We preview the CBI Tournament opening round game between the DePaul Blue Demons and the Longwood Lancers at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Lincoln Park on Monday night in this report.

Key Information

DePaul Blue Demons (16-15) vs. Longwood Lancers (16-17) – Monday, March 25th, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Central – McGrath-Phillips Arena – Chicago, Illinois

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Game Preview

Following Wednesday’s defeat of Central Michigan, the Blue Demons are on to the quarterfinals of the CBI Tournament.

DePaul coach Dave Leitao sees the CBI as a way to reward his senior class and an opportunity for the younger players to learn.

“The two things that come to mind are 1) We have three seniors that I wanted to make sure that we honored the right way,” said Leitao. “They’ve been tremendous representatives of our basketball program and this university. To give them the opportunity to finish at the end of this as a champion is something I would really, really love to do for them. 2) Then for the program it’s a great growth and learning experience. The guys who are coming back (next year) can understand that there’s a lot of basketball that you can still play. It’s moments like these that will help you get over the tough times in November, December, and January.”

When you look at the Longwood Lancers, you see a team that is 16-17 and was 5-11 in conference play this season. They have a KenPom.com rating of 265. Nothing really stands out.

Then you see that Longwood defeated a solid Southern Mississippi team 90-68 on Wednesday night and knocked down 18 three pointers in the process, and you don’t quite know what to make of this team.

The Lancers shot 52.9 percent from beyond the arc in the win over Southern Miss. Junior guard Jaylon Wilson led the way for the Lancers with 23 points and eight rebounds.

One of the best names in college hoops, junior guard Shabooty Phillips, contributed 19 points and seven assists.

Junior forward JaShaun Smith added 12 points, while senior forward Damarion Geter added 11 points.

It was the first Division I postseason win in the history of Longwood Basketball.

Longwood University is located in Farmville, Virginia. (That’s an actual town in Virginia, not a popular video game.)

DePaul coach Dave Leitao is familiar with Longwood having lived in nearby Charlottesville when he was the head coach at the University of Virginia.

“It’s about an hour from where I used to live and they have some good furniture places,” Leitao said of Longwood and the Farmville vicinity.

While DePaul has never faced Longwood before, Leitao was 4-0 against the Lancers while he was the head coach of the Cavaliers.

Longwood accomplished the win over Southern Miss without their leading scorer and rebounder. Senior guard Isaiah Walton (17.8 ppg) was dismissed from the team in January for failing to meet program expectations.

Phillips is now the team’s leading scorer with 13.8 points per game. Wilson contributes 11 ppg while JaShaun Smith adds 10.6 ppg.

Longwood is 262 in the nation in Ken Pomeroy’s College Basketball Ratings, as of this writing. Meanwhile DePaul is number 103 at Kenpom.com. In the NCAA’s NET rankings, Longwood is ranked 291 while DePaul is at number 102.

If the Blue Demons win on Monday night, their next opponent and playing site will still need to be determined. The CBI tournament re-brackets all of the teams after the quarterfinal round.

CBI Bracket

See below for a link to the CBI Tournament bracket.

http://www.gazellegroup.com/main/cbi/schedule-2/

What is the CBI?

The CBI is a 16 team postseason tournament that includes schools that did not receive invitations to compete in the NCAA or NIT tournaments. The CBI first began in 2007 and was created by the Gazelle Group.

All of the games in the CBI are played on home courts. There are no neutral courts in the tournament.

Teams are seeded into four regions.

The CBI begins with opening round games that will be played on March 19th or 20th. The games are played on the home court of the higher seeded school.

The quarterfinal games are played on Monday, March 25th.

Following the quarterfinal round, the remaining teams are re-bracketed.

The semifinal games will be played on March 27th or 28th.

The final two teams compete in a best of three championship series that takes place between April 1st and 5th.

The championship series is televised on ESPN-U. Television coverage for all remaining games is to be determined.

Last season, North Texas defeated San Francisco in three games to win the 2018 CBI tournament. Former Palatine High School guard Roosevelt Smart was named the tournament’s Most Oustanding Player.

The Loyola (of Chicago) Ramblers won the CBI in 2015.

Gambling Info.

The Blue Demons are 16-15 Against the spread thus far this season.

DePaul is a 15 point favorite.

The over/under is 156.

Longwood Roster

NUM. NAME YR. POS. HT. WT. HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL PREVIOUS SCHOOL

2 Kamil Chapman So. G 6-1 185 Charlotte, N.C. / Comenius School

3 Shabooty Phillips Jr. G 6-1 185 Houston, Texas / Jack Yates Trinity Valley College

4 Jaylon Wilson Jr. G 6-3 180 Moore, Okla. / Moore Pratt Community College

5 Pernell Adgei R-Jr. F 6-8 220 Dumfries, Va. / Pope John Paul The Great Panola/Loyola

10 Michael Smith Fr. G 6-2 190 Pleasanton, Calif. / Foothill

11 Seán Flood Jr. G 6-2 170 Dublin, Ireland / Templeogue College Santa Fe College

12 Joey Lipp Fr. F 6-6 190 Woodland Hills, Calif. / Notre Dame

13 Spencer Franklin Sr. F 6-8 210 Fort Worth, Texas / Trimble Technical Seward County College/Collin College

14 Abraham Deng Fr. F 6-11 215 Juba, South Sudan / Valley Forge Military Academy

20 Jordan Cintron So. F 6-8 205 Bronx, N.Y. / DeWitt Clinton Bull City Prep

21 JaShaun Smith Jr. F 6-5 195 Raleigh, N.C. / Legacy Charter (S.C.)

23 Gus Okafor Fr. F 6-6 220 Baltimore, Md. / Eleanor Roosevelt

24 Damarion Geter Gr. F 6-8 230 Dayton, Ohio / Dunbar

55 Juan Munoz R-Fr. G 5-11 165 Morrisville, N.C. / Panther Creek