JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - The anticipation for the 2026-27 season continues to build with the announcement of the Big South preseason awards and poll as part of the league's annual media day on Wednesday. Vying for its third conference title in the last six years, Longwood was picked fourth in the preseason Big South poll by vote of the league coaches, while fifth-year wing Alphonzo Billups III and sophomore guard MJ Williams were named to the preseason all-league team. 

 

The Lancers were one of just three programs, along with High Point and Presbyterian, to have multiple preseason All-Big South selections. Both Billups III and Williams were second team selections, and among 10 league players honored.  

 

After finishing tied for fourth place in the Big South standings last season at 8-8, the Lancers rank in the same slot to open the preseason and were just three points shy of third-place Winthrop. Points in the preseason poll are based on a weighted system from the league's head coaches, with first-place votes receiving nine points, followed by eight points for second place, and so on. High Point received seven first-place votes and is the preseason favorite followed by Presbyterian, who garnered two first-place votes. UNC Asheville was fifth followed by Radford, Charleston Southern, USC Upstate, and Gardner-Webb to round out the preseason poll.  

 

In its first season under head coach Ronnie Thomas, Longwood won 16 games in 2025-26. It added to a program-record stretch of 16 or more wins in five-straight seasons. Over that stretch, the Lancers have averaged 20 wins per campaign. 

 

Billups III was a mainstay in the Lancer lineup last season, averaging 8.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He scored in double figures on 10 occasions, but his two best games of the season came in Big South play. Billups III tallied 20 points against UNC Asheville on ESPNU, going 8-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-7 from 3. He netted a career high with 25 points against USC Upstate, hitting 6-of-9 from distance to go with a career-best eight rebounds.  

 

Williams came to Longwood after a standout rookie campaign at Eastern Kentucky. He averaged 10 points, 4.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. Williams ranked sixth in the Atlantic Sun Conference in assists per game and seventh in both steals per game and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.11). On 13 occasions during his freshman season, Williams posted five or more assists in a game and was just one assist shy of a triple double against Wofford in non-conference play. He twice scored a career-high 22 points against Stetson and Lipscomb in A-Sun action.  

 

High Point's Cam'Ron Fletcher was selected as the Big South Preseason Player of the Year. He was joined on the first team by teammates Jason Rivera Torres and CJ Brown along with Presbyterian's Jaylen Peterson and Carl Parrish. High Point's Isaac Garrett, Triston Wilson of Presbyterian, and Winthrop's Spence Sims were part of the second team along with Billups III and Williams.

 

Longwood opens the season with a men's and women's basketball doubleheader at the Joan Perry Brock Center on Monday, Nov. 2. The Lancer women's team opens the day against The Apprentice School at 5 p.m., before the men's program hosts Pfeiffer at 7:30 p.m.  

Catch all the memorable moments at the Joan Perry Brock Center this season with season tickets now on sale at www.longwoodlancers.com/tickets. Single-game tickets go on sale Thursday.