Over the past ten days, Longwood men’s basketball team played six straight away games. Three of the games involved traveling 623 miles away to Ypsilanti, Michigan for the Eastern Michigan University (EMU) Showcase.
Longwood (2-5) came up short at the EMU Showcase against Youngstown State University (4-4) and Eastern Michigan University (7-0)—the showcase host and undefeated champion.
This gave them a final showcase record of 2-2 after a blowout win against Division III Averett University (2-2), 79-53, and an exciting overtime victory over University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNCG) (1-6), 81-79.
Following the UNCG game, the Lancers fell into a four game losing streak, including their most recent game played at the University of Iowa (5-2), over 1000 miles away.
Despite the results, a few Longwood players still managed to have career games.
Junior center Lotanna Nwogbo, consistently put points on the scoreboard and racking up rebounds. Nwogbo scored a career, and team high, of 25 points against George Washington University (3-2).
After being double teamed by Iowa, Nwogbo had his first scoreless game. His efforts this past week also earned him the Big South Player of the Week award for the second week in a row.
Sophomore guard Darrion Allen, showcased his offensive abilities in the games against James Madison University (4-2) and UNCG, scoring at least 20 points each game.
Senior captain, guard, Quincy Taylor–back from three-game suspension—and junior forward/guard Shaquille Johnson, placed points on the scoreboard every game as well as providing assists.
Despite the offensive efforts, the amount of turnovers given to the other team played a major part in the losses.
“We have to limit the turnovers more, and really that's our main problem right now,” Johnson told Longwood Athletic’s official website.
Over the four back-to-back losses, Longwood had 78 turnovers. Nevertheless, the team still feels positive about the upcoming matchups.
“I feel like we're going to turn the corner soon. We made it through this pretty difficult stretch against a lot of really good opponents and we got better. I think we all learned during all these road games that we can play with anybody,” said Johnson to Longwood Athletic’s official website.
The Lancers will play Dartmouth University on Dec. 3 at home in Willet Hall for the first time in nearly three weeks. The last time the two teams played Dartmouth defeated the Lancers, 84-64.
