The Opening Tip
•   Off to their first 3-0 start in the Division I era, the Lancers return to Willett Hall Friday for their second home game of the season, taking on Delaware State at 7 p.m.
•   The game will pit first-year Longwood head coach
Griff Aldrich against his former UMBC benchmate Eric Skeeters. Both Aldrich and Skeeters coached together at UMBC during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
•   Aldrich has the Lancers off to their seventh 3-0 start in the program's 41 years of existence and the team's first such start since 2000-01.
•   Leading the charge for Longwood is the Big South's third-leading scorer in
Isaiah Walton (21.0 ppg.) and two of the league's top rebounders in Walton (8.0 rpg.) and
Jordan Cintron (7.3).Â
•   Friday's game will be Longwood's last at home before a four-game road trip that goes through the end of November.
Last Time Out
•   Backed by a third straight 20-point game from
Isaiah Walton and a breakout 12-point night from junior transfer Seán Flood, Longwood outlasted UMES 66-63 Tuesday at Hytche Athletic Center to improve to 3-0 for the first time in the program's 15-year Division I era.
•   Walton finished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, while Flood – who entered the night without a point in his fledgling Division I career – sank four three-pointers and added three assists in 20 minutes off the bench.Â
•   Longwood needed five made free throws in the final 16 seconds from junior
Lorenzo Phillips to survive the Eagles, who trimmed the Lancers' 12-point lead to 65-63 with a 14-4 run in the final 1:10 of the game.Â
•   Lancer sophomore
Jordan Cintron finished with a career-high 14 points and shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line.Â
By The Numbers
•   Longwood is 3-0 for the first time in the program's 15-year Division I era. The last time the Lancers started 3-0 was in 2000-01 when they finished the year 23-8 and reached the 2001 NCAA Division III Tournament. The 3-0 start of the seventh in program history.
•   The Lancers surrender the fewest points per game (56.0) and have held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage (.363) in the Big South. No team has shot better than 40.0 percent against Longwood this season, while only UMES has scored more than 60 points.
•   Guard
Isaiah Walton has scored 20 points in all three games this season and ranks third in the Big South with 21.0 points per game. He has recorded those stats while averaging just 12.7 field goal attempts per game and shooting .579 (22-of-38) from the floor.
•   Walton needs just 100 more points to become the sixth 1,000-point scorer in Longwood's 15-year Division I era and the 22nd in program history.
•   Along with his 21.0 points per game, Walton also ranks second in the Big South with 8.0 rebounds per game. He has grabbed at least five rebounds in every game, including a career-high 12 against Richmond.
•   Longwood has gotten balanced scoring from its frontcourt and backcourt, with the guards accounting for 58.7 percent of the team's total points and the forwards making up the other 41.3 percent.
•   Point guard Lorenzo "Shabooty" Phillips leads Longwood with 11 assists this season, 10 of which have come on made three-pointers.
•   Longwood's bench is contributing 28.3 points and 3.7 assists per game and has twice scored more than 20 points in a game. The leading bench scorers are sophomore guard
Kamil Chapman (7.0 points per game) and
Gus Okafor (6.3 points per game).
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Series History
•   Longwood and Delaware State meet for only the second time in series history Friday in Willett Hall.Â
•   The first meeting between the teams took place during the 2008-09 season, which Longwood won 69-65 at the Las Vegas Invitational at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
•   Delaware State will be the second straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opponent Longwood has faced following the Lancers' 66-63 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore this past Tuesday.
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