Game 18 • Longwood (12-5, 1-1 Big South)  vs. UNC Asheville (10-5, 1-0 Big South)
Date & Time	Wednesday, January 8, 2025 | 7 p.m.
Location	Farmville, Va. (Joan Perry Brock Center)
Game Notes	Longwood | UNC Asheville | Big South
Statistics	Longwood | UNC Asheville | Big South
TV/Stream	ESPN+
Live Stats	Live Stats
Tickets	www.longwoodlancers.com/tickets
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodMBB

THE OPENING TIP
•    Longwood returns to the court to take on UNC Asheville on Wednesday night to wrap up a two-game homestand.
•    It is Central Virginia Christian School day at the Joan Perry Brock Center.
•    The matchup is a rematch of the Big South Championship game from a season ago.
•    This is one of a pair of two-game homestands in conference play for Longwood.
•    The Big South has seven teams tied at 1-1 through two conference games, and the league is as deep as its ever been, ranking 17th out of 31 conferences on Kenpom's advanced analytics.
•    Longwood faces a UNC Asheville side that is coming off of a 103-99 win over preseason favorite High Point in Asheville.
•    Asheville has won back-to-back games, but it had a bye on the first night of conference play.
•    The Lancers have six players averaging at least eight point per game, with Colby Garland leading the team at 11.4 points per game.
                 
LAST TIME OUT
•    Longwood used a 52-point second half to power past Charleston Southern on Saturday night in an 83-78 win.
•    The win was Longwood's eighth home victory of the season.
•    Kyrell Luc erupted with 15 of his 19 points after halftime as Longwood's leading scorer on the night, and he added four assists.
•    Colby Garland, meanwhile, had 11 of his 17 in the first half to help offset a slow start on offense by the Lancers. Elijah Tucker had 13 points as well.
•    Taje' Kelly led CSU with a game high 25 points, and RJ Johnson scored 19 after halftime while Daylen Berry chipped in 18 points.
•    The Lancers trailed 35-31 at the half, but they roared out of the gates early in the second half and flipped the game around.
•    Defense led to offense as the Lancers took a 59-43 lead before fending off a late CSU rally.

BY THE NUMBERS
•    Longwood has won at least eight home games in seven straight seasons, a stretch not seen since the team did so for 11 straight seasons from 1979-80 through 1989-90.
•    This season, the team is 8-1 at home.
•    The Lancers have shot 50 percent or better four times at home this season, and they have done so six times on the whole this season.
•    Against Charleston Southern, Longwood shot better than 50 percent from three, although it didn't seem likely at halftime. Longwood was 7-8 from downtown in the second half after going 0-5 from deep in the opening 20 minutes.
•    It was the second time this season the team has shot 50 percent from three or better, and the .538 shooting percentage from deep was a season-high.
•    The Lancers are ranked No. 190 in the NCAA Net rankings, the third-highest team in the Big South.
•    Longwood leads the Big South in both turnover margin (+3.9) and turnovers forced per game (16.2).
•    The Lancers rank 19th in the nation in turnovers forced per game while ranking 29th nationally in turnover margin.
•    The Lancers rank second in the Big South and 32nd nationally in bench points per game with 31.1.
•    Six players are averaging at least eight points per game, and the Lancers have scored at least 35 bench points in a game four times.
•    Colby Garland ranks second in the Big South in assists per game (4.7) and is first in total assists (80). Kyrell Luc ranks 11th with 2.6 assists per game.
•    Garland's assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.7 ranks 53rd nationally and leads the Big South.
 
QUOTABLE
"It always starts on the defensive end. I thought we played great. We kind of had some slippage in the last, I would say, five minutes of the game. I have to go back and look at how many points they had with about five minutes left, but it felt like they scored on every possession—scored or got fouled—on every possession. It really was a great defensive effort. When we defend, we get rebounds, and then that allows us to play in transition, which is, frankly, one of our strong suits. That's something that we have to try and get better on, is the defensive end."
—Head Coach Griff Aldrich about the team's defensive effort after halftime against Charleston Southern