The Opening Tip
• Longwood and Presbyterian square off in their one and only regular season meeting after playing twice in each of the past two seasons.
• The Lancers sit atop the Big South North Division standings.
• Longwood is one of two unbeaten teams through three games in the Big South. Winthrop is the other at 4-0 in conference play. The 3-0 start for Longwood is their best since the 2016-17 team that also started 3-0 in Big South play.
• Longwood boasts one of the top offenses and defenses in the Big South, boasting the league's top scoring outfit and second-best defensive unit by points allowed per game.
•
Isaiah Wilkins was named the Big South Player of the Week after averaging 18 points, 8.5 rebounds, two assists and three steals per game against Radford and Gardner-Webb to open conference play.
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Last Time Out
• Longwood's second half explosion powered the way past Campbell, as the Lancers shot 73 percent from the floor and only missed six shots in the final 20 minutes.
• Four players hit double digits, with
Jordan Perkins leading the way with 14 points. He added four assists to boot.
•
Isaiah Wilkins,
Justin Hill and
Leslie Nkereuwem each added 12 points apiece as Longwood erased a six-point halftime deficit.
• Hill added six assists, and the four that scored in double digits also had 14 assists.
• The Lancer defense held Campbell to .414 shooting after halftime after a first half that saw the Camels shoot better than 50 percent from the floor.
By The Numbers
• Longwood's offense has been one of the top outfits in the Big South sharing the basketball all season. The Lancers lead the league with 15.8 assists per game. Point guard
Justin Hill ranks in a tie for second in the league in assists per game (4.1).
• Longwood has totaled more assists than turnovers in 12 of 16 games this season. The Lancers' 12.4 turnovers per game rank as the third-fewest in the Big South, and the team leads the Big South in turnover margin (+3.1).
• Longwood's bench is contributing 33.6 points per game, with 11.4 of those coming from
Leslie Nkereuwem. Nkereuwem leads the Big South in scoring off the bench and has shot at least 10 free throws in four of the past seven games.
• The Lancers lead the Big South in scoring offense (79.1 points per game) and rank second in scoring defense (64.0 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 +15.1 points per game.
•
DeShaun Wade has hit a three-pointer in 14 of 16 games this season.
Nate Lliteras has accomplished the feat in 14 of 15.
• Longwood has excelled on its home court under fourth-year head coach
Griff Aldrich, amassing a 36-17 record in Willett Hall during his tenure. That includes a 10-1 mark this season, an 8-5 record in 2020-21, an 8-6 record in 2019-20 and a 10-5 mark in 2018-19.
• Only five teams have scored more than 65 points against Longwood. The Lancers have held five teams to 55 points or fewer.
• The Lancers' +8.6 rebounding margin ranks 11
th nationally, while their 13.7 offensive rebounds per game rank 12
th in the nation.
Quotable
"We got frustrated on the offensive end in the first half, and that led us to being a little clumsy on the defensive end. We cleaned that up in the second half, and our defense led to our offense as opposed to the other way around. That's who you've got to be. We talked about that at halftime. If you turn it over, mess up, you have to go and get the defensive stop. That's what the great teams do."
— Longwood head coach
Griff Aldrich about his team's response after halftime
Series History
• Longwood and Presbyterian meet for the only time this season as the two sides are in separate divisions in the Big South.
• Due to scheduling quirks, five of the past six meetings between these two teams have come in Clinton, South Carolina.
• The two sides split the season series last year on back-to-back days. Longwood won the opener 49-45 at Presbyterian on Jan. 29, 2021 before Presbyterian took the rematch 66-54 one day later on Jan. 30, 2021.
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