Longwood University Athletics

Game 30: Longwood (12-17, 7-9 Big South) vs. High Point (9-19, 6-9 Big South)
Date	Saturday, February 22, 2020
Time	7 p.m.
Location	Farmville, Va. (Willett Hall)
Game Notes	Longwood (PDF) | High Point | Big South
Statistics	Longwood (HTML) | High Point (PDF) | Big South (HTML)
Live Stats	Longwood Live Stats
Radio	WVHL 92.9 FM Kickin' Country
Video/TV	ESPN+
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodMBB

The Opening Tip
•    In the final home game of the regular season, Longwood hosts High Point Saturday at 7 p.m. 
•    The Lancers enter the contest winners of six of their past nine games and in a tie for fifth place in the Big South standings. 
•    Prior to the game, Longwood will honor its senior class of Sean Flood, Shabooty Phillips, JaShaun Smith and Jaylon Wilson. Smith is in his fourth year with the program, while Flood, Phillips and Wilson are all in year two after joining Longwood as members of head coach Griff Aldrich's first recruiting class in 2018.
•    Also during Saturday's game, Longwood will also honor the legacy of former Lancer All-American, 17-year NBA veteran, and the namesake of Willett Hall's home court Jerome Kersey '84 for "Jerome Kersey Game Day."
•    Longwood forward Leslie Nkereuwem was named Big South Freshman of the Week Monday, the first such award of his young career.

Last Time Out
•    Led by the fifth career double-double from guard Shabooty Phillips and a suffocating defensive effort, re-energized Longwood pulled away early and cruised to a 68-58 road win over USC Upstate.
•    It was a table-turning win for the Lancers, who avenged the 73-56 defeat the Spartans dealt them on their own court on Jan. 4, just two games into the Big South slate. 
•    The Lancers led from their opening possession, leveraged a 41-30 rebounding advantage, and shut down a USC Upstate team that entered the game winners of four of its past seven games. 
•    The win came on the strength of Phillips' 13-point, 10-rebound double-double, as well as matching 13-point efforts from Juan Munoz and JaShaun Smith. Freshman forward Leslie Nkereuwem also neared a double-double of his own with 10 points and eight rebounds, with three of those boards coming on the offensive glass.

By The Numbers
•    Now 6-3 in their past nine games, the Lancers are among the hottest teams in the Big South. Only Radford and Winthrop — tied for first in the conference standings — have more wins in the past nine games with matching 8-1 records during that span.
•    Longwood is currently tied for fifth place in the Big South standings, which marks the program's highest conference foothold in February since joining the conference in 2012-13. Longwood has already set a program record for Big South wins and is guaranteed the program's Big South winning percentage record as well.
•    Key to Longwood's turnaround since Jan. 25 has been the play of senior guard Shabooty Phillips, who is averaging 10.1 points and 3.6 assists during that span. Phillips also boasts a 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio in those nine games compared to a 0.83 ratio clip in the 20 games prior.
•    Since conference play began, Longwood has been among the Big South's top defensive teams, leading the league with 120 steals and ranking among the top three in scoring defense (69.6 oppg.) and field goal percentage defense (.438). 
•    Longwood is 6-1 this season when shooting at least 40.0 percent from three-point range. The lone loss in those games came on Feb. 13 at UNC Asheville when the Bulldogs survived a .417 (10-of-24) clip to hand Longwood a 73-71 defeat.
•    Freshmen Heru Bligen and Leslie Nkereuwem have combined to average 12.1 points per game over the past six games.
•    Longwood has held High Point to 62 points or fewer in all three meetings since Tubby Smith took over the Panthers program. The Lancers have won all three of those games and enter Saturday's game on a four-game win streak in the series.
•    Senior JaShaun Smith needs one more block to become the seventh player in school history to record 90 blocks in a career.

Quotable
"He'll be a loved Lancer for years to come, but I also think he's starting to shape the identity of this program. He's a guy who comes out, plays hard, gives what he has to the team whether his shot's going in or not."
— Longwood head coach on senior point guard Shabooty Phillips

Series History
•    Longwood and High Point meet for the second time this season and the 36th time in series history Saturday in Willett Hall. 
•    High Point leads the all-time series 23-12 and holds an 11-5 advantage since Longwood joined the Big South in 2012-13.
•    Longwood has won four straight games over the Panthers dating back to the 2018 Big South Championship first-round upset in High Point, N.C.
•    Longwood is 5-3 in the series since the 2016-17 season.
•    High Point is 5-1 against Longwood in Willett Hall since Longwood joined the Big South.

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