The 2013-14 LU men’s basketball schedule was released last week. It features 31 regular season games, including 16 Big South games and 14 games in Willett Hall. The Lancers open with two road games on Nov. 9 at South Carolina and Nov. 12 at Texas Christian.
“I think it adds to your preparation in the preseason, knowing you’re going to open up against high-level opponents,” said first-year Head Coach Jayson Gee in a telephone interview Monday. The team will then return to Virginia for their home opener on Saturday, Nov. 16 against Division II Mars Hill College at 5 p.m. The Division I home opener will be against Brown on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
For Thanksgiving Break, Longwood will head north for the Barclays Center Classic. They visit Penn State on Nov. 24 and St. John’s on Nov. 26 before going to West Long Branch, N.J. for a two-game set against North Carolina A&T, an NCAA Tournament team from last year, on Nov. 29 and either Monmouth or Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 30.
“We play the season in three stages: number one, the preseason, which [is full of] out of-conference games. Season two for us is our conference games, and season three is the conference tournament. Everything you do in the preseason and regular season is designed to prepare you for the postseason,” Gee said.
He added, “I think it’s a tournament-type schedule in that we play Friday at home vs. Brown and Penn State, St. John’s and the weekend at Monmouth … for that purpose, I think it’s a great trial run for us.”
On Dec. 4, the Lancers play WVU Tech at home and host Eastern Kentucky three days later. After a break for finals week, they host Bluefield State on Dec. 14 and Virginia Intermont on Dec. 17.
After that, they begin a four game road swing at Dartmouth (Dec. 21), Ohio (Dec. 30) and Louisiana Tech (Jan. 4) before opening conference play at VMI on Jan. 8.
After visiting the Keydets, they host Campbell on Jan. 11 before playing at High Point on Jan. 15 and Radford on Jan. 18. The Lancers don’t play more than two straight games at home or on the road in January, February and March.
The rematch from Longwood’s 102-101 win over Liberty in Willett Hall last year is on Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. Gee added, “I think the number one thing we have to establish this year is relevancy … The way you do that is you establish some sort of home-court dominance.
When those teams come in to our house, we’ve got to let them know that’s our house. When we go on the road and compete against those teams, they have to know they’re in for a fight.”
After the Liberty game, Longwood travels to Charleston Southern on Jan. 25 before hosting Gardner-Webb on Jan. 29 and UNC Asheville on Feb. 1.
Road games at Presbyterian (Feb. 5) and Coastal Carolina (Feb. 8) precede a home game against Winthrop on Feb. 12.
Three of their final four Big South games are in Farmville – vs. Radford (Feb. 19), vs. High Point (Feb. 22), at Liberty (Feb. 25) and Senior Day against VMI on March 1.
If the Lancers do not get a first-round bye in the conference tournament (which requires finishing first or second in the North Division), they will start tournament play on the university’s 175th birthday on March 5.
The quarterfinal round is on March 7 with the semifinal and final taking place on March 8 and 9, respectively.
