After 21 games (eight in the Big South), Longwood Men’s Basketball is characterized by runs late in the game, high-pressure defense, and players consistently placed on the Big South statistical leaderboards. At the same time, the combination of these attributes have left Longwood with a below .500 (6-15, 2-6) record and a two-game losing streak.
“There's a common saying you are what your record says you are. There’s some asterisks there with injuries and nine new players, but we certainly don't want to offer those as any excuses. So my conclusion would be we are what our record is and we have ten games in the conference left to make it better,” said Head Coach Jayson Gee.
Excluding University of North Carolina-Asheville (9-10, 5-3) and Campbell University (8-14, 2-7), the Lancers have faced each team in the Big South once.
In each game, senior captainguard Quincy Taylor asserts himself on the court. He leads the Big South with a 50.5 (48-of-95) three-point field goal percent and the team in scoring with an average of 16.2 points per game.
Even while injured, key big man and junior center Lotonna Nwogbo continues to lead the team in rebounds with 139 in his 17 games, as well as hold a spot on the Big South rebounding leaderboards.
The team has been without Nwogbo for four games. In this time, the Longwood starting lineup has undergone changes, seeing freshman guard Ryan Badowski and junior guard Leron Fisher on the court instead of Nwogbo and sophomore guard Darrion Allen.
A major factor in lineup decisions and player combinations has been “rebounding,” according to Gee—filling the hole left by Nwogbo.
“You have to try different combinations. We've got a lot of good players on this team that work hard and deserve the opportunity to be put in those positions and we've done that,” said Gee. “We have tried different things, we have tried different lineups, we have tried different offenses. I think the team that continues to try to find the combination is the team that eventually breaks through.”
Badowski is a three-time Big South Freshman of the Week and averages 9.7 points per game. He has made his name through shooting threes and he holds a 51.3 (20-of-39) three-point field goal percent in Big South games, the second highest in the conference.
“Ryan (Badowski) has done a great job as a freshman in making some clutch shots and what he's done lately is making clutch plays. Either an offensive rebound or a drive down to the basket, he's improving daily defensively. (He) wasn't a strong defender coming in, but he's showing some improvement; he’s just that kid that works extremely hard. When you put him in, you just feel that something good is going to happen,” said Gee.
Junior forward Shaquille Johnson, after the move from wing guard to power forward, is expected to “further acclimate” to the position change, according to Gee. Following the move, Johnson scored a career-high 31 points against Liberty University.
“When you go from a guard to a forward, it’s different. I think he (Johnson) has had trouble with that movement. Now, instead of being guarded by a 6'1" player, you're being guarded by a 6'7" player. Instead of you guarding a 6'2" player, you're now guarding a 6'7" player,” said Gee. “That has thrown him off a little bit and rightfully so. But through it all, he had 19 points, seven rebounds in the last game, I think he's showing his talent.”
Five of their first eight conference games have been on the road, all ending in losses. Currently, Longwood is still looking for their first away win of the season.
“I think in college basketball in general, the percentage of winning road games are low. That's one issue,” said Gee. “The second issue would be we're playing against some really good teams in the non-conference as well as the conference. Particularly to start our league season. Then thirdly, we just haven't performed well at the end of games and that could be a number of things.”
With an 0-11 away record, Gee is still “really impressed” with his team and tells them “if you keep knocking on a door, sooner or later that door's going to come down.”
On the other hand, the majority of the team’s wins (5-of-6) occur within the walls of Willet Hall. Gee believes this is thanks to their defensive effort at home.
“The best thing we do and we need to continue to do is our pressure defense. That's what gives us a chance and its performed admirably at home and we've got to do a better job of allowing it to perform on the road. We'll get an opportunity this week when we go against Presbyterian Saturday,” said Gee.
Longwood will face UNC Asheville Wednesday, Jan. 28 at home and Presbyterian College (7-15, 3-6) in South Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 31.
