The photo above was taken at the Big South Tournament semifinal game in 2024, where Longwood bested High Point by one point in overtime.
It has all the elements of a great rivalry: a narrow victory for one team, a crushing defeat for the other. For one team, the desire for revenge; for the other, the drive to prove their epic win was no fluke.
The two teams are your Longwood Lancers—reigning Big South Champions—and High Point, the 2024-25 preseason Big South favorites. Both will have something to prove when they meet again at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 in the Joan Perry Brock Center. It will be the first time they’ve squared off since Longwood pulled the season rug out from under High Point with an 80-79 overtime victory in the Big South Championship semifinal game last year and went on to win the championship and an NCAA tournament berth.
It’s the stuff that great basketball is made of—and this is your heads-up that you can watch all the drama unfold either from the comfort of home on national television (ESPNU/streaming on ESPN+) or as part of Lancer Nation in the Joan Perry Brock Center in Farmville.
Maybe a road trip is in order, especially if you haven’t experienced a game in Longwood’s new arena? Tickets are available online here.
This will be Longwood’s 10th appearance on ESPNU, all under head coach Griff Aldrich over the past five seasons. The team is off to a solid start this season with 13 wins, including three conference victories, as of this writing.
Hope to see you in the JPB on Jan. 16. Go Wood!
—Sabrina Brown