CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There’s a new king in the Big South.
The Winthrop men’s basketball team, a group that has been on the Big South championship stage three times in as many years and has owned the league it’s resided in for the last two decades, was dethroned by a hungry and disciplined Longwood team 79-58 on Sunday afternoon in front of an ESPN2 audience.
With the win, Longwood earned its first Big South title in school history and punched its ticket to its first NCAA tournament. It also spoiled Winthrop’s chances for a third-straight NCAA tournament bid — the dominant win casting the Eagles aside as if they were scant debris on Longwood’s path to history.
Sunday marked the first time Winthrop has lost in the Big South tournament since 2019 and the first time it lost a Big South championship game since 2016.
Sunday was also the largest margin of defeat for Winthrop in a Big South championship game in school history. The largest loss before Sunday happened in 2014, a 15-point defeat to Coastal Carolina.
“At the end of the day, I’m so proud of our kids for the effort and the things that they’ve done together throughout the course of our season,” Winthrop first-year head coach Mark Prosser told reporters postgame, seated next to inconsolable redshirt juniors Cory Hightower and DJ Burns. “It’s always different in coaching changes and things like that. But our kids never batted an eye. They’re just wonderful people and bought in with such great players.
“It’s my job to make sure they’re ready to go. And it’s %1,000 on me that we weren’t better today.”
The Eagles were never in the fight on Sunday. And the electric half-and-half crowd in Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte knew it: The team from Rock Hill fell down by seven with 14:17 left in the first half. Then 11 with 11:07 left. Then by 17 and, a few minutes later, by 21.
The Lancers entered halftime up 45-27, winning the turnovers-off-points battle 22-2 and playing disciplined and unfazed: Isaiah Wilkins notched seven rebounds to go along with a team-leading 12 points in the half. Justin Hill did what Justin Hill does, wreaking havoc on pick-and-rolls. Nate Lliteras went 3-of-4 from deep.
And the rest of the team followed suit offensively and locked up everything else on defense — including Big South Player of the Year DJ Burns, who for the game finished with just 14 points in 28 minutes.
Longwood, in other words, deserved to be on Sunday’s championship stage. And the team knew it.
The last realistic chance Winthrop had at mounting a comeback came in the opening minutes of the second half. The team looked rejuvenated and went on a 7-4 run, forcing Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich to burn a team-settling timeout.
But that was that: Longwood emerged from that timeout with a Leslie Nkereuwem dunk that sparked a 13-0 run and put the game away for good. (The Eagles made other attempts to cut the lead, but they could never get the game closer than 15 in the second half.)
In the end, the Eagles shot 41.2% from the field and 25% from the free-throw line. They were led in scoring by Burns and also senior Mike Anumba, who finished with 12. Graduate transfers Patrick Good (11 points and five steals) and Drew Buggs (eight points and two assists) also had good final games as Eagles.
Longwood, conversely, finished shooting 60% from the field and saw every player who played score. They were led by Wilkins, who finished with 19 points and eight rebounds.
