The Opening Tip
•   For the first time in program history, Longwood is in sole possession of first place in the Big South with a 3-0 record. The Lancers remain the conference's only unbeaten team thanks to a three-game conference winning streak that is the team's longest since joining the conference in 2012-13.
•   Longwood's past three wins have all come by no more than two possessions, defeating Campbell 79-77, High Point 60-55 and Presbyterian 79-76. Longwood entered the final two minutes of each of those games either tied, trailing or leading by no more than five points.
•   Longwood's hot Big South start has come despite having just eight scholarship players available with
Damarion Geter (foot),
Jahleem Montague (knee) and
Juan Munoz (knee) out with injuries and
Kendrick Thompson out due to non-disciplinary personal reasons.
•   Saturday's game is Longwood's third straight New Year's Eve contest. The Lancers are 0-3 on New Year's Eve in the Division I era.
Last Time Out
•  Â
Isaiah Walton's 20-point second-half lifted first-place Longwood past Presbyterian 79-76 and to the program's first 3-0 start in Big South play.Â
•   Using only a seven-man rotation for the third straight game, short-handed Longwood overcame Presbyterian's 16-3 run at the end of the first half to win their third program-record third straight Big South game.
•   Walton, who only had two points in the first half, took over after halftime and finished the night with 22 points, on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor. He stuffed the stat sheet with six rebounds, two assists and two steals.Â
•   Trailing 61-59 with 7:14 to play, Longwood hit 6-of-8 free throws and both three-pointers down the stretch to pull away.
•   Joining Walton in double figures were
Khris Lane (17),
Darrion Allen (12) and
Isaac Belton (11). Longwood shot a blazing .592 (29-of-49) from the floor, including a .654 (17-of-26) clip in the second half.Â
Â
By The Numbers
•   After outrebounding just one of their first 11 opponents, Longwood has outrebounded each of its first three Big South foes, doing so by an average of 4.0 per game. That ranks as the second-highest rebounding margin in Big South play this season.
•   After allowing 80.6 points per game in non-conference play, Longwood has held its first three Big South opponents to just 69.3 points per game. The Lancers have held those three opponents — Campbell, High Point and Presbyterian — to a combined .440 shooting from the field and .357 from three-point range, both among the conference's top four marks since Big South play began.
•   The Lancers have shot at least .500 from both the floor and three-point range in two of their first three Big South games. Longwood is shooting .526 (80-of-152) from the field in Big South play, the best mark in the league, and .460 (23-of-50) from three-point range, the league's second-highest clip.
•   In five career games against Winthrop, senior
Darrion Allen has averaged 9.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting .500 (8-of-16) from three-point range. He scored in double figures in both games last year, including 19 points in the last meeting. Allen hit 5-of-7 treys in that 88-80 loss on Feb. 11 in Winthrop Coliseum.
•   Guards
Darrion Allen and
Isaiah Walton and forward
Khris Lane have combined for 63.4 percent of Longwood's scoring, or 43.0 points per game. All three rank among the Big South's top 10 in scoring and have a combined 34 of Longwood's 46 double-figure scoring games.Â
•   Longwood is 5-2 this season when Allen, Walton and Lane all score in double figures.
•   Freshman
JaShaun Smith has multiple blocks in five straight games, amassing 12 during that span, including a pair in each of the first three Big South games of his career. The 6-5, 200-pound Smith ranks fifth in the Big South with 1.3 blocks per game.
#GoWood
Â
