The Opening Tip
• Longwood will play its fifth game against a Big Ten school since beginning the transition to the Division I level in 2004-05. The Lancers previously faced Iowa (Nov. 29, 2014) and Penn State (Nov. 24, 2013) under head coach
Jayson Gee.
• Longwood is 0-4 against the Big Ten, having faced the aforementioned Iowa and Penn State, along with No. 8 Indiana (Nov. 18, 2007) and No. 1 Illinois (Dec. 27, 2004). The Lancers also played Maryland — then a member of the ACC — twice during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
• After opening with six of their first eight games at home, the Lancers are in the midst of a grueling December stretch with five of six games on the road. Among those trips are Wednesday's game at 7-4 Illinois and upcoming treks to undefeated & fifth-ranked Arizona State and 6-2 Grand Canyon.
Last Time Out
• VMI sophomore Keith Smith poured in a career-high 19 points, and the Keydets took control late in the second half to pull away from visiting Longwood 81-70 Saturday at Cameron Hall.
• In a game that was within two points with just over 10 minutes to play, VMI broke the game open with an 18-7 run en route to snapping Longwood's three-game winning streak.
• Guards Smith, Austin Vereen (14 points) and Bubba Parham (11) all scored in double figures, while VMI scored 65 points from outside of the paint.
• VMI's guard contingent outpaced a pair of explosive efforts from Longwood's own backcourt tandem of B.K. Ashe and Isaiah Walton, who combined for 40 of Longwood's 70 points. Ashe finished with 21 points, while Walton – the Big South's No. 3 scorer – finished with 19.
By The Numbers
• Longwood has the Big South's top three-point defense, holding opponents to a conference-low .292 (71-of-243) shooting percentage from beyond the arc. Only Columbia (.410) and Saint Francis (.346) have shot better than 33.3 percent from long range against Longwood this season.
• Junior forward Chris Shields has led Longwood in rebounding in four straight games after doing so just once in the first 49 games of his career. Shields is averaging 10.0 rebounds per game during that four-game stretch with back-to-back double-digit rebound performances entering Wednesday's game against Illinois.
• Longwood's backcourt trio of B.K. Ashe, Charles Glover and Isaiah Walton has combined to score at least 35 points in six of Longwood's nine games this season. Those three combine to average 42.3 points per game, or 58.9 percent of Longwood's total scoring.
• Isaiah Walton is the only player in the Big South ranked among the league's top five in points per game, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
• Over the past five games, the Lancers have committed just 61 giveaways, or 12.2 per game. In the first four games this season, Longwood gave the ball away 78 times, or 19.5 times per game.
• Redshirt junior forward
Damarion Geter is in his fourth year of team captaincy. The Dayton, Ohio, native was elected team captain as a sophomore and has held that post in each of the past four seasons, including the past two in which he has been limited to just three games due to back-to-back season-ending injuries.
• Geter is averaging career highs of 8.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while also shooting career highs of .667 (18-of-27) from the field and .682 (15-of-22) from the free throw line.
#GoWood
