By Chris Garvin
Lancer Men’s Basketball Game Against Radford Flexed for Big South ESPNU Wildcard
FARMVILLE Va. – January 11, Longwood men’s basketball and the Joan Perry Brock Center will be in prime time when ESPNU heads to Farmville, Virginia.
ESPNU has picked the Longwood vs. Radford game as its first Big South Wildcard broadcast of the season. The game will move from its originally scheduled date of Wednesday, January 10 to Thursday, January 11 and will tip at 9 p.m. in the Joan Perry Brock Center.
The game puts the Joan Perry Brock Center, the elegant 3,000-seat arena in the heart of Longwood’s campus that opened this fall as the new home of Lancer basketball, in the spotlight as one of the finest mid-major venues in the nation. The JPB debut was sold out in November, and single game tickets are on sale now at www.longwoodlancers.com/tickets.
For Longwood, it will be the second time the program has hosted ESPNU. Amid a raucous sellout crowd, the Lancers beat USC Upstate in Willett Hall in the spring of 2022 amid their run to the Big South regular season and tournament titles.
Three times last year Longwood played on ESPNU, but all three matchups were on the road.
This season, the Lancers (12-2) have posted a 12-game winning streak during non-conference play, which was the longest in the nation at the time it was snapped. The 12-game run also was the team’s longest winning streak in decades.
Longwood’s defense ranks first in the Big South in both points allowed (61.6-12th in the nation) and field goal percentage defense (.393-37th in the nation).
On offense, four players rank in the top 26 in the league in scoring. Walyn Napper (14.4 points per game) leads the way, with Johnathan Massie (12.7 ppg), Michael Christmas (10.9 ppg) and Szymon Zapala (10.6 ppg) all are scoring in double figures.
The Lancers will host a Radford (10-4) team that was picked to finish second in the Big South Preseason poll.
The Big South ESPNU Wildcard series will feature six Thursday broadcasts during conference play this season.
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