OPENING TIP
•   Longwood opens conference play with a road trip to Winthrop to take on the Eagles on Wednesday night.
•   The Lancers went 12-3 in non-conference play, their best start through 15 games in four decades.
•   Longwood is playing its sixth road game in its past eight, dating back to the beginning of December.
•   The Lancers have four true road wins this season, one of only 20 schools in the nation with at least four true road wins.
•   Longwood is the only team with a winning road record in the Big South, at 4-3.
•   Six of the nine teams in the Big South finished non-conference play with a winning record, and Longwood is one of three teams with at least 10 wins.
•   Longwood is number 105 in the NCAA NET rankings and 148 in the Kenpom ratings.
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LAST TIME OUT
•   Longwood had four players score in double figures at A-10 preseason favorite Dayton, but the Flyers used a second-half run to down the Lancers 78-69.
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Johnathan Massie had 15 points to lead Longwood, and
Michael Christmas and
Walyn Napper added 12 points apiece while
Elijah Tucker chipped in 11.
•   However, DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with a monster performance with 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. He had three teammates finish in double figures as well.
•   Christmas powered Longwood to an early first half lead, and the Lancers never trailed in the opening 20 minutes.
•   Holmes kept Dayton close, and the Flyers drained timely threes after halftime to take the lead and.
•   Longwood cut a 12-point Dayton lead to five, but Holmes helped fend off the feisty Lancers.
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BY THE NUMBERS
•   Longwood's 12-3 record is the best in program history, and it is the third straight season that the Lancers have won 10 of their first 15 games.
•   The Lancers hold a 32-13 record over their first 15 games in the past three seasons, the best run in four decades since achieving the same mark from 1980-83.
•   In addition, Longwood has four true road wins, the top mark in the Big South, and the Lancers are above .500 on the road.
•   Longwood has finished at .500 or better in true road games in each of the last two seasons.
•   The Lancer defense has been a big part of why, with Longwood only surrendering 62.7 points per game, the 16th best mark nationally and top mark in the Big South.
•   Opposing teams shoot .402 from the floor against the Lancer defense, the second-best number in the Big South and 56th best mark in the nation.
•   Seventeen times, Longwood has held an opponent to fewer than 32 points in a half this year.
•   Longwood also rebounds like crazy, leading the Big South in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage. The Lancers rebound better than 40 percent of their own misses and clean up 78 percent of their opponent's.
•   Their rebounding prowess adds up to a +13.1 rebounding margin, the fifth-best mark in the nation.
•   Longwood grabs 14.3 offensive rebounds per game, 12th best in the nation and first in the Big South.
•   Four players average in double figures in scoring:
Walyn Napper (14.3-7th in the Big South),
Johnathan Massie (12.9-15th Big South),
Michael Christmas (10.9-22nd Big South),
Szymon Zapala (10.5-25th Big South).
•   Napper also paces the team in assists, with 75, which is the second most in the Big South and 22nd in the nation. He is 49th in the country in assists per game (5.0).
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Michael Christmas is 58th nationally in total rebounds (113) and averages 7.5 boards per game.
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QUOTABLE
"First off, I'm really proud of the guys. I thought we really battled against a very talented team that's going to win a lot of games. I was really proud that they competed the way they did. I thought our first half was absolutely some of the best basketball we've played all season. At the end of the day, we've been talking a lot with the guys about execution and needing to execute. There were too many mistakes down the stretch."
—Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich after Dayton
SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Record vs. Winthrop                             6-17
Under Coach Aldrich                                              4-6
Current Streak                                                          L 1
First Meeting                                      L 80-68 1/7/1986
Last Meeting                                      L 76-74 2/1/2023
 •   The two sides split the season series in the 2022-23 season.
•   In the meeting in Farmville,
DA Houston scored a team-best 16 points as part of a big Lancer second half to rally for an 85-71 win.
Walyn Napper added 15 points and seven assists, and
Michael Christmas chipped in 10.
•   Houston led Longwood with 14 points in Rock Hill, but Winthrop won on a buzzer beater.
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#GoWood #HorsePower
