The Opening Tip
•   Longwood resumes its three-day gauntlet at the Elgin Baylor Classic Saturday against Denver in search of its second straight win. Longwood took down Fairfield 67-65 on day one of the Seattle-hosted tournament at the RedHawk Center.
•   At 5-1, Longwood is off to the program's best start of the Division I era. Only seven teams in the program's 41 years of existence have won at least five of their first six games, the last of which was the 2000-01 team that finished 23-8.
•   Of the 55 new Division I head coaches in 2017-18, Longwood's
Griff Aldrich is tied for the second-most wins with five. Of the 17 new head coaches with a winning record, Aldrich is one of only five who inherited a team that won single-digit games last season.
•   Longwood is 3-1 when playing away from home this season with the only loss coming by three points at Charlotte on Nov. 19.
Last Time Out
•   Seán Flood set career highs with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists to lead Longwood to a 67-65 win over Fairfield Friday at the Elgin Baylor Classic and extend the best start of the program's Division I era.
•   Flood drew his second start of the season and delivered the best performance of his fledging Division I career, finishing 6-of-7 from the field with a career-high four three-pointers, five rebounds and three assists.
•   The Lancers' fifth win under first-year head coach
Griff Aldrich came without their leading scorer in Walton, who entered the game averaging the third-most points in the Big South at 19.2 per game but was unavailable Friday night.
•   Flood and fellow juniors Shabooty Phillips and
JaShaun Smith combined for 43 points to help Longwood gut out a win that featured nine lead changes.
By The Numbers
•   Longwood is 5-1 for the first time in the program's 15-year Division I era. The last time the Lancers won at least five of their first six games came in 2000-01 when they started 7-0 en route to a 23-8 record and a berth to the 2001 NCAA Division II Tournament.
•   The Lancers have the lowest opponent scoring average (59.5 ppg.) and opponent field goal percentage (.373) in the Big South.
•   Longwood has outrebounded all six opponents this season and boasts a Big South-leading +6.8 rebounding margin.
•   In addition to his team-leading 19.2 points per game, guard
Isaiah Walton ranks tied for second in the Big South with 8.0 rebounds per game. He and reigning Big South Player of the Year Chris Clemons — also a guard — are the league's only players averaging at least 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
•   With four straight 20-point games to start the season Walton became Longwood's first player to score at least 20 points in his first four games in the program's 15 years as a Division I institution.
•   Longwood has not allowed a dunk this season, while racking up 16 of their own.
JaShaun Smith leads the team with six, while
Isaiah Walton has four and
Spencer Franklin three.
•   Point guard Lorenzo "Shabooty" Phillips leads Longwood with 24 assists this season, 19 of which have come on made three-pointers.
•   Phillips, who played at Texas JuCo powerhouse Trinity Valley and Texas prep power Jack Yates High School, leads Longwood with a +8.07 plus-minus rating per game.
•   Longwood has had at least three double-digit scorers in five of six games this season and are at least 5-0 in those games.
•   Longwood is 3-0 this season when
JaShaun Smith scores in double figures.
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Series History
•   Longwood and Denver meet for the first time this Saturday at the Elgin Baylor Classic in Seattle, Wash.
•   Longwood is 2-4 all-time against teams currently in the Summit League.
•   The last team from the Summit League Longwood faced was North Dakota on Jan. 18, 2012. The Lancers fell 67-59 to the Fighting Sioux that game.
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