Ending last season with only six players available, men’s basketball head coach Jayson Gee assembled the largest roster in program history with 17 players, finally adding the depth in their lineup he has longed for.
Longwood’s injury-plagued 2016-17 season ended with a 6-24 record, finishing second to last in the Big South. In the off-season, Gee said he worked with his coaching staff to recruit eight talented players to prevent the team from repeating last season's disaster.
“Anytime something really hurts you and changes the course of the season, you don’t want to get hurt by the same thing twice, so we made a commitment as a staff that we were going to upgrade our roster and add to the quantity of it and we were able to do both,” he said.
This years’ roster consists of nine returning players and eight newcomers, 12 of which have previous college basketball experience.
Gee, generally known as a defensive-minded coach, plans on conducting what he dubbed a “changing” defensive team to make full use of his players’ talents.
“Despite the fact that I personally still stress defense, I really tried to create a system that was more conducive to the personnel,” he said. “In the first seven minutes, you might see us play three different defenses, and I’ve never done that before. We’re trying to maximize the gifts of our players versus maximizing what I want.”
The five-year head coach continues to stress the importance of defense, while incorporating new strategies to better fit his personnel and team. Players such as redshirt senior and Mount St. Mary’s transfer B.K. Ashe provide explosiveness on offense, bolstering their offensive-minded game plan.
Though Gee has coached a few notable names in All-Big South selections Lotanna Nwogbo and Khris Lane over the past few years, he said this season's roster runs deep.
“I’ve always had some home-run hitters, but I’ve never had this quality of depth," said Gee. "The guy that sits right with, beside, or behind him, is really just as good.”
His roster leaves room to switch players into different positions, seen with redshirt junior Isaiah Walton last year, who ran point guard.
Ashe and Walton will start at point guard and wing guard, respectively, alongside redshirt senior guard Charles Glover, junior forward Chris Shields and redshirt junior forward Damarion Geter on Saturday.
The Lancers tip-off their 2017-18 season on Saturday at home against mid-major powerhouse Stephen F. Austin, who beat them last season 66-60. This is the start of a three-game home stand to begin the season for the Lancers, who host Columbia and Saint Francis (Pa.) next week.
