They don’t rebuild, they reload. Coming off a second Big South championship in the past three seasons, Longwood men’s basketball coach Griff Aldrich announced the signing of six new Lancers.
The incoming group features former four-star recruits, All-Americans, international experience, conference titles and more among the six players.
Angelo Brizzi (Davidson), Colby Garland (Drake), Precious Idiaru (UMKC), DJ Jefferson (Tennessee), Kyrell Luc (St. Bonaventure) and KJ McClurg (California (Pa.)) will transfer to Longwood for the 2024-25 season.
“We are extremely pleased with this year’s group of incoming players,” Aldrich said. “They possess a broad range of skillsets and abilities – but most importantly, they share many of the values that Longwood basketball is building its program upon. This particular group of players possesses the talent and ability – when coupled with our returners – that could provide us with one of the deepest and most talented teams that we have had in recent years. Blending them into our culture and system will be a fun challenge and it has been a joy to work with these young men as we prepare for the upcoming season!”
Angelo Brizzi
6-3, 190 lbs
G
Warrenton, Va.
Davidson (Villanova)
Brizzi comes to Longwood following his redshirt-sophomore season at Davidson. He averaged 18.7 minutes per game over 33 games with 15 starts, and the Virginia native scored 5.6 points per game to go with two rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He topped double figures six times last year.
In a win over Maryland, Brizzi scored 10 points to go with four assists and a career best six steals last November.
Brizzi began his collegiate career at Villanova as a three-star recruit in the class of 2021. After redshirting in 2021-22, he played in nine games in 2022-23 before transferring at the end of the first semester.
He played at Highland High School where he averaged 20.3 points, 6.6 assists and 3.2 steals per game as a junior. He was named the MVP of the Delaney Athletic Conference that season and he helped lead his team to a 23-3 record.
Colby Garland
6-1, 183 lbs
G
Magnolia, Ark.
Drake
Garland makes his way to Farmville following a freshman season at Drake that saw him play in 28 games with two starts. He averaged nearly 20 minutes per game as a key contributor in a variety of ways for a team that went 28-7 overall while winning the Missouri Valley Conference championship to go to the NCAA tournament.
In addition to averaging 5.7 points per game, Garland posted 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game and earned a spot on the Missouri Valley Conference All-Bench Team, given to top reserves in the conference. He scored in double figures four times. He also had at least four assists in a game eight times, and he had a season-high 14 points in a triple-overtime win at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Prior to Drake, Garland spent a post-grad season at Link Academy, where he averaged 18.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
In high school, he won back-to-back state championship titles at Magnolia High School. In his senior year, he played at Maumelle High School while averaging 18.3 points per game before going to Link Academy.
Precious Idiaru
6-9
F
Speyer, Germany
UMKC
Idiaru joins the Lancers following two years at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. A German national team member, he played in 27 games as a freshman before redshirting last season.
As a freshman, he posted 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per game, and he tallied a career best 11 points to help his team beat North Dakota State that season. He also made multiple threes in a game three times.
Prior to UMKC, he played prep at LA Premier Prep, and he averaged 9.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.
He has played for the German National Team and was a three-time regional champ. In Germany, he played with Towers Speyer Basketball, BIX Baskets Speyer and HAKRO Crailsheim Merlins.
DJ Jefferson
6-5, 209 lbs
G
Richardson, Texas
Tennessee (Minnesota Prep Academy)
Jefferson comes to Longwood following his redshirt-freshman season at Tennessee. He played in one game a season ago after redshirting in 2022-23. He was also named to the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2022-23 and the 2023-24 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.
A former four-star prospect in high school, Jefferson was ranked as high as the nation’s No. 45 prospect and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Minnesota by On3, and he was ranked No. 73 nationally by 247sports. He vaulted up the national rankings after an impressive performance at the Iverson Classic.
As a senior at Minnesota Prep, he averaged 16.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.0 steals per game. As a junior in 2020-21, he poured in 22 points per game.
He played his AAU ball with the Howard Pulley Panthers of Nike EYBL, and he grew up in Richardson, Texas.
Kyrell Luc
5-11, 165 lbs
G
Dorchester, Mass.
St. Bonaventure (Holy Cross)
Luc comes to Longwood following two seasons at St. Bonaventure after starting his college career at Holy Cross. During his two years with the Bonnies, he played in 56 games with 36 starts, and he averaged 7.4 points and 2.9 assists per game.
Last season, he had four points and four assists against Longwood on opening night, and he helped St. Bonaventure win 20 games.
As a sophomore, he averaged 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while starting all 32 contests. He ranked fifth in the A-10 in steals and assists during the regular season, and he scored in double figures 23 times.
In his debut season, he starred at Holy Cross. He averaged 13 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while being named the 2022 Patriot League Rookie of the Year. During the season, he was the Patriot League Rookie of the Week six times while also scoring in double figures 24 times and leading the team in scoring 10 times.
KJ McClurg
6-3, 185 lbs
G
Morgantown, W.Va.
California (Pa.), (New Hampshire)
McClurg comes to Longwood following back-to-back seasons at California (Pa.), where he led the team to the NCAA Division II tournament this past year. The team had the second-winningest season in program history, going 28-5 while advancing to the second round of the national tournament.
McClurg was a consensus All-American this year, receiving the honor from both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association(D2CCA). He was the D2CAA Atlantic Region Player of the Year, as well.
Last season, he ranked eighth in the nation in scoring at the Division II level, racking up 22.6 points per game. His 745 points were fourth-most nationally and the most at California (Pa.) since 1993. He shot .534 from the floor and drained 211 free throws, a school record. The junior also knocked down 80 triples while also shooting better than 40 percent from three.
In his two seasons there, he compiled 1,160 points, scoring his 1,000th point in his 56th game, and he has 1,221 points in his full college career after he played 15 games at New Hampshire in the 2020-21 COVID-shortened campaign.
All six join a Lancer team that won its second Big South title—and advanced to its second NCAA tournament—in the past three seasons. Longwood has posted back-to-back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in team history, and the team’s 67 wins in the past three seasons are the most ever in a three-year span.
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