CHUBUT PROVINCE, ARGENTINA – Former Longwood center and All-Big South first team selection Lotanna Nwogbo signed a professional contract with the GECR Indalo club in Comodoro Rivadavia, becoming the third Lancer mentored by fourth-year head coach Jayson Gee to sign a professional basketball contract.
 
Nwogbo, a 6-8, 260-pound native of Atlanta, Ga., who was part of Gee's first recruiting class at Longwood, joins a GECR Indalo team that went 33-23 last season to finish atop the Sur Division standings of Liga Nacional de Basquet LigaA, the top basketball league in Argentina.
 
"I am extremely proud and delighted that Lotanna has been able to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a professional basketball player," said Gee, who signed the Tulane transfer Nwogbo in 2013.
 
"He represents a great story of a young man who had humble beginnings at another school, came to Longwood for three years and found himself as a person, student and basketball player. I am thrilled for his family, which has made a lot of sacrifices to put him in the position he's in to reach his goal. We wish him well, and we know he will represent Longwood prominently."
 
In Nwogbo, GECR Indalo is getting a player coming off a dominant senior campaign at Longwood in which he averaged a team-high 15.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game while clocking a Big South-leading 14 double-doubles. The first All-Big South first team selection in program history, he also led the conference in rebounding, ranked second in field goal percentage (.591 – 194-of-328) and among the top 10 in blocks (1.3 bpg) and points per game.

"My college career didn't start the way I envisioned, but coach Gee and his staff believed in me and helped put me in this position to follow my dream of becoming a professional basketball player," said Nwogbo, who averaged 14.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 50 games as a Lancer. "I'd like to thank Longwood University, my coaches, teammates, all my fellow Lancers and my family for helping me achieve this lifelong goal."
 
With Nwogbo anchoring the frontcourt, Longwood earned its highest Big South finish in four years as a member of the conference, receiving the No. 8 seed in the Big South Championship. Nwogbo helped Longwood move past No. 9 seed Charleston Southern in the conference tournament's opening round and capped his Lancer career with another double-double, going off for 24 points and 12 rebounds in a quarterfinal loss to No. 1 seed High Point. He was named Longwood's 2015-16 Male Athlete of the Year for his senior performance.
 
Nwogbo, who received his degree in kinesiology from Longwood this past May, joins former Lancers Quincy Taylor and Tristan Carey as the third player coached by Gee to sign professionally. Taylor, who was also part of Gee's first recruiting class and earned All-Big South second team honors as a senior in 2015, was the starting point guard with Cheshire in the British League last season, averaging 11.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Meanwhile, the 2014 All-Big South honorable mention pick Carey recently signed with the Lugano Tigers in Switzerland after a two-year stint with the Bulgarian club Rilski Sportist where he averaged 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game last season.
 
With Nwogbo moving on to professional basketball, the Lancers will look to fill his sizable absence with a batch of six newcomers and two returning starters from last year's squad. Anchoring the team in his final season will be 6-2, 175-pound senior guard Darrion Allen, who returns as the Big South's leading three-point shooter and Longwood's returning leader in points, blocks and steals. He is joined by returning veteran forwards Khris Lane, who averaged 8.7 points and 6.2 rebounds as a redshirt sophomore, and Damarion Geter, who returns for his redshirt junior season after missing all of last year with a shoulder injury.
 
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