HIGHLANDERS RETURN HOME WEDNESDAY NIGHT AGAINST BIG SOUTH NEWCOMER LONGWOOD

COMPLETE GAME NOTES

RADFORD, Va. - Radford welcomes in-state rival and the newest member of the Big South Conference, Longwood, to the Dedmon Center on Wednesday night for a 7:00 p.m. tip. The Highlanders and the Lancers will meet for the 17th time in their history, but the first as members of the same conference.

THE SERIES
♦ Radford leads the all-time series 12-4. The two teams have only met once as NCAA Division I opponents, and that was in Longwood's initial year transitioning from Division II in 2004-05. Radford won that game in Farmville, 91-81.
♦ RU is 8-0 all-time in games played at Radford.
♦ Longwood's last victory in the series came in Farmville on this day (Jan. 16) 29 years ago in 1984. The Lancers defeated the Highlanders 59-56.
♦ Longwood began playing men's basketball in the 1976-77 season as an NCAA Division III school. That year, the Lancers played seven games, including a home-and-home series with the Highlanders. The first time these two teams met, which was just Longwood's third game all-time, RU scored a school record 130 points that still stands today.

SCOUTING THE LANCERS
♦ Longwood enters tonight's game with a 3-14 overall record and an 0-3 mark in its first season as a member of the Big South Conference.
♦ The Lancers are 0-7 on the road this season.
♦ Tonight's game is the first-ever road game in the Big South for Longwood.
♦ Longwood and Radford currently have two opponents in common. Both teams defeated Central Penn in non-conference play, and both the Lancers and the Highlanders fell at home to Charleston Southern in Big South games.
♦ As a team, Longwood gives up more points per game (83.1) than any other NCAA Division I team.
♦ The Lancers have struggled behind the three-point line hitting just .287 (80-279).
♦ Tristan Carey leads the Lancers at 14.7 points per game. Two other Longwood players average in double figures - Michael Kessens (11.4) and Nik Brown (10.1).
♦ Michael Kessens leads the Big South in rebounding at 9.5 per game. He is fifth in the league in blocked shots at 1.5 per game as well.
♦ Jeylani Dublin averages 9.6 points and 6.5 rebounds.

RU SPORTS RADIO NETWORK • BIG SOUTH NETWORK
♦ All home games are video streamed live on the Big South Network. The BSN is available at www.radfordathletics.com.
♦ Each Radford men's basketball game can be heard live in the New River Valley on the RU Sports Radio Network on the flagship, WRVU 89.9-FM and on the commercial affiliate, WBLB 1340-AM. The stream can also be heard world-wide on www.radfordathletics.com. Rick Watson handle the play-by-play for the Highlanders. Former Highlander Stephen Barber is the color analyst for home games, while Tom Galbraith adds color commentary for RU road games.

STATS NUGGETS
♦ The Highlanders lead the Big South in steals per game at 9.9. That ranks the team ninth in the nation in that category.
♦ R.J. Price leads the Big South in three-point field goals made per game at 2.9.
♦ Taj Owens set a career high with four steals at UNC Asheville.
♦ Jalen Carethers tied his career high with three blocked shots at UNC Asheville.

INDIVIDUAL BIG SOUTH STATS RANKINGS
♦ Javonte Green -- Steals per game (2.3 spg) [2nd]; Field goal percentage (.511) [3rd]; Scoring (13.5 ppg) [14th]; Rebounding (7.7 rpg) [t-4th]; Blocks (0.7 bpg) [14th]; Offensive rebounds (2.9 orpg) [6th]; Defensive rebounds (4.8 drpg) [5th]
♦ R.J. Price -- 3-point field goals made per game (2.9 fgpg) [1st]; 3-point field goal percentage (.394) [3rd]; Assists (2.7 apg) [14th]; Scoring (12.9 ppg) [17th].
♦ Jalen Carethers -- Blocks per game (1.0 bpg) [8th].
♦ Brandon Holcomb -- Blocks per game (0.8 bpg) [11th].
♦ Ya Ya Anderson -- 3-point field goals made per game (1.6 fgpg) [14th].

TIDBITS
♦ Radford is 5-2 at home this season and 1-1 at home in Big South contests.
♦ Radford's last back-to-back home Big South victories came in the final two regular season games of the 2009-10 season against Presbyterian and Winthrop, respectively. The Highlanders defeated High Point in their last Big South home game.
♦ RU has won five straight overtime games dating to a 73-71 loss at Navy on 11/29/08.
♦ Radford has won nine straight home overtime games dating back to the home-opener of the 2002-03 season vs. Howard.

LINEUP SHUFFLE
♦ R.J. Price returned to the starting lineup at North Carolina A&T after healing from an injured ankle. Price missed two games against Charlotte and West Virginia, and returned off the bench against Central Penn. Rashun Davis started in his place against Charlotte, West Virginia, and Central Penn.
♦ Brandon Holcomb, who started the first five games at center, replaced Kion Brown prior to the Charleston Southern game on Jan. 5. Brown had started nine straight.
♦ Blake Smith and Javonte Green have started every game this season.
♦ Jalen Carethers started in place of Kyle Noreen at Charlotte.
♦ The Highlanders have used four different starting lineups this season.

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