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One of the best Big South games of the season took place when Longwood hosted High Point in front of a sold-out crowd on a national television broadcast on Jan. 16.

Now, the two teams will square off again on ESPNU on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. when Longwood travels to High Point for a showdown on the Big South Wildcard, the conference office and ESPN announced. 

The game will move from its current Wednesday, Feb. 12 date to Thursday, Feb. 13 and will tip at 7 p.m. inside the Qubein Center on the campus of High Point University. It marks the fourth straight season that Longwood has been selected for national broadcasts multiple times. The Lancers will make their 11th appearance on ESPNU.

It will be the fourth all-time “Wildcard” meeting between the squads on ESPNU and second this season, as the Lancers prevailed 82-80 on Jan. 16 thanks to Colby Garland’s game-winning jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining. 

Garland finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists in that first meeting with the Panthers, while Elijah Tucker led five Lancers in double figures with 16 points.  Big South Preseason Player of the Year Kezza Giffa paced High Point with 18 points.  

Longwood, High Point both come in strong

Since that setback to the Lancers, High Point has reeled off four-straight wins and currently sits a half-game back of first-place in the Big South standings at 7-2.  

HPU is ranked No. 17 in the latest Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, and entered the week as the Big South’s highest rated team in both KenPom (97) and the NET (97).  Longwood, which has won two of the three previous ESPNU matchups, entered this week tied for third-place in the conference standings at 5-4. Longwood looks to pick up its first regular-season sweep of the Panthers since 2022-23.  

This marks the 12th year of the Big South’s ESPNU Wildcard series, which again features six Thursday primetime broadcasts. After the Feb. 13 contest, there will be two more this year, including one on Feb. 20 and the finale on Feb. 27. The games are chosen 7 to 14 days in advance. 

A total of 55 games have been played in the series that began in 2013-14, and while the home teams are 35-20, the 55 contests have been decided by an average of 9.55 points, with 31 (56.4 percent) of those being decided by single-digits.