Virginia Lynchburg vs. Longwood Men’s Basketball
After losing their first game of the season against the University of Iowa, Longwood men’s basketball pulled a 180° against Virginia University of Lynchburg this past Friday, November 12. By the end of the first half Longwood was up ten points and continued to stay ahead of their opponents until the end of the second half. Senior guard C.J. Williams scored the eightieth point in the last minute of the game, cementing Longwood’s first win of the season.
This win cemented another first for fourth-year head coach, Griff Aldrich. Since becoming head coach, this game has been the program’s largest margin of victory. While it doesn’t quite surpass the 90-52 win over Cairn on December 28, 2015 (LongwoodLancers), it does come in at a close second.
Newcome transfer senior guard, Isaiah Wilkins, made a great first impression on the court. Transferring in from Virginia Tech/Wake Forest, Wilkins came in hot scoring 19 points and 10 rebounds for Longwood. While at Wake Forest, he scored 35% of his shots, according to ESPN+.
Closing in behind him is junior forward Leslis Nkereuwem, who scored eight points and ten rebounds. Other standout players were sophomore Nate Lliteras, who scored 12 points in only 13 minutes in the second half, one of which was a dunk.
In Aldrich’s postgame interview, he commented that in the first half, the pace of the game was slower than what he and his team would’ve preferred. “They just tried to slow it down and basically shorten the game and try and shorten the number of possessions which is probably not a bad strategy when you don’t have as much talent,” he commented.
He continued by expressing support for his team, saying they did a great job in handling the situation and not becoming frustrated in the first half. “Couple that with the fact that we weren’t making shots and I thought they could’ve really gotten frustrated.” Aldrich said that the guys stayed resolute despite it being hard to stay in transition.
In the second half of the game, Aldrich said that he felt the team did a better job on defense than in the first half. The team wasn’t being aggressive enough in their switches, which resulted in Wilkins losing his man multiple times.
Aldrich commented on Wilkins’ performance, saying that Isaiah has the ability to be a phenomenal player at Longwood. He did have a few suggestions as to how he could improve, citing he lost his man twice during the game. “That to me was, ‘hey man, you aren’t as focused as you need to be,’ and it isn’t that I’m mad at him, I just want him to reach his potential.”
The Longwood men’s basketball team has its next four consecutive games at home in Willet Hall. They play off against Mid-Atlantic Christian University on Sunday, November 14 at 3 p.m..