OPENING TIP
• Longwood heads south to wrap up two straight on the road with a trip to Charleston Southern on Saturday afternoon.
• The game marks the beginning of the second half of conference play.
• For the Lancers, it is the second time in conference play that they will take the court less than 48 hours after a previous game.
• Longwood will finish the season with four of its final seven at home.
• Five different players have scored at least 20 points in a game this season for Longwood, with
Elijah Tucker being the most recent addition to the list.
• The Lancers have won the battle on the boards 20 times in 23 games this season and are 13-7 when doing so.
LAST TIME OUT
• High Point got hot and never stopped in an offensive explosion on Thursday night to take down the Lancers 93-76.
• The Panthers hit 11 threes, and Kezza Giffa had a game high 24 points, while shooting 61 percent from the floor.
• For the Lancers,
Elijah Tucker provided a big spark with a career best 22 points on 8-12 shooting and 6-6 shooting from the foul line.
• High Point led by 19 at the break, but the Lancers bulldozed back into the game behind Tucker,
Walyn Napper and
Johnathan Massie's repeated runs to the rim. Napper had 14 points and 8 assists, and Massie had 12 points.
• Longwood trimmed the lead to 72-62 and had opportunities to get the game within single digits, but the ball refused to go in.
• Giffa hit a big three as the shot clock was expiring to ice the game with 1:40 left.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Longwood will play its 12th road game of the season on Saturday afternoon.
• The Lancers will have played an even number of home and road games following the contest, with 12 of each.
• Longwood has hammered the boards, winning the rebounding battle 20 times in 23 games and going 13-7 in those contests.
• The Lancers are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the nation, averaging 14.2 offensive boards per game, the top mark in the Big South and eighth best number in the nation.
• Seven players are averaging at least one offensive board per game, with three of those players averaging two per game.
• Longwood has a 37.5 percent offensive rebounding rate, the 10th best mark in the country per Kenpom.
• The team has grabbed at least 20 offensive boards in a game four times this season.
• That leads to 12.5 second chance points per game, with the number jumping to 14.5 second chance points per game in Big South play.
• The Lancers have aggressively attacked the paint, averaging 40 points per game there this season.
• Longwood has outscored its opponent in the paint in all but four games this season. The team has had better than 40 points in the paint 11 times this season, and it has surpassed 50 three times.
• Four players average double figures in scoring.
• Seven different players have led, or tied for the lead, in scoring in a game this season.
• Ten players have scored in double figures in at least one game.
• Five players have scored at least 20 points in game:
Johnathan Massie (3 times),
Walyn Napper (2),
Szymon Zapala (2),
Michael Christmas (1) and
Elijah Tucker (1).
QUOTABLE:
"One thing that I shared with the team is, this is a journey for us. Obviously you never want to lose. But as I told them, the thing that I'm really focused on is, are we playing well. I thought in the second half, we played well. I'm not looking for moral victories. What I'm looking for is, are we playing well so that this team can mature and learn what is required for us to compete against the top teams in the Big South. I think we got another data point, but we get an opportunity on Saturday to go out and see if we will compete like we did in the second half."
—Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich after High Point
SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Record vs. CSU 12-10
Under Coach Aldrich 7-2
Current Streak W 1
First Meeting L 73-67 12/22/2006
Last Meeting W 77-56 1/6/2024
• The two sides split the season series in 2022-23, but Longwood won the opening game between the teams this season.
• The Lancer defense led the way to a 77-56 win, holding Charleston Southern to .306 shooting from the floor.
•
Michael Christmas led the team with 15 points, and
DA Houston and
Szymon Zapala added 13 points apiece while
Walyn Napper had 12.
#GoWood #HorsePower
