Rock Hill, S.C. – ESPNU has selected the Winthrop at Longwood men's basketball contest as its sixth and final Big South Wildcard broadcast of the 2024-25 season, it was announced today by the Big South Conference office.  The game will move from its current Wednesday, Feb. 26 date to Thursday, Feb. 27 and will tip at 7:00pm inside the Joan Perry Brock Center on the campus of Longwood University in Farmville, Va.
 
It will be the second all-time "Wildcard" meeting between the squads on ESPNU and first since Jan. 14, 2021, which was won by Winthrop, 72-61, inside the Winthrop Coliseum.  Winthrop will be making its 20th all-time Wildcard appearance and first this season, and is 14-5 in such games.  Longwood's appearance will be the program's third in 2024-25, marking the third-straight season the Lancers have been selected three times in a campaign.
 
Winthrop sits in third-place in the Big South standings at 9-5 following last night's 81-77 victory at Presbyterian, while Longwood is 6-7 in conference play after defeating Gardner-Webb last night, 90-77.  Winthrop won the first meeting with Longwood, 95-76, on Jan. 11, and will look to complete the season sweep of the Lancers for the first time since 2020-21.  Paul Jones III led the Eagles with a game-high 24 points and was 6-of-11 from three-point range, and the squad finished with a 56.7 percentage from the field and 14-of-29 from beyond the arc ( =48.3 percent).  Kyrell Luc was Longwood's top scorer in the first matchup with 18 points.
 
Overall this season, Winthrop owns the league's top scoring offense at 84.4 points, while Kelton Talford ranks first in field goal percentage at 64.8, fourth with 16.1 points and third with 7.8 rebounds.  Longwood averages 78.6 points per contest (fourth in the conference) and is first in three-point defense (31.7 percent allowed).  Four Lancers average double-figures in scoring, led by Michael Christmas' 12.3 points.
 
This was the 12th year of the Big South's ESPNU Wildcard series, which again featured six Thursday primetime broadcasts –- Jan. 2 (at High Point 76, Radford 58), Jan. 16 (at Longwood 82, High Point 80), Feb. 6 (at UNC Asheville 78, Gardner-Webb 70), Feb. 13 (at High Point 83, Longwood 72), Feb. 20 (UNC Asheville at Radford - 7:00pm) and Feb. 27 (Winthrop at Longwood - 7:00pm).  A total of 57 games have been played in the series that began in 2013-14, and while the home teams are 37-20, the 57 contests have been decided by an average of 9.54 points, with 32 (56.1 percent) of those being decided by single-digits.
 
Winthrop ESPNU Wildcard History Contests
Winthrop (14-5 overall, 10-1 home, 4-4 road)
Feb. 15, 2024 | at Radford | Won, 85-69
Jan. 18, 2024 | vs. UNC Asheville  |  Lost, 82-77
Feb. 24, 2022 | vs. USC Upstate  | Won, 89-59
Feb. 3, 2022 | vs. North Carolina A&T  |  Won, 64-54
Jan. 13, 2022 | vs. UNC Asheville  |  Won, 86-80 (OT)
Feb. 18, 2021 | at High Point  |  Won, 76-70
Jan. 28, 2021 | vs. UNC Asheville  |  Won, 84-80
Jan. 19, 2021 | at Presbyterian College  |  Won, 72-58
Jan. 14, 2021 | vs. Longwood  |  Won, 72-61
Feb. 13, 2020 | at Gardner-Webb  |  Lost, 74-70
Feb. 6, 2020 | vs. Campbell  |  Won, 62-53
Jan. 24, 2019 | vs. Gardner-Webb  |  Won, 97-88
Jan. 10, 2019 | at Campbell  |  Won, 90-86
Feb. 22, 2018 | at UNC Asheville  |  Lost, 89-75
Jan. 18, 2018 | vs. UNC Asheville  |  Won, 85-58
Feb. 9, 2017 | at UNC Asheville  |  Lost, 104-101 – 2OT
Jan. 19, 2017 | vs. UNC Asheville  |  Won, 76-73
Feb. 25, 2016 | at High Point  |  Lost, 87-75
Jan. 14, 2016 | vs. High Point  |  Won, 86-66