ESPNU picks up tonight’s Longwood-Winthrop showdown

This Thursday’s Longwood men’s basketball road game at Big South unbeaten Winthrop has been upgraded to a nationally televised ESPNU production.

Tipoff time for the game has been shifted to 7 p.m. at Winthrop Coliseum where the Lancers will play in their third nationally televised game of the season and first on ESPNU since the 2016-17 season.

Originally slated as an ESPN+ broadcast, Thursday’s showdown between Longwood and Winthrop will take the place of the previously scheduled ESPNU game between Radford and Gardner-Webb, which was postponed Wednesday due to a COVID-19-related pause within the Radford program.

Now the Lancers, coming off a 78-69 win over Big South rival Campbell this past Sunday, will return to primetime viewing once again following ACC Network appearances against Wake Forest on Nov. 27 and Virginia Tech on Dec. 19. Thursday’s game will be Longwood’s first appearance on ESPNU since facing Oklahoma State on ESPN’s flagship college sports network on Dec. 15, 2016.

The Lancers’ latest television appearance will feature a showdown between the Big South’s top scoring team in Winthrop and one of the league’s best defensive squads in Longwood. Winthrop enters the game ranked atop the Big South leaderboard and 11th nationally with 86.5 points per game, while the Lancers rank third in the conference holding opponents to 70.7 points per game. Longwood has held six of its eight Big South foes to fewer than 70 points, while the Eagles boast a 15-game winning streak dating back to their 2019-20 Big South Championship season.

Longwood’s last win over Winthrop came in head coach Griff Aldrich’s first season leading the program in 2018-19 when his debut Lancer squad defeated the Eagles 75-61 in Rock Hill.

Following Thursday’s ESPNU matchup, Longwood and Winthrop will play again Friday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.