The Opening Tip
•   After a brief return home to face Big South foe USC Upstate this past Saturday, Longwood hits the road again to take on Charleston Southern Wednesday in Charleston, S.C. The game continues a road-heavy mid-season gauntlet in which the Lancers have played nine of 11 games away from home, Wednesday's contest included.
•   Longwood is among the top defensive teams in the Big South, holding foes to 70.5 points per game. Only one of Longwood's 15 opponents have reached 80 points in regulation.
•   The Lancers have allowed only five 20-point scorers in 15 games this season.
•   Longwood freshman
Leslie Nkereuwem and Charleston Southern freshmen Travis Anderson and Terence Porter Jr. played high school basketball just 12 miles apart outside of Atlanta, Ga. Nkereuwem was the Georgia Region 6-AAAAAAA Player of the Year at Discovery High School, while Anderson and Porter played for Grayson High.
Last Time Out
•   Led by a 21-point effort from sophomore center Nevin Zink, USC Upstate took control in the paint and dispatched Longwood 73-56 Saturday afternoon in Willett Hall.
•   Zink was nearly perfect from the field, finishing 5-of-6 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the free throw line to power the Spartans to their fifth win in the past six games. All five of his field goals came on the inside to spearhead an interior effort that saw USC Upstate score 26 points in the paint and win the rebounding battle 41-27.
•   Zink was one of four double-digit scorers for USC Upstate, which dealt the Lancers only their second home loss of the season.Â
•   That widespread scoring effort was enough to outpace the fourth double-figure scoring game of the season from
Juan Munoz, who led the Lancers with 14 points and a career-high five steals off the bench. He hit three three-pointers, including a four-point play late in the second half.
By The Numbers
•   Longwood has had a 20-point scorer in six of the past seven meetings against Charleston Southern.
•   Longwood has allowed only five 20-point scorers in 15 games this season. The Lancers went their first 11 games without allowing a 20-point scorer.
•   Longwood's bench averages 30.1 points per game and has scored at least 30 points seven times, including 40-plus in two of the past four games.
•   The sophomore trio of
Juan Munoz,
DeShaun Wade and
Christian Wilson is averaging a combined 22.7 points per game, the bulk of which has come off the bench. All three average at least 7.0 points per game, including Wilson whose 8.3 points per game is the third-highest bench scoring average in the Big South.
•   Wilson has scored in double figures six times this season — all from the bench — and trails only senior
Jaylon Wilson's nine double-figure scoring games for the team lead.
•   In his second season on the court after suffering back-to-back season-ending injuries, Munoz has emerged as one of the Big South's top defensive guards with 22 steals. He ranks eighth in the Big South with 1.7 steals per game despite coming off the bench in 12 of his 15 games.
•   Munoz, who was also named to the Dean's List this past fall, has at least one steal in seven consecutive games and is coming off a career-high five swipes his last time out against USC Upstate.
•   The Lancers compiled a team GPA of 3.13 during the fall 2019 semester, which ranks as the program's highest of the Division I era. It is also the fifth consecutive semester the team has raised its GPA from the prior semester under second-year head coach
Griff Aldrich.
•   Of Longwood's 154 assists, 109 have led to three-pointers.
Juan Munoz and
Shabooty Phillips have dished 28 of those three-point dimes apiece.
Quotable
"It's a point of emphasis for us in every single game, in every single talk we have, to be the aggressor."
— Longwood head coach
Griff Aldrich following Saturday's home loss to USC Upstate
Series History
•   Longwood and Charleston Southern renew their Big South rivalry Thursday in Charleston, S.C., meeting for the 15th time in a series the Buccaneers lead 9-5.
•   Charleston Southern is on a six-game win streak against the Lancers following last year's 101-91 shootout in Willett Hall. That game was the highest-scoring contest in series history and saw both teams set season scoring highs.
•   Longwood's last win over Charleston Southern came in the first round of the 2016 Big South Championship, 75-69 in Buies Creek, N.C. That was the Lancers' third straight win over Charleston Southern and the last before the Bucs began their current six-game tear.Â
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