OPENING TIP
• Longwood comes out of its bye week and travels to Presbyterian for the first of its final five games of the regular season.
• The Lancers topped Winthrop by scoring 84 points, their conference high, prior to the bye week.
• With the win, Longwood has now won 11 home games this season, the third straight year the Lancers have won 11 or more home games.
• Four of Longwood's last five road games have been decided by two possessions or less.
• The first time the two teams played, Longwood won 80-70 in Farmville behind 17 points apiece from
Walyn Napper and
Szymon Zapala.
• The Lancers have won the battle on the boards 23 times in 26 games this season and are 14-9 when doing so.
•
Johnathan Massie was named the Big South Player of the Week following his 31 point outburst against Winthrop.
LAST TIME OUT
•
Johnathan Massie and
Michael Christmas erupted, and Longwood men's basketball took down Winthrop 84-74 behind their combined 56 points.
• Massie poured in a career best 31 while going 8-9 from the floor and 12-13 from the foul line, and he hit a halfcourt shot to end the first half.
• Christmas chipped in with 25 points, a career high, while tying a career best with five made threes. He added nine rebounds.
• Winthrop shot 42 free throws in a choppy game, but Longwood countered with 10 threes as a team, tying their season high, while also going 20-28 from the free throw line.
• The Lancers led for the majority of the contest after the two sides traded the lead early on.
• Massie canned a halfcourt heave to end the first 20 minutes for a 42-28 lead heading into halftime.
• Winthrop closed the gap to five late, but the Lancers held off the late charge.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Longwood will play its 13th road game of the season on Saturday.
• The Lancers are 4-8 on the road, with six of their 12 games decided by two possessions (or overtime) or less.
• The team has won at least four true road games in all six seasons under Aldrich after only achieving the feat one time in the prior two decades.
• Longwood has won the turnover battle 13 times this season and is 10-3 when winning the TO battle.
• The Lancer defense leads the Big South with 13.9 turnovers forced per game.
• The team has forced at least 15 turnovers nine times this year.
• Longwood is a perfect 6-0 this season when making more threes than its opponent.
• The team has hit at least 10 threes in a game two times this year.
• Longwood has also won the battle on the boards 23 times in 26 games and has gone 14-9 when doing so.
• Longwood has outrebounded opponents by 10.2 boards per game, the top mark in the Big South and fifth-best margin in the nation.
• The Lancers do so by winning on the offensive glass. Longwood has grabbed at least 20 offensive rebounds in a game five times.
• The team averages 14.3 offensive boards per game, the eighth-best mark in the nation and top number in the Big South.
• Longwood averages 15.1 second chance points per game.
• The team has scored at least 20 seconds chance points in a game seven times this year.
• Longwood averages 39 points in the paint per game this season.
QUOTABLES:
"This was a big win for us. I've been so proud of our guys. Their approach has been phenomenal. We talk about it a lot. It's easy to be a champion and have a great attitude and compete when everything's going your way. It's hard to do that when things aren't going your way. And that's the true test of a champion and the true test of character. I think our guys have done that. And because they've done that, they've put themselves in a position to get better and be playing well."
—Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich after beating Winthrop
SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Record vs. PC 9-11
Under Coach Aldrich 6-3
Current Streak W 4
First Meeting L 82-71 1/26/2013
Last Meeting W 80-70 1/20/2024
• Longwood won the first meeting between the two teams, 80-70, in Farmville.
•
Walyn Napper had 17 points, and
Szymon Zapala had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Lancers.
•
Michael Christmas added 12 points.
• Four players scored in double figures for Presbyterian in the first meeting, with Samage Teel scoring a game high 23.
#GoWood #HorsePower
