High Point vs. Longwood: Bad Blood

Of all the rivalries in the Big South, High Point and Longwood might be the hottest in the Huss/Clayman era.  High Point has played 5 games against Longwood in that period, going 2-3 in that time.  At the Qubein Arena, High Point has a 2-1 advantage over Longwood.  

The bad blood started on 1 February 2024 when High Point hosted Longwood at the Qubein Arena.

The game was bumped to Thursday night and was nationally broadcast on ESPNU. High Point on a 10-game win streak and having championship aspirations for the first time in their new home.  

Greek night at the arena brought out the fraternities and sororities in numbers. According to espn.com, the 4,500 seat arena was oversold with 5,349 fans in attendance.  High Point dominated the game, holding a double-digit lead for more than 30 minutes of the game.  

But High Point had a score to settle.  Longwood had beaten HPU in their previous 11 meetings.  Tubby Smith and G.G. Smith were both winless against Longwood, and High Point had never beaten Longwood at the Qubein Arena.  

Up by 15 points with less than a minute remaining, HPU continued to run their offense.  Duke Miles hit a 3-pointer with 49 seconds remaining, Kimani Hamilton made a break-away dunk with 34 seconds remaining, and Duke Miles made a dunk with 20 seconds left.  The audience was at a fever pitch and rushed the court in front of a national audience.  

Adding insult to injury, this celebration came against a Longwood team that was having a bad year, going 6-10 in conference play and would end only 1-game out of last place in the Big South.  

The Longwood players and coach would later reflect that the dunks at the end of the game coupled with the fans rushing the court were used as fuel during their next two games against High Point.  Longwood would win the final game of the regular season against High Point in Farmville.  Due to some fortuitous tie-breakers, this would earn Longwood the 5-seed in the Big South Tournament. 

Their next meeting would be at the Qubein Arena during the Big South Tournament. The notoriously whistle-happy Big South referees would see the defensive player of the year Juslin Bodo Bodo foul out in only 19 minutes of play. His back-up, Pavlo Dziuba, would also foul out in only 12 minutes of play.  This left true-freshman Denzel Hines (a 6’6” small forward) to play out of position at center for the remainder of the game. 

High Point couldn’t recover, and Longwood would end their historic season in overtime.  

No players from the 2023-2024 season remain on the HPU roster. But multiple current Longwood players were on the roster for these games including Elijah Tucker, Johan Nziemi, Jaylen Bernard, and Emanuel Richards.  And this battle remains fresh in the mind of both coaching staffs as well as each fan base. 

HPU vs. Longwood just means a bit more.