Longwood University Athletics

Game 23: Longwood (13-9, 3-4 Big South) at USC Upstate (5-17, 0-7 Big South)
Date	Saturday, January 25, 2019
Time	4:30 p.m.
Location	Spartanburg, S.C. (Hodge Center)
Game Notes	Longwood (PDF) | USC Upstate (Not yet available) | Big South
Statistics	Longwood (HTML) | USC Upstate (HTML)
Live Stats	USC Upstate Live Stats
Radio	WVHL 92.9 FM Kickin' Country
Video/TV	ESPN3
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodMBB

The Opening Tip
•    Longwood heads back to the Palmetto State to face Big South newcomer USC Upstate this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. 
•    The game will be a doubleheader with the Longwood women's team, which also faces the Spartans in Spartanburg at 12 p.m. the same day.
•    The road game is Longwood's third straight in South Carolina following a two-game trip to take on Winthrop in Rock Hill and Presbyterian in Clinton. Longwood split that trip, defeating Winthrop 75-61 before falling 71-64 at Presbyterian.
•    Longwood and USC Upstate are both under the leadership of new head coaches. Griff Aldrich has Longwood off to the program's best start of the D-I era, while former Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson is in his first year at USC Upstate.
•    USC Upstate assistant coach Dr. Ron Bradley was an assistant coach on Longwood's staff under former head coach Jayson Gee from 2016-18.

Last Time Out
•    Longwood senior Spencer Franklin spearheaded a physical, gutsy performance, grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds, blocking two shots and scoring six points to help lead Longwood past High Point 55-51 Thursday evening in Willett Hall.
•    Playing without injured veteran big man Damarion Geter, Franklin stepped up in the paint in a physical battle against a High Point team that entered the game winners of four of their past five games under the leadership of NCAA coaching legend Tubby Smith.
•    However, the Panthers ran into Longwood's defensive buzzsaw, shooting just .290 (18-of-62) from the floor, 4-of-22 (.182) from three-point range and missing a chance to tie the game with seven seconds remaining when Jordan Whitehead missed an open layup that kept Longwood's lead at 52-50.
•    Seán Flood and Isaiah Walton combined for 20 points off Longwood's bench.

By The Numbers
•    For the second straight game, Longwood's first-year head coach Griff Aldrich will take on a Big South team led by a fellow newcomer to the league. Aldrich and the Lancers faced High Point and Tubby Smith Thursday and will face USC Upstate and Dave Dickerson Saturday.
•    Junior guard Seán Flood has hit a three-pointer in 1132 consecutive games. Of his 49 made field goals, 37 have come from long range.
•    Flood's past 16 made field goals have all come from three-point range.
•    Longwood's point guard duo of Shabooty Phillips and Sean Flood has combined for 122 assists and just 75 turnovers, good for a 1.63 assist-to-turnover ratio. They are also shooting a combined .376 (85-of-227) from three-point range and have accounted for 40.1 percent of Longwood's triples.
•    Longwood leads the Big South in both opponent scoring average (66.1 oppg.) and opponent field goal percentage (.389).
•    After going 5-3 in November and 5-2 in December, the Lancers are 3-4 in January and need just two more wins to string together three consecutive months over .500 for the first time in the program's 15-year Division I era.
•    With 13 wins this year, Longwood is just four wins shy of tying the program's Division I wins record of 17 set by the 2008-09 Lancers. 
•    Longwood has held six of its past eight opponents under 30.0 percent shooting from three-point range. 
•    Isaiah Walton has scored at least 20 points in eight of his 14 games this season, leading Longwood to a 6-2 record in those outbursts. He has scored in double digits in all but one of those games, including eight straight since his return to the lineup Dec. 21. Walton missed eight straight games with an injury.

Quotable
"For a minute, I thought they forgot the point of the game on offense, to put it in the basket. But they found a way to win. That's actually a big step for any athletic team that is looking to be successful – finding a way to win in challenging circumstances when you're not playing your best."
— Head coach Griff Aldrich following Longwood's 55-51 win over High Point Thursday

Series History
•    Longwood and USC Upstate meet for the sixth time in series history and the first time in Longwood's 15-year Division I era Saturday in Spartanburg, S.C.
•    The Lancers and Spartans met five times during a three-year span from 1990-92, during which USC Upstate won all five matchups. Four of those five wins came by double figures.
•    USC Upstate's coaching staff includes a former Longwood assistant coach in Big South Hall-of-Famer Dr. Ron Bradley, who served on Longwood's staff for two seasons from 2016-18. 

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