LINKS: Longwood Looking to Give Georgetown Another Early Season Test

Led by their sixth man. Lancers had a narrow defeat to ODU after big wins against AU and UMBC

Your Georgetown Hoyas (2-3) host the Longwood Lancers (4-3) at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night at 7pm on FS2. There’s no telling what form of Georgetown will show up on this Tuesday evening game, but we know Longwood has already been in the arena for shootaround on Monday, which means they’re seeing the hoops probably a bit more than Georgetown has (gulp).

Longwood has beaten Virginia University of Lynchburg (80-46), Mid-Atlantic Christian (93-47), as well as American University (82-42) on Nov. 19, and UMBC (82-55) on Nov 20 as part of the Jerom Kersey Classic in Farmville, VA. Beating AU and UMBC—a team that beat Pitt last week 87-77—seems noteworthy.

The Longwood fans also appear to be ready—well, at least one of the multitude of #HorsePower supporters.

Here are the links:

Longwood looking to seize opportunity vs. struggling Georgetown | Field Level Media

Despite the return of backcourt starters Dante Harris (14.2 points per game) and Donald Carey (12.4 points), Georgetown has struggled with ball-handling and playmaking. In losing twice at the Wooden Legacy, the Hoyas had 18 assists on 47 field goals while committing 29 turnovers.

“We have to make passes,” fifth-year coach Patrick Ewing said after a 73-56 loss to San Diego State. “We have to read where the defense is and make the right play.”

The prize of Georgetown’s recruiting class, Aminu Mohammed, averages 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds. Kaiden Rice, a transfer from The Citadel, contributes 13.4 points per game.

With Georgetown seeking cohesion, this is an opportunity for Longwood, which is largely intact from last season. Top scorer Juan Munoz transferred to Hawaii, but he was replaced by Wake Forest transfer Isaiah Wilkins, who is averaging 11.1 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game. Sixth man Leslie Nkereuwem leads the Lancers in scoring (12.9 points per game).

Old Dominion Overcomes Hill’s Heroics in 62-61 Heartbreaker | LongwoodLancers.com

“I was really proud of our effort,” said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. “I thought we had several lulls during the course of the game; ODU made a few runs, and I thought our guys could have collapsed or fallen apart. But I think a real tribute to the guys is they really fight. I haven’t seen them give up, ever – whether it’s Iowa or tonight. I’m really proud of them for that.

“The lesson tonight is, did we compete on every single possession? Did we give everything we had? We talk about trying to win every single possession, and I thought we had some lulls where we needed to be better and had some real mental errors. You’d like to get those back in a game like this” …

For Longwood, [Justin] Hill led the way with 14 points for his third consecutive double-digit scoring game. He helped give Longwood the lead three times during the final 5:45, first by hitting a runner at 5:33 that broke a 49-49 tie, then by finding [Isaiah] Wilkins for a go-ahead three-pointer at 2:40 for a 57-56 lead, and finally with his go-ahead free throws at the nine-second mark.

Nkereuwem’s Breakout Continues with Big South Player of the Week Award | LongwoodLancers.com

Longwood forward Leslie Nkereuwem was named Big South Player of the Week Monday by the conference office.

In three games at the Jerome Kersey Classic, the 6-7, 225-pound forward channeled the tournament’s namesake with a dynamic effort in the frontcourt in which he averaged 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game to lead the Lancers to a 2-1 record. He was nearly automatic near the basket, connecting on 21-of-28 (.750) field goals while grabbing nine of his 14 rebounds on the offensive glass.

A native of Lawrenceville, Ga., Nkereuwem came off the bench and scored in double figures in all three games, going for 15 points in an 82-42 win over American Friday, 12 in an 82-55 win over UMBC Saturday, and 17 in a 64-53 loss to Western Carolina Sunday. All three of those outings featured efficient shooting performances, as he opened the tournament going 7-for-10 from the field against American and followed with a 6-for-7 effort against UMBC and 8-for-11 against Western Carolina.

Longwood Takes National Stage at Georgetown Tuesday | LongwoodLancers.com

Longwood has shot .486 (54-of-111) from the field in the final 10 minutes of games this season, compared to .439 (130-of-296) in the first 30 minutes. Leslie Nkereuwem is shooting 9-of-11 in the final 10 minutes.

• Nkereuwem ranks eighth nationally in field goal percentage a .727 (40-of-55).

• Longwood’s opponents are averaging just 60.3 points per game, which ranks tops in the Big South. Only two teams — Iowa and Old Dominion — have scored more than 55 points against Longwood so far.

• Eight different Lancers have scored in double figures this season, led by Nkereuwem at five such games.

• Longwood is averaging 35.0 points per game from its bench and has gotten at least 18 points from its reserves in every game. Nkereuwem leads all those bench players, and Longwood overall, with a team-high 12.9 points per game.

• Longwood point guards Justin Hill and Jordan Perkins have combined for 52 assists and just 16 turnovers through Longwood’s first seven games and have Longwood among the Big South’s top three in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio.

• Longwood has assisted on 54.2 percent of all made baskets, which is the third-highest clip in the Big South.

Georgetown to Face Longwood on Tuesday | GUHoyas

The Georgetown University men’s basketball team dropped a pair of games (73-56 to San Diego State and 77-74 to Saint Joseph’s) at the Paycom Wooden Legacy Tournament over the holiday weekend. In both games, the Hoyas fell just shy on the comeback bid.

Aminu Mohammed registered his first career 20-point performance, shooting 8-of-12 from the floor to go along with four rebounds against the Aztecs.

Kaiden Rice scored a season-high 25 points in the team’s Friday night thriller against Saint Joseph’s, 19 of which came in the second half. His 19 points in the second half were the most in any half since Jahvon Blair against UConn on March 6, 2021.

Rice sits on top of the BIG EAST leaderboard and ranks 11th in the nation for made 3-pointers per game with 3.8.

Dante Harris racked up a combined 36 points, five steals and nine assists across 69 minutes of action in his two starts in Anaheim. Through five games this season, the sophomore has recorded 2.4 steals per game (T-1st) and 4.4 assists per contest (5th), ranking inside the top five within league competition.