FARMVILLE, Va. – Thunderous roars from the crowd. Throbbing chants of "defense." The bleachers shaking as a packed student section gets louder and louder.
No wonder Longwood's won 11 straight in Willett Hall and lost just once in 16 games there this season.
The Lancers host rival Radford tonight in their final home contest of the 2021-22 regular season, with a possible first-ever No. 1 seed in the Big South Tournament on the line. You can bet Willett will be rocking again – like it has more and more each week during an unforgettable 2021-22 season.
For the players leading Longwood men's basketball to its best-by-far-ever Division I record, the noise and support in the cozy, 1,900-seat venue in the heart of campus have provided a palpable boost.
"It makes me want to do whatever it takes to win," said junior Leslie Nkereuwem. "I just get excited. It's a different type of energy. I feel, I don't even know how to explain it. It's just excitement rushing throughout my body, and it's just all over the place, and I'm uppity and happy and I want to win. It's just a great time."
"When the crowd gets rowdy and all riled up, it's so hard to hear," he added. "If we're calling a play, we have to call it at least four or five times. Even while we still can't hear, (head coach Griff Aldrich) is on the side raising his arms telling everybody to get louder. Everybody's telling everybody to get louder.
"When you hear that, there's something that clicks in your head: it's winning time."
That's been the theme of the year so far. If Longwood can beat the Highlanders tonight, it won't just mean capping a perfect home record in Big South play. A victory would guarantee Longwood's first ever top-seed in the Big South tournament – and guarantee they'll receive at least a National Invitational Tournament post-season bid. Winning the Big South Tournament would make them an automatic qualifier for its NCAA Tournament.
The unprecedented home-crowd energy this season has done more than help this year's Lancers. It's also strengthened a foundation of support for the future – including the 2023 scheduled opening of the Joan Perry Brock Convocation Center, currently under construction next to Willett. The new venue, which will seat about 3,000, has been carefully designed to maintain the noise and intimate scale that make for a pulsating college basketball atmosphere for Longwood basketball.
This season, a pair of sellouts and repeatedly packed student sections have helped energize a Lancer program that has already completely rewritten the program record book.
"It's been amazing," said sophomore guard Nate Lliteras. "This season's packed games, like the ESPNU game, it's amazing to play for. The crowd, you can really tell they're cheering for us. They're not just there for the TV or anything like that. They're actually there to support us, and it's just so fun to play."
Another tradition that's emerged is the players high-fiving through the student section after recent wins.
"It's just a celebratory time," Nkereuwem said. "Very fun and joyous. And we're not even saying anything. We're just screaming in each other's faces, just cheering. They're screaming and shaking me. I'm screaming and shaking them. It's just a fun time."
On a college campus, the connecting between a winning team and its fans becomes symbiotic, with a feedback loop that feeds energy from one to the other.
"It definitely gets me excited," said senior captain DeShaun Wade. "The brighter the stage for me, the more adrenaline I get and that type of thing, and it just becomes more natural for me. When they can get up into the other teams heads, and I don't have to, I think that makes it a lot easier for me."
"It gives me a rush of energy," Nkereuwem said. "I'm like, 'I've got my brothers' backs, and they've got mine.' But to know that the crowd has your back too, it makes you want to go the extra step to give it your all."
When that happens, the crowd is right there with him.
#HorsePower
