It’s fair to say that Longwood men’s basketball has seen better days. The team is in the midst of an 11-game losing streak, their longest since the 19-game slide that ended the 2004-05 season. The streak dates back to their 82-54 loss on the road to Canisius on Dec. 17. It’s also been over two months since they won against a Division I team, an 86-83 win over Florida A&M in Las Vegas the day after Thanksgiving. Longwood’s two other wins came against Central Penn College and Southern Virginia. Now, many of the losses so far were to teams that next to nobody expected Longwood to beat — teams like Georgetown, VCU, and Creighton. However, some of those losses were plain bad. They put together a great second half against Norfolk State, but it wasn’t enough to make up for a 43-29 first half in the home opener. The story was much the same against Cornell the day after the Florida A&M win. They trailed by four at home against Fairleigh Dickinson at halftime and couldn’t come back, losing 79-71 on New Year’s Eve. Against Coastal Carolina, Longwood led by 2 with 7:25 to play and it was tied as late as 6:16, but they couldn’t finish and lost their first-ever Big South game 80-72. It was tied at halftime for the Campbell game, but another poor second half saw Longwood lose 83-73. Campbell only led by one with 3:48 to go, but Longwood couldn’t close the deal in that one. They were never really in it against Charleston Southern, losing by 13 on ESPN3. Against Radford, some players had to be physically restrained from throwing punches at one point and Longwood lost again, 82-72. The only other complete game the Lancers put together (beside the Florida A&M game) was a week and a half ago against two-time defending Big South champs UNC-Asheville. A Michael Kessens free throw tied it at 65-all with 1:42 to go, and the only difference was three Asheville free throws down the stretch. Any optimism that Longwood fans had at the end of that game faded after the Lancers lost to archrival Liberty last Tuesday, 74-47. I would say that the Lancers showed up with nothing but a dismal offensive effort to show, but they didn’t even show up against the Flames. If the team showed as much heart and passion as the 75+ Lancer Lunatics that made the trip to Lynchburg did, they would have won by over 20. It was flat out embarrassing. To make matters worse, Longwood lost to Presbyterian on Saturday. On paper, it was the most winnable Division I game on the entire schedule. The Blue Hose came in to Willett Hall with an RPI ranking of 346. In other words, they were the second-worst team in the country ahead of winless Grambling. They went back to South Carolina with a win in hand after taking it to the Lancers offensively, as the nation’s worst team when it comes to scoring defense gave up 82 points, 29 of which were a career-high for PC senior Khalid Mutakabbir. Students left for the exits with about a minute to go. They took advantage of turnovers in the second, and pulled it back to 61-60 at 7:05, but a potential shock clock violation by the Blue Hose was ignored late, and a 9-0 run iced it for Presbyterian. One wonders why it took so long for Lucas Woodhouse to earn a starting spot after starting against Marshall in the opener; it’s even more curious as to why Woodhouse played the entire Presbyterian game with several highly capable players sitting on the bench doing nothing. Mark Parker, who is talented in his own right, got zero minutes on Saturday, minutes that could have eventually been a positive deciding factor. Three players (Nik Brown, Anthony Taylor, and Frank Holloway) are out with injuries. That’s not a valid excuse for consistent defensive breakdowns, especially in the lane. In numerous interviews throughout the past several weeks, Coach Mike Gillian has said something to the effect of “Games are won in the last three minutes and we need to find a way to win those last few minutes.” That’s a fair assessment, seeing as five of seven league games to date have found the Lancers with an opportunity to close. The thing is, they haven’t won those last few minutes. I don’t know if it’s because of youth, coaching, or something else, but the bottom line is that Longwood can’t win right now. The season is going down the drain fast and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. They’re probably the second-worst team in the country. Now isn’t the time for the same tired justifications for inexcusable play. It’s time to turn the season around and win. I hope that the coaching staff knows how to do so.
*** This editorial is an opinion stated by the writer and does not represent the views of The Rotunda or Longwood University.
