Longwood men’s basketball has a familiar face in a new place for the 2025-26 home opener. First-year head coach Ronnie Thomas began his head coaching career with a dominant win over Mary Baldwin, where nearly every single player scored in a glass-cleaning and rim-rocking display the Joan Perry Brock Center has come to expect from early season Lancer wins.
Longwood took an early lead that got as big as 15-4, but let it slip midway through the first half. That was the case until Junior forward Fats Billups threw down a tomahawk dunk that seemed to flip the game back into the Lancers’ favor. After his dunk, the Lancers went on a 14-8 run to close out the half. Longwood led 44-34.
The Lancers put together sound basketball to begin the second. Graduate Student Johan Nziemi led the way for the Lancers in the second, as he had 16 points midway through the second half on 6-7 shooting. The Lancers played their best basketball of the day to close the game, putting away the Mary Baldwin Squirrels 92-55, earning Thomas his first career win as head coach. Junior guard Jaylen Benard tied a career high 14 points in the game.
The identity and strategy of this game from Longwood was to get into the paint. 54 of their 92 points came from inside the paint, while they only made two three-pointers on the night. The Lancers also went 28-40 from the free throw line. Longwood dominated the glass in the second half, as they got 30 rebounds after only grabbing 18 in the first. “Crashing the boards, it just shows that we want it more,” said Nziemi. “We want to be the aggressor and we want to dictate to the other team.”
Longwood had 20 turnovers in the game, with most of them coming in the first twenty. “[In the first half] I saw a team that got sped-up a little bit,” Thomas said. “It took until halftime to fully reset to our standard, and once it slowed down we started protecting the basketball better.”
While the Lancers dominated proceedings in the second half, it was clear that the three-point line was not where they were going to control the game. “We only shot nine threes and scored 92 points…we talk a lot about taking what the game gives us and tonight we were able to drive the ball and touch the paint and make decisions in the paint.”
Next up for the Lancers is the Pittsburgh Panthers, their first power-five opposition this season. “The biggest thing is we [need to] just focus on us and take it one step at a time,” Thomas said. “With an opponent like [Pittsburgh], out of the ACC, we have to believe now. We gotta believe now that we can go up there and dictate to them, we can dictate our physicality, our defense and our toughness,” Thomas said.
The Lancers looked like a well-knit group in their opener, as 11 different players scored points. “All the guys love each other,” said Benard. “All the way, one through 15, we’re all gelling. My first year here, when we made March Madness, I would say [our vibe] is even higher when it comes to camaraderie.”
Following their big test at Pitt, Longwood gets James Madison at home on November 12 and then Binghamton for Homecoming and Alumni Weekend on November 15.
