Liberty (21-13, 14-4 Big South) travels to Baltimore to face Maryland-Baltimore County (20-12, 9-7 America East Conference) Sunday afternoon at 2pm in the quarterfinal round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The game will be televised live via Facebook Live.
1. UMBC defeated Fairfield and St. Francis (PA) in the first 2 rounds of the CIT.
They played both games at home, winning by 5 and 8 points, respectively.
2. The Retrievers finished 5th in the America East with a 9-7 conference mark.
Vermont won the America East regular season with a perfect 16-0 mark, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament after winning the conference tournament. The Catamounts lost to Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
3. UMBC is led by first year head coach Ryan Odom.
Odom is the son of long-time college coach Dave Odom. Ryan played his collegiate ball at Hampden-Sydney in Virginia, and had assistant coaching stints at Furman, UNC Asheville, American, Virginia Tech, and Charlotte.
4. The Flames have not won a road game against a non-conference opponent since December 31, 2012.
In that time-span, Liberty has lost 20 straight road games against non-conference opponents. When including neutral site matchups, the Flames have lost 22 straight games against non-conference opponents with the last win coming on November 30, 2013 on a neutral court.
5. Liberty leads the all-time series, 19-3.
The teams haven’t met since the 1997-98 season. The Retrievers were members of the Big South Conference from 1992-1998.
6. UMBC has one of the best offense’s in the country, averaging 81.8 points per game.
That puts them at #22 in the country. Liberty holds opponents to 62.9 points per game. The Retrievers haven’t been held to 63 points or fewer since January 16th, and have failed to reach that plateau just twice all season.
7. KenPom gives the Flames a 35% chance at the win.
The final predicted score is UMBC 72, Liberty 68.
