ROCK HILL, SC— After an eight-day break without a game, Winthrop men's basketball will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 11 against Longwood as it looks to bounce back from its first loss since early January.

GAME SNAPSHOT 
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016
Winthrop (16-7, 8-4 BSC) vs. Longwood (8-17, 4-8 BSC)
Game Time: 7 p.m. EST / Site: Rock Hill, SC (Winthrop Coliseum)
Live Video:  Big South Network Television: none  Audio: 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 6:30 p.m. with Dave Friedman-PxP/Ron Mikels-Color)
Live Stats / Live Video / Live Audio





Winthrop Probable Starters
G    1      Bjorn Broman (6.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg)
G    5      Keon Johnson (19.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
F    12     Xavier Cooks (14.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
F    44     Jimmy Gavin (17.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
C    25     Zach Price (5.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg)

GAME PROMOTION "MARDI GRAS NIGHT"
Free beads and Mardi Gras masks will be handed out while supplies last and students will be receive free food upon entering the building.

SERIES HISTORY
This is the second meeting of the season between Winthrop and Longwood as the Eagles came out on top in their visit to Willett Hall, 82-68. This will be the 9^th meeting all-time as the Eagles lead the series 6-2 overall and 5-1 in regular season meetings. Winthrop has won five straight meetings with the last loss on Feb. 9, 2013 at home, 62-56. Winthrop is looking for a regular season sweep of Longwood for the second straight season. Of the five consecutive wins over the Lancers, only one of them came at the Winthrop Coliseum.

THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
Winthrop jumped out to a 48-32 halftime lead and never looked back as Xavier Cooks paced four Eagle players in double-figures. Longwood came out firing behind the arc and jumped out to a 19-9 lead, but the Eagles stormed back by outscoring the Lancers 39-13 the remainder of the half. The Eagles finished the game shooting 53 percent from the floor behind 10 threes and held Longwood to 33 percent shooting.

THE MATCHUP
Winthrop enters the game off its first loss in nearly a month after falling at Liberty on Feb. 2, which snapped a seven-game win streak. Winthrop has had a break of eight days between games and is well rested to try and put together another winning streak. The Eagles remain the league's top scoring offense at 83.0 ppg and lead the league in field goal percentage (.484). Winthrop has scored 80 or more points in 13 games this season and is 12-1 when doing so. In 12 home games this season the Eagles have averaged 89.8 ppg and shot 52 percent from the field and 42 percent from three. In league games at home the Eagles are averaging 83.5 ppg. Winthrop has won 11 of the last 12 home games against league opponents. Longwood has won two straight, including a double-overtime victory at Charleston Southern on Feb. 6. The two straight wins have come by a combined total of three points. The win at CSU was the second league win on the road for the Lancers. Longwood enters the game averaging 71.2 ppg (9^th in the BSC) and allowing 74.6. The Lancers are 1-of-5 teams in the league shooting 70 percent or better from the line as a team (.703). Since falling to Winthrop at home a few weeks ago the Lancers are 2-2 while averaging 78.3 ppg and allowing 83.3.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Xavier Cooks is coming off a career-high 26 points at Liberty and led the Eagles in scoring in the first meeting with 19 points. He's pushed his season average to 14.0 ppg and over the last five games he's averaging 15.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg while shooting 48 percent from the floor. Junior Keon Johnson is second in the Big South in scoring at 19.9 ppg and has gone over 20 points in two of the last three games, including a career-high 36 points in the win over Charleston Southern. Jimmy Gavin scored 16 against Longwood in the first meeting only on seven field goal attempts as he was 4-for-7 from the floor and 6-for-6 at the foul line. He also had five rebounds and five assists. Longwood's Shaquille Johnson didn't play in the first meeting and had nine points, seven rebounds and five steals off the bench in the win at CSU. Johnson is third on the team in scoring at 11.1 ppg. Johnson averaged 9.3 ppg against Winthrop in 2014-15 and Fisher averaged 12.3 ppg while shooting 45 percent from the field, 46 percent from three and 81 percent at the line (13-for-16). Lotanna Nwogbo, who posted 18 points and 12 rebounds in his last visit to Rock Hill, spent the first meeting in foul trouble on his way to seven points and three rebounds. Kanayo Obi-Rapu, who led all scorers in the first meeting with 20 points, is averaging 12.7 ppg and the top three-point threat at 41 percent (54-for-132).

LAST TIME OUT
The Eagles seven-game winning streak came to a halt as Liberty handed them an 88-77 loss behind 11 triples and going 23-for-25 at the foul line. The Eagles were 20-for-27 at the foul line and lost for just the second time this season when hitting 20 or more free throws (10-2). Xavier Cooks and Keon Johnson combined for 49 points, but Liberty had two 20-point scorers as well in Evan Maxwell (20) and John Dawson (20). Liberty led 44-26 at the half and Winthrop did pull within six points with four minutes to play, but couldn't overcome the large deficit. Liberty shot 49 percent from the field and got 28 points from its bench. The loss also ended a nine-game win streak over the Flames.

THE COACHES
Pat Kelsey is in his fourth season at the helm of the Winthrop men's basketball program. He holds a record of 69-50 in four seasons with appearances in the Big South championship game the past two seasons. The Eagles are 36-26 in Big South games under Kelsey. He's currently ranked 15^th nationally for career wins for head coaches 40 years of age and under. During his tenure the team has a couple of the program's notable victories with wins at Clemson and Auburn and has made back-to-back trips to the Big South Conference Tournament Final. Longwood is led by third-year head coach Jayson Gee as he holds a 27-64 record at Longwood and a career record of 187-119.

MILESTONES
Junior Keon Johnson continues to climb the all-time scoring list as he became the 13^th player in the history of the program to reach 1,200 career points. He now has 1,220 and is 13^th all-time, just 25 points away from 12^th place and 33 from 11^th. In his career he's averaging 14.0 ppg and if he were to maintain that average for the remainder of his career (estimation of at least 37 games to play) he would finish with over 1,700 points, which only one player in school history have achieved.  He is the third player to reach 1,000 career points in Pat Kelsey's four years (Keon Moore/A. Smith). Johnson moved into the Top 10 for free throws made and three-pointers made. He's currently made 305 free throws (5th) and is among the top free throw shooters in the history of the program as he's currently shooting .831 in his career, which ranks 5th all-time. He's currently 8th all-time in made threes with 177. Duby Okeke is averaging 2.8 blocks per game, which leads the Big South and ranks in the Top 10 in the nation. In 20 games he's blocked 56 shots and the program record for blocks in a season is 66 by Josh Grant in 2002-03. Okeke moved into 5^th all-time with 102 career blocks and Xavier Cooks has 81 (ranked 10^th all-time). Billy Houston is the all-time leader in career blocks with 139.  Okeke has a career-high 56 blocks this year, which ranks 2nd best for a single-season.