The Opening Tip
• In their second game in California, and third consecutive road game, Longwood heads to Stockton, Calif., to face Pacific Friday at 10 p.m. EST.
• After opening the season 4-0 at home, Longwood is in the midst of six consecutive road games.
• Longwood has been the Big South's top defensive team through the first seven games, leading the league in scoring defense (64.0) and ranking second in both field goal defense (.408) and three-point field goal defense (.302).
• Pacific head coach Damon Stoudamire was in the NBA at the same time as former Longwood All-American Jerome Kersey, and their paths crossed during the 2003-04 season when the Trail Blazers hired Kersey as the Director of Player Programs. As players, both Kersey and Stoudamire's careers overlapped from 1995-96 through 2000-01. Both played for Portland and San Antonio, though never on the same roster.
Last Time Out
• Behind 15 points from Dragan Elkaz, UC Riverside paired a strong start with a runaway finish to overcome a mid-game surge from Longwood and pull out a 71-58 win Tuesday night at SRC Arena.
• Playing to remain unbeaten on their home court, the Highlanders jumped out to a 19-0 lead, bounced back after Longwood claimed control of the middle 20 minutes of the game, and overcame a late deficit with a 24-12 game-ending run.
• The Highlanders hit 6-of-7 treys in the final 5:35 of the game to shut down a Longwood rally that had the Lancers poised to complete what would have been its largest comeback since overcoming a 20-point deficit in a 92-81 win over Radford on Feb. 27, 2016.
• Longwood got a pair of double-digit scoring efforts off the bench with
DeShaun Wade amassing 12 points and
Juan Munoz adding 11 points. Wade added a career-high 12 rebounds.
By The Numbers
• After setting school records last season with 333 made three-pointers and 939 three-point attempts, Longwood is taking nearly 10 percent less of its shot attempts from long range this season. The Lancers took 50.1 of their attempts from beyond the arc in 2018-19 and are attempting 41.8 from long range this season. Their shooting percentages remain comparable with a .355 clip in 2018-19 and a .349 clip this year.
• Of Longwood's 73 assists, 48 have led to three-pointers. Point guards
Juan Munoz and
Shabooty Phillips have combined for 25 of those three-point dishes. Those two have also combined for 13 made three-pointers, giving them a hand in 64.4 percent of Longwood's total treys.
• Longwood is 14-5 at home in its two seasons under Aldrich. The Lancers are 4-0 in Willett Hall for the second straight season.
• The Lancers are among the Big South's top defensive teams, leading the conference in scoring defense (64.0) and ranking second in opponent field percentage (.408) and opponent three-point field goal percentage (.302).
• Longwood has not allowed a 20-point scorer this season. Only George Mason's Jamal Hartwell, who scored 19 points on Nov. 8, has topped the 15-point plateau against the Lancers.
•
Jaylon Wilson has hit a three-pointer in 16 consecutive games.
• Sophomore newcomers
DeShaun Wade and
Christian Wilson have combined for eight of Longwood's 21 double-figure scoring games, all off the bench. They combine to average 18.0 points per game to lead a bench that contributes 35.0 points per game.
• Longwood's team is the tallest in school history with an average height of 6-foot-4. Nine of the team's 14 players are 6-5 or taller.
Quotable
"We told them at halftime, I'm going to ask you two questions — who competed the hardest, and who was the aggressor? I can live with either the win or the loss if the answer is us, but unfortunately the answer was not us in the second half. I think it was fueled by mental mistakes and a lack of competitiveness there at the end."
— Head coach
Griff Aldrich following Tuesday's 71-58 loss at UC Riverside
Series History
• For the third straight game, Longwood will begin a new series, this time against West Coast Conference member Pacific. The teams have never met in Longwood men's basketball's 44 years of existence.
• The game comes as part of Longwood's first trip to California since an 82-81 win against CSU Bakersfield in Bakersfield, Calif., on Jan. 9, 2010. The Lancers also faced Southern Cal. in Los Angeles on Dec. 19, 2006, falling 83-53.
• Longwood is 0-3 all-time against current members of the West Coast Conference, having fallen to BYU, Gonzaga and San Francisco. Longwood's last matchup against a WCC foe was against Gonzaga, a 92-60 loss on Feb. 27, 2012.
#GoWood
