The Opening Tip
• After Longwood's first two conference games were postponed due to COVID-19 in opposing programs, the Lancers will travel to Radford for their conference opener.
• Four of Longwood's previous five scheduled games, at St. Francis-Brooklyn, at Maryland Eastern Shore, at Hampton and vs. High Point, were canceled or postponed due to COVID-19 protocols
within other programs.
• Due to the postponements, Longwood has played twice in the past three weeks.
• The Lancers hold an 8-5 record in non-conference play, their best non-conference record since going 10-5 in the 2018-19 season under head coach
Griff Aldrich.
• Longwood is currently the third-highest ranked Big South team in the NCAA NET rankings. At No. 190, the Lancers trail only No. 162 Gardner-Webb and No. 184 UNC Asheville.
Last Time Out
• In their first game in two weeks, the Lancers knocked off some rust and blew past Pfeiffer University 109-69 as all 13 players that played scored.
• The win helped the Lancers move to 8-1 at home in Willett Hall as four players scored in double digits. The team scored more than 100 points for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
•
Isaiah Wilkins poured in 21 points to lead the Lancers, while
Zac Watson chipped in 16, his career high since joining Longwood.
Justin Hill added 15 points, and
DeShaun Wade added 12 more for a Longwood side that shot .605 from the floor.
• Longwood never trailed, racing out to a 25-3 lead in the opening six minutes behind a suffocating defense that has been one of the best units in the Big South.
By The Numbers
• Longwood has two of the Big South's top passers in
Jordan Perkins and
Justin Hill. Perkins holds a 3.4 assist-to-turnover ratio (37/11), which would rank first in the league if he was over the minimum threshold of 3.0 assists per game, while
Justin Hill (1.9, 51/29) sits in fifth. The Lancers are second in the Big South overall with a 1.26 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Longwood has totaled more assists than turnovers in 10 of 13 games this season. The Lancers' 12.6 turnovers per game rank as the fourth-fewest in the Big South, and the team leads the Big South in turnover margin (+3.15).
• Longwood's bench is contributing 35.2 points per game, with 11.4 of those coming from
Leslie Nkereuwem. Nkereuwem leads the Big South in scoring off the bench and would lead in field goal percentage, .654 (53-81), but he is just shy of the minimum threshold of shots made per game.
• The Lancers lead the Big South in scoring offense (80.3 points per game) and rank second in scoring defense (63.5 points allowed per game). Longwood is one of three Big South schools ranked among the league's top five in both categories. Longwood leads the conference in scoring margin with an average of +16.8 points per game.
•
Nate Lliteras and
DeShaun Wade have both hit a three-pointer in 12 of 13 games this season.
• Longwood has excelled on its home court under fourth-year head coach
Griff Aldrich, amassing a 34-17 record in Willett Hall during his tenure. That includes an 8-1 mark this season, an 8-5 record in 2020-21, a 8-6 record in 2019-20 and a 10-5 mark in 2018-19.
• Only Iowa, Georgetown, Abilene Christian and Pfeiffer have scored more than 65 points against Longwood. The Lancers have held five teams to 55 points or fewer.
• The Lancers' +9.8 rebounding margin ranks 11
th nationally, while their 14.4 offensive rebounds per game rank sixth in the nation.
Quotable
"This has been a hard couple of weeks for these guys, expecting to play on the 30th and then not playing, expecting to play on the fifth, a conference game, and you don't have that. There's a lot of uncertainty, which is atypical for what these guys go through. They come to play the games. As much as they love me and practice, they really enjoy the games."
— Longwood head coach
Griff Aldrich following the win over Pfeiffer after the schedule had changed on an almost daily basis since the holidays
Series History
• Longwood and Radford meet for the 35th time, as the pair have battled since the late 1970s as Commonwealth rivals.
• Radford has won the last 10 matchups between the two teams, with Longwood's last win coming in 2016 in a 92-81 win on Feb. 27.
• The two sides played a pair of tight games in 2020-21, with Radford winning the season series on back-to-back days. The Highlanders won the first game 67-66 in a heartbreaker for the Lancers before taking down Longwood 62-53 in the second game of the series a day later.
#HorsePower
