The Opening Tip
• Longwood had its 11-game winning streak snapped on Saturday which was also the team's first loss in the 2022 calendar year.
• The team's 11 game winning streak marked the fourth time in program history the team had won at least 10 straight games, with the feat last accomplished in the 1993-94 season with a team that won 20 straight.
• The Lancers sit atop the Big South standings, ahead of 10-2 Winthrop and 9-3 Gardner-Webb, with five games to play. In divisional play, the Lancers sit atop the north.
• Longwood last won 18 games in 2000-01, when the team went 23-8 and was ranked as high as 21st in the DII national poll while in the CVAC.
• The Lancers are 13-1 in Willett Hall, tying the program's record for home wins in the Division I era set by the 2008-09 team that went 13-2.
Last Time Out
• North Carolina A&T handed Longwood its first conference loss of the season behind a huge second half from point guard Kameron Langley.
• Langley led all scorers with 17 points, totaling 12 after halftime while also adding five assists and five rebounds and seeming to be everywhere at the right time.
• Langley hit a deep three to give A&T a six-point lead with a few minutes to go that proved to be the dagger.
• The Lancers shook off a slow start and battled back from a 13-point deficit midway through the first half to take the lead early in the second half.
• From that point though, Langley stepped up and willed his way to a win.
•
DeShaun Wade and
Justin Hill combined for 30 points, with Hill posting a team-best 16. Wade added 14 points while going 7-8 at the free throw line.
By The Numbers
• Longwood's offense has been one of the top outfits in the Big South sharing the basketball all season. The Lancers are second in the league with 14.7 assists per game. Point guard
Justin Hill ranks third in the league in assists per game (4.1), and
Jordan Perkins is 11th (3.0)
• Longwood has totaled more assists than turnovers in 16 of 24 games this season. The team has had less than 10 turnovers in a game seven times.
• 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 (+2.5).
• Longwood's bench is contributing 29.3 points per game, with 10.4 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 (77.2 points per game) and rank third in scoring defense (64.9 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 +12.3 points per game.
• Longwood has excelled on its home court under fourth-year head coach
Griff Aldrich, amassing a 39-17 record in Willett Hall during his tenure. That includes an 13-1 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.
• Longwood has only given up 65 points or more 11 times this season. The Lancers have held seven teams to 55 points or fewer.
• The Lancers' +7.0 rebounding margin ranks 20th nationally, while their 12.7 offensive rebounds per game lead the league and are 27th in the nation.
• Longwood's defense is second in the Big South in steals per game (8.0) and has racked up 193 steals on the season.
Quotables
"As I told the guys, losing is not the end of the world. I'm not sure any of us thought we were going to go undefeated in conference. But the way that you lose, the way that we lost today, is unacceptable. Not competing at a high level, not fighting to win. We didn't do that today."
—Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich following the team's first conference loss at North Carolina A&T
Series History
• Longwood topped High Point in back-to-back games last season, with the series taking place in Farmville as part of a COVID-adjusted schedule that saw the two teams meet up on back-to-back days.
• This meeting marks the fourth straight time the two teams will play in Farmville, after Longwood hosted the second half of a home-and-home in the 2019-20 season.
• The two teams will play again just two days following Tuesday's game at High Point. Longwood and High Point have played twice a year for each of the past seven seasons, dating back to the 2015-16 season. In that stretch, Longwood holds an 8-6 edge in matchups.
#HorsePower
