GAME PREVIEW: Men’s Basketball Travels to Longwood for First Big South Road Contest

GAME DETAILS

UNC Asheville (10-5, 1-0) vs. Longwood (12-5, 1-1)
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
7 p.m.
Farmville, Va. || Joan Perry Brock Center
ESPN+
Live Stats
Tickets

CONFERENCE RIVALRY

Wednesday marks the 25th matchup between the Bulldogs and Lancers, with their first matchup dating back to the 1985-86 season.
Asheville holds an 18-7 series lead.
Last season, the two teams split the regular season meetings, with Asheville defeating Longwood 65-61 in Kimmel Arena before falling to Longwood in Farmville 80-75. Asheville fell to Longwood 85-59 in the Big South Conference Championship.
Dating back to 2013, Asheville has an 8-2 home record, an 8-3 road record, and a 16-4 conference record against Longwood.
The Bulldogs are 5-5 in their last 10 matchups against the Lancers.

LAST TIME OUT

Asheville opened Big South Conference play with a thrilling 103-99 home victory against conference preseason favorites High Point.
The Bulldogs' 103 points marks the third time this season that Asheville has surpassed the century mark and the first time since the 2016-17 season that Asheville has surpassed the century mark against a Division I opponent.
The Bulldogs committed just two turnovers against the Panthers while forcing High Point to commit 10. Asheville's two turnovers are a school record for the least amount of turnovers in a game.
Jordan Marsh, Toyaz Solomon, and Josh Banks led the team, with Marsh recording a career-high 29 points, Solomon following with 22 and Banks with 20. Kameron Taylor was the final Bulldog in double figures with 12 points.

MARSH MADNESS

Marsh earned Big South Conference weekly honors for his efforts this past week.
In two games this past week, Marsh averaged 24.5 points, scoring 20 in Asheville's final nonconference contest on Dec. 30 against CIU and 29 against High Point. Against High Point, he also notched career-highs with eight assists, 10 field goals, nine free throws made, 12 free throw attempts, and a block.

BULLDOG LEADERBOARD

Asheville is No. 15 in the nation in scoring offense, as the Bulldogs are averaging 85.9 points per game.
The Bulldogs are No. 1 in the league in eight separate categories:
- Assist/turnover ratio: 1.42
- Assists per game: 15.7
- Blocks per game: 4.0
- Field goal percentage: 47.9%
- Scoring offense: 85.9
- Three-point attempts per game: 24.9
- Three-point percentage defense: 29.4%
- Three-pointers per game: 8.7
Through this past week's games, Asheville checks in at No. 2 in the Big South and No. 128 in the nation in toughest schedule.
As a team, Asheville has shot over 50% from the field in seven different games.
Banks leads the team, averaging 15.8 points a game. He is No. 3 in the league in scoring, No. 2 in 3-point field goal percentage (.402), and No. 1 in 3-pointers per game (2.8).
Marsh is second in scoring, averaging 15.6 points per game. He is No. 4 in the league in scoring, No. 1 in free throw percentage (.870), and No. 4 in assists (4.3) and assist/turnover ration (2.1). He has a team-high 64 assists and 21 steals.
Solomon is averaging 15.2 points per game. He leads the league in field goal percentage (.607), is No. 3 in the league in rebounding (7.8 avg/g), and is No. 4 in blocked shots per game (1.3). He has 19 blocks on the season.
Fletcher Abee is the fourth Bulldog averaging double-figures with 11.2 points a game. Abee leads the league in 3-point field goal percentage (.433) and is tied for Banks in first for 3-point field goals per game (2.8).
Kameron Taylor is averaging 9.1 points a game and is third on the team with 4.3 rebounds a game.
Greg Gantt Jr. is No. 2 in the league in assist/turnover ratio with a 2.4 ratio. The senior forward is averaging 6.0 rebounds a game, 4.3 points per game and is second on the team with 46 assists and 19 steals.

SCOUTING LONGWOOD

Longwood used a 52-point second half to defeat Charleston Southern on Saturday in an 83-78 win. The Lancers' win over CSU was their eighth home victory of the season.
The Lancers have shot 50 percent or better four times at home this season, and they have done so six times on the whole this season.
Longwood leads the Big South in turnover margin (+3.9) and turnovers forced per game (16.2). The Lancers rank 19th in the nation in turnovers forced per game while ranking 29th nationally in turnover margin.
The Lancers rank second in the Big South and 32nd nationally in bench points per game with 31.1.
Six players are averaging at least eight points per game, and the Lancers have scored at least 35 bench points in a game four times.
Colby Garland ranks second in the Big South in assists per game (4.7) and is first in total assists (80). Kyrell Luc ranks 11th with 2.6 assists per game.
Garland's assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.7 ranks 53rd nationally and leads the Big South.

STATISTICAL COMPARISON

2024-25 Season	Asheville	Longwood
Scoring Offense	85.9	78.2
Scoring Defense	74.7	69.2
Scoring Margin	11.3	9
FG Percentage	.479	.459
FG Pct. Defense	.434	.463
3PT Percentage	.350	.298
FT Percentage	.689	.745
Rebounds Per Game	38.3	35.5
Assists Per Game	15.7	13.8
Steals Per Game	7..3	8.1
Blocks Per Game	4.0	2.1

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GAME PREVIEW: Men’s Basketball Travels to Longwood for First Big South Road Contest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Fletcher Abee

Josh Banks

Greg Gantt Jr.

Jordan Marsh

Toyaz Solomon

Kameron Taylor

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

GAME PREVIEW: Men’s Basketball Travels to Longwood for First Big South Road Contest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Fletcher Abee

Josh Banks

Greg Gantt Jr.

Jordan Marsh

Toyaz Solomon

Kameron Taylor

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