Big South Play Begins Saturday at Charleston Southern
Men's Basketball
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The Opening Tip
•   Longwood opens Big South play Saturday against Charleston Southern in Charleston, S.C.
•   Longwood's last two games against Big South opponents have also been against Charleston Southern. The Lancers faced the Bucs in the 2016-17 regular season finale and again in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Big South Championship.
•   In six seasons as a member of the Big South Conference, Longwood is 1-4 in Big South openers. The Lancers defeated Campbell 79-77 in last year's Big South opener.
•   Longwood has been without at least two key players in nine of the past 10 games. Most recently, starting guards Isaiah Walton and Charles Glover have missed three straight games together.
•   Saturday Longwood will be coming off a nine-day break between games, its longest this season.
Last Time Out
•   Grand Canyon forward Fiifi Aidoo poured in a team-high 14 points to lead four double-figure scorers and propel Western Athletic Conference preseason favorite Grand Canyon to an 86-56 win over Longwood Thursday evening at GCU Arena.
•   Aidoo did most of his damage in a 10-point first half and finished 6-of-8 from the field as the Antelopes improved to 9-1 on their home floor and defeated a shorthanded Longwood squad down to just eight available players.
•   For the third straight game, Longwood freshman Kamil Chapman finished atop the Lancers' scoring leaderboard, matching redshirt senior B.K. Ashe with 13 points.
•   Longwood played the game without leading scorer Isaiah Walton, starting guard Charles Glover and key reserve Jahleem Montague, all injured.
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By The Numbers
•   Redshirt junior Isaiah Walton averaged 17.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in his three meetings with Charleston Southern in 2016-17.
•   Walton's 17.2 points per game is currently tied for the second-highest single-season scoring average by a player in head coach
Jayson Gee's five-year tenure at Longwood. Walton trails only
Tristan Carey's 18.5 points per game in 2013-14 and is tied with Quincy Taylor's 17.2 points per game in 2014-15. Both Carey and Taylor's single-season scoring averages from those years rank in Longwood's Division I top five.
•   Longwood averages a team-high 1.82 points per minute when Walton is on the floor. Walton ranks third in the Big South with 17.2 points per game but has missed three straight games with an injury.
•   Guard B.K. Ashe is averaging 5.1 rebounds per game, the third-highest rebounding average of all Big South guards. Ashe has hauled in at least five rebounds in six straight games and has three games this season with at least eight boards.
•   Longwood has the Big South's No. 2 three-point defense, holding opponents to a .301 (111-of-369) shooting percentage from beyond the arc. Only Columbia (.410), Saint Francis (.346) and Grand Canyon (.382) have shot better than 33.3 percent from long range against Longwood this season.
•   Longwood allows just 1.73 points per minute when Spencer Franklin is on the floor, the lowest clip on the team.
•   Longwood has had at least two key players out due to injury in nine of the past 10 games. The Lancers have had their starting five intact for just four of 13 games this season and not since Dec. 9 against VMI.
•   The only four players to have played in all 13 games this season are B.K. Ashe, Kamil Chapman, Chris Shields and JaShaun Smith.
#GoWood
