Liberty’s Caleb Homesley entered the 2019-20 with loads of hype. He was named Preseason ASUN Player of the Year, and tabbed as the 18th best player in the country by Lindy’s preseason magazine.
His year got off to a great started as he scored 18 points to go along with his 6 rebounds in Liberty’s season-opening win against Radford. In the next two games, he became more of a distributor as Liberty routed MEAC schools Maryland Eastern-Shore and South Carolina State. Homesley was then dominant against East Carolina, scoring 25 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3 while also grabbing 9 rebounds. That game reminded us all of Homesley in last year’s NCAA Tournament when he scored 30 points to lead the Flames to its first ever NCAA Tournament win by beating Mississippi State.
Following the ECU win, Homesley missed the Navy game, with what the team described as “load management.” McKay stated after that game that he tweaked something during practice before facing Navy, and it made sense to hold him out with the Flames preparing to head to the Bahamas for three games in three days.
In Liberty’s first game in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase against Morgan State, Homesley got the start and played the first 6 minutes before being subbed out. He would not return to the game, but Liberty was well in control of the game at that time.
Homesley would then miss the team’s next three games, the remaining two in the Bahamas and against Kentucky Christian a week ago. That’s when word began to leak out that he had suffered a minor hamstring injury. He was able to get on the court this past Monday against Trinity Baptist, his first considerable minutes in over two weeks. He would play 23 minutes while finishing with 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.
“He’s nowhere near how he was playing in the preseason,” McKay said of Homesley earlier this week. “In the preseason, I’m not joking, he was dominant. You wouldn’t hear me say that about many. I just think he’s been slowed by this injury. I think he’s better now, but he will have to shake off the rust to return to the form he was playing at.”
The Flames will need a healthy Homesley for this next stretch of games, beginning Sunday evening in Phoenix against Grand Canyon. After that, SEC Vanderbilt awaits the 10-0 Flames.
“I think a lot had to do with how hard he worked this summer,” said McKay. “He’s really been dogmatic about being the best, and I love that pursuit, but I also want to be wise with his body. He realizes there are high expectations, but he doesn’t have to do it all. We have a team that has balance. Caleb can just be Caleb, and we will be fine.”
