ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop point guard Chandler Vaudrin amassed a triple-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to send the Eagles to a 91-67 win over visiting Longwood in the Big South opener Thursday evening at Winthrop Coliseum.
 
In a showdown between the top two three-point shooting teams in the Big South, the 6-7, 210-pound Vaudrin conducted a lineup full of hot hands and orchestrated a team-wide 16-of-36 shooting performance from beyond the arc to send Winthrop (7-7, 1-0 Big South) to its third straight home victory.
 
With Vaudrin running point, Winthrop guard Hunter Hale and forward Josh Ferguson led the charge from beyond the arc by hitting a combined 9-of-15 treys, helping the Big South's preseason No. 3 Eagles sink double-digit three-pointers for the sixth time this season. Hale and Ferguson scored Winthrop's first 22 points to spark a 25-10 game-opening run that established a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
 
"If we can't play our principles, you're going to get hurt a lot," Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich said. "Secondly, [early in the game] they came down in transition defense, and we close out on Ferguson who we know is a very good shooter, and our hands are down. He raises up and shoots two threes, and the next thing you know you're down 12-4.
 
"To compete when teams like Winthrop and teams at the top of our league are playing well – and I do think Winthrop played really well tonight – you have to number one be the aggressor. We got a clinic on that tonight, on what it looks like to be the aggressor. Really from start to finish."
 
The Eagle win avenged last January's 75-61 Longwood (5-9, 0-1 Big South) upset on Winthrop's home court during Aldrich's first season as head coach of the Lancers. That 2018-19 Lancer victory saw Longwood stymie Winthrop's offense in that 2018-19 meeting, but the Eagles returned the favor in the rematch Thursday by holding Longwood's vaunted perimeter attack to just 5-of-19 shooting from three-point range.
 
Longwood sophomore newcomer Christian Wilson hit three of those three-pointers en route to a career-high 25 points off the bench, but Winthrop negated that effort with four double-digit scorers, including Hale's 29, Ferguson's 17, Vaudrin's 10, and Tennessee transfer D.J. Burns Jr.'s 12. The breakout performance from Wilson – a sophomore transfer from South Plains College – included a 10-of-12 shooting performance from the free throw line and a career-high six made field goals.
 
"That's encouraging," Aldrich said of Wilson. "He's been a lot more aggressive, taking the ball to the basket, scoring around the rim a little bit. That's something we need to be able to do and not just rely on the three. That happened tonight; we didn't shoot the ball well, so you have to find other ways to score."
 
Along with Wilson's 25 points, Longwood senior JaShaun Smith scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while freshman Heru Bligen came off the bench to post career highs of eight points and five rebounds.
 
However, Winthrop's four double-digit scorers were the byproduct of an offense that entered the night leading the Big South in assists per game and offensive rebounds per game and ranked second in the league in both field goal percentage and three-point percentage. The Eagles dished 19 assists on their 30 made field goals and, along with their three-point shooting efficiency, took advantage on the boards to turn 19 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.
 
"It's a long season. It's a long journey," Aldrich said. "We're in the midst of a rough road stretch, and so it'll be good to play at home. We just have to keep getting better. We have to learn from these mistakes. This is a flush game from my perspective, but we have to compete. They had 19 offensive rebounds, and we had 23 turnovers. You're not going to win many games if that's the competiveness that you bring forward. We have to understand that, we have to own it, and we have to fix it. I believe we will, and we're looking forward to getting back out there and competing Saturday."
 
The Lancers will now prepare for a long-awaited return to Willett Hall where they will host USC Upstate this Saturday, Jan. 2, at 3 p.m. That will be only Longwood's second home game since mid-November and give the Lancers the opportunity to add to their 4-1 start on Jerome Kersey Court.
 
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