Game 23: Charleston Southern (11-11, 5-5 Big South) at Longwood (8-15, 3-7 Big South)

 

Date	Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020
Time	7 p.m.
Location	Farmville, Va. | Willett Hall
Game Notes	Charleston Southern (PDF)
Season Stats	Charleston Southern (XML) | Longwood (HTML) | Big South
Live Stats	Longwood Live Stats
Live Stream	ESPN+
Social Media	@CSU_Mbball | @CSUGameday | @CSUsports

Charleston Southern makes their final trip to the Commonwealth of Virginia during the regular season as they begin the second-half of Big South play against the Longwood Lancers in Willett Hall - a building the Bucs are 3-0 in all-time. Last season's meeting in Farmville was a barn burner with CSU torching the Lancer defense for a 101-91 victory. The Bucs put up 60 points in the second half as Phlandrous Fleming Jr. and Christian Keeling posted 20-point performances and Travis McConico added 19 in the win with six Bucs reaching double figures.

Thursday marks the middle of a three-game stretch against the three Virginia members of the Big South Conference as CSU heads home to host Hampton Saturday afternoon. A win both Thursday and Saturday would guarantee season splits with the Lancers and Pirates and the road team taking both showdowns with the Lancers.

Two-time Big South Player of the Week and First Team Preseason All-Conference member Phlandrous Fleming Jr. has his named etched among the tops of the conference in nearly every statistical category his junior season and is in the midst of a 12-game stretch scoring 20-plus 11 times. He sits in the top-10 in scoring (16.6 - 4th), rebounds (8.4 - 1st), field goal % (.427 - 7th), free throw % (.805 - 4th), assists (3.5 - 6th), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2 - 10th), blocks (1.1 - 4th), steals (1.5 - T-8th) and minutes (34.1 - T-3rd).

Fleming has also feasted on the Lancer defense averaging 14.3 points a contest and pulling down 6.8 boards across four games.

Thursday's game in Farmville also begins a nine-day stretch that sees the Bucs take the floor five times and three coming on the road - Longwood, USC Upstate and UNC Asheville.

Scouting the Lancers

• Despite a strong start to the season and 4-1 mark in Willett Hall in 2019, the Lancers are 0-4 in Big South play at home and 3-3 on the road with wins at CSU, High Point and Gardner-Webb. Thursday marks the first of a three-game homestand against CSU, Winthrop and Campbell - three teams the Lancers went 1-2 against in the first half of league play.
• Longwood plays under the mantra of 'let it fly' attempting the second-most three point field goals per contest in the Big South and have made the second-most per game (9.1) trailing only Winthrop in both categories. In the first meeting this season, Longwood hit eight in the first half to grab a 44-27 halftime lead before knocking down three more in the second half.
• Shabooty Phillips and Juan Munoz are the lone two Lancers in double figures on the season (10.7 and 10.4 ppg, respectively) while senior forward JaShaun Smith sits at 9.9 himself.

A Win on Thursday Would…

• Give CSU a season split with the Lancers
• Move Charleston Southern to a perfect 4-0 in Willett Hall
• Be the fourth road win over the last five contests
• Move CSU back above .500 in the all-time series and give the Bucs a 6-3 advantage in regular season Big South matchups
• Be the seventh win over the last eight contests with the Lancers
• Move CSU to 4-1 on Thursdays

Last Time Out

• Carlik Jones hit a game-tying shot at the horn to force overtime before the home Radford Highlanders ended Charleston Southern's road win streak 77-74 in extra time Saturday in Big South men's basketball action.
• Charleston Southern took the Highlanders to the ropes thanks to Deontaye Buskey's triple with just :35 on the clock and had a two-point advantage at 67-65 but Jones would hit the game-tying bucket.
• Jones led all players with 28 points – 22 coming in the second half and overtime – while Buskey's 16 on four treys paced the Buccaneer attack. Ty Jones (14), Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (13), Nate Louis (12) and Travis Anderson (11) all finished the night in double figures.
• Radford outscored the Bucs 10-7 in overtime hitting three of their four free throws to grab a three-point win. The loss snaps a three-game win streak away from home for CSU and was the second overtime contest in as many weeks for the Bucs.

Series History

• Charleston Southern and Longwood have split the all-time series with the Bucs taking all three meetings in Farmville and five of the eight regular-season Big South games.
• In their three wins in Farmville, Charleston Southern has averaged 88.0 points with their lowest total coming in a 77-65 win during the 2017-18 campaign.
• The Bucs also own the longest win streak in series history taking six-straight between 2016-17 and 2018-19.

Last Time Versus Longwood

• The Charleston Southern men's basketball team fell at home for just the second time this season as the hot-shooting Longwood Lancers took a 74-56 decision Wednesday night in Big South play.
• Charleston Southern led 7-3 early on, but a 21-2 Longwood run would give the visitors a 24-9 lead as they would hold it the rest of the way, handing CSU just their second home loss of the season.
• The Lancers connected on nine first-half treys to open a 44-27 margin before grabbing a 21-point lead in the second half before holding on down the stretch thanks to four players in double figures.
• The Bucs saw a season-high 20 points from Deontaye Buskey on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting performance in the loss and career-high five steals while Phlandrous Fleming Jr., the Big South's best rebounder, pulled down 13 Wednesday.

How Sweet It Is

• Charleston Southern men's basketball has a tradition of stopping for milkshakes and ice cream after every road win.
• The Bucs have turned in six milkshake stops defeating Delaware State on a neutral floor then downing Missouri of the SEC and Eastern Kentucky to close the December road slate. CSU also took down the Big South's only 10-win team at the time in Campbell on ESPNU.
• Three-straight road trips resulted in milkshakes for the Bucs, all coming in league play over Campbell, High Point and Gardner-Webb.
• It's been a long-time tradition for the Bucs under head coach Barclay Radebaugh that has seen a pair of Power 5 wins during his tenure after their latest road magic at Mizzou.

Milkshake Tally
Nov. 23 - Delaware State (W, 71-61)
Dec. 3 - Missouri (W, 68-60)
Dec. 21 - Eastern Kentucky (W, 76-69)
Jan. 16 - Campbell (W, 77-62)
Jan. 18 - High Point (W, 79-60)
Jan. 25 - Gardner-Webb (W, 92-83 2OT)