Chu public scrimmage have one very obvious similarity, the opponent. For the 2nd year straight, the Bridgewater Eagles travel to the Dedmon Center to race the Highlanders. Last year’s game was an 85-46 victory for the Highlanders, this year could be much of the same.
Things I want to see from Radford:
Game 1 of the Zach Chu era. This is Game 1 (technically Game 2) for the Zach Chu era to Radford, and still not much is known of what to expect. Obviously no one has seen what Radford will run nor what Radford’s roster will look like.
Frederik Erichsen, Freshmen Phenom. Much as been said about Radford’s portal class and rightfully so, they have one of the best portal classes in the MM ranks but I think something went underrated. Their foreign class, especially Denmark do it all forward Frederik Erichsen. Interesting to see how Radford involves him.
Playstyle Questions: One of the biggest questions about Radford is how will they play, a small amount was answered in their first scrimmage, but it also created more questions in my opinion.. Will be interested to see if this scrimmage can answer any of the new questions, or the past questions.
Breakdown: This one much like other non D1 exhibitions, probably won’t be close, but this still draws some interest simply due to it being the first look at Zach Chu at Radford. Bridgewater didn’t keep it close vs Radford last year, and I feel the same will happen this year. I think Radford wins this one by 30+.
Official Prediction: Radford 97 - Bridgewater 61