OPENING TIP
•   Longwood wraps up a two-game road trip by traveling down to Spartanburg to take on USC Upstate.
•   The game will be Longwood's eighth road game in 12 contests, as the Lancers faced a road heavy December.
•   The Lancers played the top three teams in the Big South preseason poll in its first four Big South games.
•   Longwood has scored at least 40 points in the paint 10 times this season, and they have scored at least 50 points in the paint three times.
•   The Lancers have grabbed at least 15 offensive rebounds nine times on the season, and the team leads the Big South in offensive rebounds per game.
•   Ten times this season, the Lancers have had four players score in double figures in a game.
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LAST TIME OUT
•   Longwood battled at defending Big South champion UNC Asheville on Saturday, but the Bulldogs nipped the Lancers late 65-61.
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Szymon Zapala,
Walyn Napper and
Michael Christmas all had 13 points apiece for Longwood, with Zapala adding 14 rebounds.
•   However, Trent Stephney scored in double figures for the first time this year for Asheville and was a perfect 3-3 from the floor and 6-6 from the foul line.
•   Longwood erased a nine point UNC Asheville lead with a 22-11 spurt that wrapped around halftime, and
Elijah Tucker threw down a slam for a 42-40 Longwood lead in the second half.
•   From that point on, the two teams went back and forth, with the Lancers eventually building a 61-55 lead off a
Walyn Napper layup late.
•   Asheville closed the game on a 10-0 run to turn the tide, with the Bulldogs going 7-10 from the foul line in the final minutes.
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BY THE NUMBERS
•   Wednesday represents the 10th road game of the season for the Lancers.
•   The Lancers are 3-4 amid their past seven road games, and the team has five road games remaining following Wednesday night.
•   On the season, Longwood is one of three teams in the Big South with four true road wins, along with Presbyterian and Winthrop.
•   The Lancer defense has held opponents to 63.1 points per game, the top mark in the Big South and 15th best mark in the nation.
•   Longwood also leads the Big South in turnovers forced, with the defense forcing 14.6 per game.
•   The Lancers avearge 7.5 steals per game, good for second in the Big South. Two players,
Walyn Napper and
Johnathan Massie, rank in the top 10 in the Big South in steals per game.
•   In addition, the team's field goal percentage defense of .402 is the top mark in the Big South and 49th best in the nation.
•   Nine times this season, Longwood has held its opponent to a shooting percentage below .400.
•   Offensively, Longwood attacks the basket and scores more than 40 points in the paint per game.
•   The team's season high in points in the paint is 60, and the team has outscored its opponent in the paint in every game save two.
•   The Lancers also rebound like crazy, averaging 14 offensive boards per game, good for the best mark in the Big South and 15th in the nation.
•   Longwood has won the battle on the glass 17 times in 19 games and is 12-5 when doing so.
•   Longwood has had 10 games where four players scored in double figures, including three of the past five games. The season high was six players in double figures.
•   Five different players have led Longwood in scoring this season.
Walyn Napper and
Johnathan Massie have each led the team (or tied for the team lead) in scoring six times in a game, and
Michael Christmas and
Szymon Zapala have done it five times.
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QUOTABLE
"We challenged the guys—I was so disappointed in our performance Thursday, it just wasn't Longwood basketball—so we really challenged them to play with great effort, to play with an execution focus, and to be connected. I thought they played with great effort. I thought we were the more aggressive, competitive team tonight, and I thought we definitely had an execution focus out there. I thought we were really connected as a team. I thought the group really tried, I don't know that we executed very well at times, but I thought there was a mindset and approach to try and execute."
—Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich after UNC Asheville
SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Record vs. USC Upstate                       5-10
Under Coach Aldrich                                              5-5
Current Streak                                                          L 1
First Meeting                                    L 77-64 1/13/1990
Last Meeting                                    L 72-67 2/15/2023
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•   The two teams split the season series in 2022-23, with both sides winning on their home floors.
•   In the 72-65 win in Farmville,
Jesper Granlund scored a career best 16 points as one of three Lancers in double figures.
•   In the 72-67 loss in Spartanburg,
Walyn Napper had 11 points and
Michael Christmas added 10.
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#GoWood #HorsePower
