Longwood basketball is officially the second bid into the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Coming in as the fifth seed, the Longwood Lancers took down fourth-seeded Winthrop, one-seeded High Point and two-seeded UNC Asheville to win the Big South Conference Tournament.
Overall, the Lancers finished the season with a 21-13 record, including a 6-10 record within Big South. Currently on a four-game winning streak, here is everything that you need to know about Longwood basketball heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Everything That You Need to Know About Longwood Basketball
Longwood Excels Inside the Three-Point Line, Struggles Outside
Currently ranked as the 157th-best team in the country, according to KenPom, the Longwood Lancers thrive inside of the three-point line. The Lancers score just north of 42 points per game (PPG) in two-point range this season, as they hit about 50% of those shots. On the defensive side of the ball, the Lancers are stingy inside the arc, as they hold opponents to just north of 16 two-point makes this season. That number ranks 48th in the country. A big reason for both of those successes is do-it-all senior guard Walyn Napper. The six-foot guard scores 14.7 PPG, making six shots a game inside the arc. In fact, Napper shoots just north of 50% from two-point range. Napper also plays physical and fast defense, collecting just short of two steals per game.
While the two-point scoring works for the Lancers, they struggle on both offense and defense from outside of the arc. Longwood shoots just 33.9% from the three-point line this season, which ranks 193rd in the country. With this being a weakness of their team, Longwood tends to stay away from the three-point ball as much as possible, with one player (Jonathan Massie) taking more than three three-point shots per game. As for their perimeter defense, Longwood allows teams to shoot 34.6% from the three-point line. That means in almost every game this season, the Lancers have been outshot from the three-point line.
Consistent Scoring is Hard to Come By for Longwood Basketball
I talked before about how a lot of Longwood’s success comes from Napper. His scoring is really the only consistent scoring for the Lacers though. The next two highest scorers on the Lancers come in the form of sophomore guard Jonathan Massie and senior forward Michael Christmas. Massie scores 11.4 PPG on 36.3% shooting from the field and 32.7% shooting from the three-point line. With Napper standing at just six feet, it seems likely that he will struggle when it comes to seeing double teams in the tournament. If that occurs, Massie will have to step up to make some big shots, but as shown this season, it seems very unlikely that he will be able to carry the load when needed.
Christmas seems fitter for the role to be the second scorer on the team, but his style is more of a catch-and-shoot player, rather than a create-your-own-shot player. Christmas averages 11.3 PPG on 44.2% shooting from the field and 40.7% from the three-point line. While that 40.7% looks good, it comes on only 2.8 attempts per game.
Overall, the Lancers have had great games and very poor games. This season, they scored 80 or more points 15 times this season. They have also scored under 70 points 12 times this season. That inconsistency has hampered Longwood’s opportunities, especially in the conference this season, as proved by their fifth overall seed in the Big South Tournament.
Longwood Basketball Likely to Receive 16 Seed in NCAA Tournament
As alluded to before, the Lancers lack a real difference-maker on their team. While that has led to complications over their season, they did go on a run and win the Big South Tournament. With the team being a fifth seed in the conference tournament, I can’t imagine that Longwood will see anything better than a 16-seed. In fact, at this point, it is likely that they will be a part of the 16-seed play-in game for the tournament.
Now, given that they beat High Point and UNC Asheville, it would be foolish to say that Longwood has no shot in the play-in game. If they do win the play-in game, they probably get matched up with a Houston or UConn. That is when the Lancers’ postseason run will end. According to the NET rankings, the Lancers are the 172nd-best team in the country. On top of that, the NET rankings show that they have six Quad 4 losses. The Lancers have not played any team this year that is even close to the quality of Houston or UConn, so it is safe to say that when filling out your bracket, you will not have to worry about them upsetting the one-seed.
