The Opening Tip
• Playing in front of fans in Willett Hall for the first time since 2019-20, Longwood makes its home debut Friday against Virginia University of Lynchburg and follows with a Sunday showdown against Mid-Atlantic Christian.
• The weekend's games mark the start of a five-game homestand, which will continue with next weekend's Jerome Kersey Classic multi-team event on Nov. 19-21.
• The Lancers have excelled in Willett Hall under fourth-year head coach
Griff Aldrich, amassing a 26-16 record on their home court over the past three seasons. That includes a 10-5 record in 2018-19, 8-6 in 2019-20 and 8-5 in 2020-21.
• The Lancers were picked to finish second in the Big South North Division in the league's newly-aligned division format.
• Three starters and eight letterwinners return for Longwood from last seasons' squad.
Last Time Out
• Longwood opened the 2021-22 season with a nationally-televised matchup against Big Ten powerhouse Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.
• Iowa leaned on a combined 40 points from twin brothers Keegan and Kris Murray to cruise past Longwood 106-73 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• The Murrays helped the Hawkeyes overcome a 19-point effort from Longwood newcomer
Isaiah Wilkins and a 17-point breakout from junior forward
Leslie Nkereuwem. Wilkins, a senior transfer who played at both Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, led Longwood in both points and rebounds, hitting 7-of-13 field goals and four three-pointers while also grabbing eight rebounds.
• Meanwhile, Nkereuwem was a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the field in his 20 minutes off the bench.
• The Hawkeyes, who ranked sixth nationally in points per game became only the third team to score 100 points against Longwood under Aldrich.
By The Numbers
• Point guards
Justin Hill and
Jordan Perkins combined for 12 assists and just two turnovers in Tuesday's season opener at Iowa. For their college careers, they have a combined assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.78 (617/348).
• Longwood assisted on 17 of 26 field goals against Iowa, 12 of which were from Hill and Perkins.
• Virginia Tech/Wake Forest transfer
Isaiah Wilkins was Longwood's leading scorer in the season opener against Iowa, scoring 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. His 19 points were the most by a Longwood newcomers in his debut since then-freshman Ryan Badowski's 21 in the 2014-15 season-opening win against Averett.
• Longwood returns 60.6 percent of its scoring from last season's Big South semifinal team. Three of the Lancers' top four scorers return, including senior
DeShaun Wade (11.2 PPG),
Justin Hill (11.0) and
Leslie Nkereuwem (8.2). Longwood's biggest scoring loss is All-Big South point guard
Juan Munoz, who averaged 13.0 points per game and led the team with 73 made three-pointers.
• Only four Lancers have spent more than two seasons in the program: senior
DeShaun Wade, junior
Leslie Nkereuwem and redshirt sophomores
Nate Lliteras and
Cameron O'Conner.
• Half of Longwood's 2021-22 roster is made up of newcomers, including five veteran transfers:
Michael Christmas (James Madison),
DA Houston (College of Charleston),
Prosper Obidiebube (Chattanooga),
Jordan Perkins (N.C. Central) and
Isaiah Wilkins (Virginia Tech/Wake Forest).
•
Leslie Nkereuwem opened his junior season hitting 8-of-9 shots from the field, raising his career field goal percentage to .635 (139-of-219). That would rank as the highest career field goal percentage of Longwood's Division I era if it met the 200-made threshhold.
Quotable
"You saw in the second half the ball started to move around, there was a focus on driving for a teammate, making the extra pass, and we're getting wide-open shots. We were able to score a lot more regularly. It led to a bunch of layups as well, in transition and otherwise."
— Longwood head coach
Griff Aldrich after Tuesday's game at Iowa
Series History
• Longwood's weekend games against Virginia University of Lynchburg and Mid-Atlantic Christian will both be the first meetings in the history of either series.
• The VUL matchup will mark Longwood's second consecutive season scheduling a foe from the NCCAA, though last year's matchup against Regent was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
• Longwood's highest-scoring game in program history was against an NCCAA foe in a 140-57 win against Lancaster Bible College.
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