After the men’s basketball team dropped an 82-71 decision to Presbyterian to start their inaugural season in the Big South Conference 0-7, 10th- year head coach Mike Gillian said, “You're either with us or against us right now. You're either going to work and be a part of the ride when we get to it, or you're not. There's no choosing after the fact."
Indeed, there is significant negativity surrounding the Lancers (3-18, 0-7 Big South) after yet another loss that made them the second-worst team in the national RPI ranking, ahead of only winless Grambling State. Gillian elaborated on that comment Tuesday, saying, “It basically means we’re working to achieve something special here. Now we haven’t done that yet, singularly in winning a conference game and we haven’t done it over the course of a season obviously...
“What it really means is we’re working at it, we’re dedicated to it, and we’re positive about it. We know that [the win’s] coming and we need everybody’s help to continue on that path. I know how much people want it too. When it does happen, you have to embrace it and say, ‘Okay, we got it now, let’s take this one and move forward with it.’”
He went on to say that progress is being made, adding, “It’s hard to see because we haven’t won in the league yet ... We’re progressing in a number of areas ... When you’re with the guys every day, understanding what they’re doing and how it’s translating to how we play, you can see it. It’s there.”
A smooth offensive start for LU didn’t last long on Saturday, as Presbyterian led by three at the first media timeout. A Khalid Mutakabbir three- pointer sparked an 8-0 run for the Blue Hose that made it 23- 14 midway through the first half. Longwood didn’t get the deficit under three for the rest of the opening frame, as a Michael Kessens layup made it 39-36 at the intermission.
It seemed that it would be yet another loss for the Lancers when Mutakabbir earned an old-fashioned three-point play to give PC a 12-point lead with 15:37 to go, but over the middle portion of the second, Longwood clawed their way back and had three opportunities to take the lead when down one. However, the Lancers again failed to close, and a 9-0 Blue Hose run between 5:01 and 1:32 all but sealed it.
“What we’re dealing with is, we’re doing enough to put ourselves in position to be successful. Five out of these seven league games have gone right down to the end,” Gillian
explained. “At the end of the game, we’re not doing enough to come out on top. We need to break through there, but we also need to do more in those segments that precede that ... It would be much better to be in a position where you’re up six with four minutes to go instead of tied, or up four instead of down two.
“A lot of what happens earlier in the game affects what happens at the end. In our case, we’ve done a good job of putting ourselves in that position and then we’re maybe affected a little by being somewhat shorthanded, and we’re being affected certainly by the fact that we haven’t come through at the end of a game yet and that’s something [we] have to get good at to perform over and over again,” he said.
“We need to break through in one of those [situations].” Speaking of being shorthanded, freshman guard Nik Brown is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, and has been out since the Radford game on Jan. 16. Redshirt sophomore guard Anthony Taylor has missed significant time since December with what is described as a foot injury and has only recently resumed practicing, according to Gillian.
Next on the schedule for the Lancers is a trip tonight to division opponent High Point (9-10, 4-3 Big South) for a 7 p.m. tipoff. After that, Longwood will be in Boiling Springs, NC on Saturday to play Gardner-Webb (11-10, 3-4 Big South) at 7 p.m..
