High Point Stuns Wisconsin: Panthers Score First March Madness Win, Coach Calls Out Power Four Scheduling
PORTLAND, Ore. – In a stunning upset that reverberated through the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the No. 12 seed High Point Panthers defeated the No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers 83-82 on Thursday at Moda Center. The victory marks the first March Madness win in program history for High Point.
The game turned on a late rally fueled by High Point’s Chase Johnston, who scored the game-winning basket – a fast-break layup – with 11.7 seconds remaining. Remarkably, the basket was Johnston’s first two-point field goal of the season. He finished the game with 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
Wisconsin had a chance to respond, but a layup attempt by Nick Boyd was blocked by High Point’s Owen Aquino. Following the block, Rob Martin secured a rebound and passed to Johnston for the decisive score. A final attempt by Wisconsin with 1.8 seconds left was thwarted when Terry Anderson stole a pass intended for Andrew Rohde, sealing the victory for the Panthers.
High Point, which won the Massive South title for the second consecutive season to earn its tournament berth, overcame a double-digit deficit to secure the win. Wisconsin led by as many as 10 points in the first half and held a 70-62 advantage with 7:08 left in the game.
Rob Martin led High Point in scoring with 23 points and also contributed 10 assists. Four other Panthers scored in double figures. For Wisconsin, Nick Boyd led the way with 27 points, while John Blackwell added 22 points and 10 rebounds.
The victory is particularly notable for High Point head coach Flynn Clayman, who used the upset as an opportunity to call out Power Four conference schools for routinely avoiding scheduling games against mid-major programs. “It looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors necessitate to play mid-majors early in the season,” Clayman said after the game. “Because they said we didn’t play nobody. We played somebody now. I know how great 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.”
The loss continues a troubling trend for Wisconsin, which has now been eliminated by a lower-seeded team in each of its last four NCAA Tournament appearances. The Badgers fell to Iowa State in 2022 as an 11 seed, James Madison in 2024 as a 12 seed and lost in the second round last year as a 3 seed to BYU.
High Point will advance to face No. 4 seed Arkansas in the second round of the West Region on Saturday.