2022-23 Winthrop Men’s Basketball Season – GAME #24 (BIG SOUTH GAME #11)
vs. Longwood Lancers
Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 7:00 pm EST
Winthrop Coliseum, Rock Hill, SC
WU (5-5 Big South record; 10-13 overall record; NET/KPI/SOR/BPI/POM/SAG Rankings: 261/257/264/256/255/239)
LW (7-3 Big South record; 15-8 overall record; NET/KPI/SOR/BPI/POM/SAG Rankings: 167/215/168/160/165/192)
Longwood’s Profile
Head Coach: Griff Aldrich (5th season as head coach at LW)
Possible Starters:
G Walyn Napper, jr (6-1, 185) – 9.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.6 spg, 44.8 FG%, 23.1 3PT% (9 made threes), 50.9 FT% – 29.2 min/game
G DeShaun Wade, sr (6-2, 200) – 10.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, 37.3 FG%, 37.8 3PT% (42 made threes), 81.0 FT% – 30.7 min/game
G Isaiah Wilkins, sr (6-4, 220) – 12.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.2 spg, 45.8 FG%, 36.2 3PT% (34 made threes), 81.3 FT% – 26.1 min/game
F Jesper Granlund, jr (6-6, 210) – 7.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 43.5 FG%, 36.2 3PT% (25 made threes), 69.0 FT% – 24.5 min/game
F Zac Watson, sr (6-7, 225) – 8.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 61.6 FG%, 0 made threes, 77.2 FT% – 21.6 min/game
Key players off the bench:
G DA Houston, jr (6-1, 212) – 6.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, 43.5 FG%, 27.3 3PT% (9 made threes), 69.7 FT% – 21.1 min/game
F Michael Christmas, sr (6-6, 225) – 7.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 45.1 FG%, 27.3 3PT% (9 made threes), 79.6 FT% – 17.1 min/game
F Leslie Nkereuwem, sr (6-7, 225) – 8.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 63.0 FG%, 0 made threes, 54.1 FT% – 16.2 min/game
G Nate Lliteras, jr (6-7, 210) – 6.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 40.2 FG%, 35.9 3PT% (28 made threes), 83.3 FT% – 15.9 min/game
G Jaylani Darden, so (6-5, 185) – 2.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 38.2 FG%, 47.6 3PT% (10 made threes), 64.3 FT% – 10.7 min/game
With eight conference games remaining, WU sits in 5th place, and will face the four teams ahead of them in the league race in their next five games. The first of these massive matchups is Wednesday night at home as the Eagles host Longwood. WU has dropped three straight to the Lancers, but none of the previous three were at the Winthrop Coliseum.
Longwood beat the Eagles in early January, but since that time, the Lancers have gone 3-3, and have dropped two games in a row. Two of those losses are not surprising, as they fell on the road to Asheville and Radford. But on Saturday, Longwood lost by 12 at home to Charleston Southern. So is Longwood a bit on the ropes? Can Winthrop keep them reeling? Or are the Lancers due for a bounce-back?
Needless to say, Winthrop should be very eager to avenge the three losses that the Lancers have racked up against the Eagles in the last two seasons. Those games all had a different flow, but the end result saw WU on the losing end. And while there are a few things that can be pointed to that explains the losses, the easiest one is that Eagles have not been able to get stops against the Lancers. In those three games, Longwood has been at or above 1.2 points/possession in each contest. In the last four seasons, WU has only allowed a conference foe to score 1.2 points/possession four times, and three of those four are these losses to Longwood. To stop this skid, WU’s defense is going to have to figure out ways to slow down the Longwood offense.
Winthrop has won two in a row and have looked really good on the offensive end. But those two wins were against PC and CSU…two of the weaker defensive units in the conference. The Lancers aren’t the best defensive team in the league, but they are strong on that end of the court, and WU will need to continue to shoot the ball well if they are to have any chance of winning. In the matchup earlier in the season, the Eagles looked great offensively in the first half, but got completely locked down in the second half, turning it over a ton and not hitting any shots. Avoiding scoring droughts will be very important for Winthrop.
The Eagles still have a chance to climb into the upper part of the standings, but it will require piling up some wins down the stretch. A win over Longwood would do a lot for this team’s confidence down the stretch, and I think they’ll be able to do just enough to edge out the Lancers on Wednesday night.
My Prediction: Winthrop 81, Longwood 75
Other Big South games on Feb. 1-2:
Radford (8-2) @ Presbyterian (1-9), 7pm Wednesday
Gardner-Webb (6-4) @ Charleston Southern (4-6), 7pm Wednesday
USC Upstate (4-6) @ Campbell (4-6), 7pm Wednesday
High Point (2-8) @ UNC Asheville (9-1), 7pm Thursday
Blogging the WU 