The Opening Tip
• Longwood is off to its best start since transitioning to the Division I level, with a 14-5 record that includes a 6-0 start to conference play.
• The Lancers are the lone remaining unbeaten team in the Big South, and the six straight conference wins mark a program best.
• Longwood's seven straight wins are tied for the most in the team's Division I history, with the 2008-09 team also winning seven straight as an independent.
• Longwood boasts the league's top scoring outfit and second-best defensive unit by points allowed per game.
• The game against Winthrop marks the fifth game in 10 days for Longwood.
• The Lancers are 11-1 in Willett Hall this season, the most wins at home since the 2008-09 team went 13-2 in Willett Hall.
Last Time Out
• Longwood rallied after halftime to erase a 12-point second half deficit and take down North Carolina A&T 79-71, the fourth time in five games the team has erased a deficit of eight or more to come back and win.
• The Lancers outscored N.C. A&T 23-11 over the final six minutes.
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Leslie Nkereuwem paced Longwood with 24 points, a career mark, while also going 10-12 from the free throw line.
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Justin Hill and
DeShaun Wade played pivotal roles in the second half, combining for 24 of their 28 points in the final 20 minutes. Hill had 15 on the night, and Wade had 13.
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Jordan Perkins hit the go-ahead layup with 4:02 left to give Longwood a 62-61 lead.
• Demetric Horton led N.C. A&T with 15 points, and Collin Smith added 12 while Jeremy Robinson chipped in 11.
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 15.0 assists per game. Point guard
Justin Hill ranks second in the league in assists per game (4.1).
• Longwood has totaled more assists than turnovers in 14 of 19 games this season. The team's four turnovers against N.C. A&T were a season low and the sixth time the team has had less than 10 turnovers in a game.
• The four turnovers were the lowest in a game since Jan. 25, 2011 against Campbell when Longwood had four turnovers.
• The team's 12.3 turnovers per game rank as the second-fewest in the Big South, and the team leads the Big South in turnover margin (+2.6).
• Longwood's bench is contributing 32.0 points per game, with 11.0 of those coming from
Leslie Nkereuwem. Nkereuwem leads the Big South in scoring off the bench.
• The Lancers lead the Big South in scoring offense (78.3 points per game) and rank second in scoring defense (63.8 points allowed per game). Longwood is one of two Big South schools ranked among the league's top five in both categories. Longwood leads the conference in scoring margin with an average of +14.8 points per game.
• Longwood has excelled on its home court under fourth-year head coach
Griff Aldrich, amassing a 37-17 record in Willett Hall during his tenure. That includes an 11-1 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 seven teams have scored more than 65 points  against Longwood. The Lancers have held six teams to 55 points or fewer.
• The Lancers' +8.1 rebounding margin ranks 15th nationally, while their 12.8 offensive rebounds per game are second in the league.
Quotables
"This has been building. It's really fun for me to see. This is what we dreamed of when everything started at Longwood to build a program for the university, for the fans for the students, for the alumni. It's just been really rewarding to have a packed Willett Hall. It absolutely gives us a huge boost. It was just a tremendous college basketball atmosphere."
— Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich about the atmosphere and win vs. NC A&T
Series History
• The two teams played three times last season, with Winthrop taking all three games. The Eagles won the two regular season games on back-to-back days before eliminating Longwood from the Big South tournament in the semifinals.
• Longwood last won in
Griff Aldrich's first season in Farmville, as the Lancers went to Rock Hill and won 75-61.
• Winthrop won the most recent meeting in Willett Hall in a tightly contested game, taking down Longwood 70-68 on Feb. 8, 2020. Longwood's second-half rally came up just short after the team erased an 11-point Winthrop advantage.
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