Liberty saw it’s 45-game home win streak come to an end on Saturday night, falling to Jacksonville State, 77-67, in the matchup of previously undefeated ASUN teams. With the loss, the Flames fall to 14-7 overall and 5-1 in conference play while the Gamecocks improve to 15-6 and 8-0 in league play.
Here’s everything Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay and veterans Darius McGhee and Kyle Rode had to say following the loss:
OPENING STATEMENT
“I said in the locker room to our guys, very thankful for all the players that are in that locker room and for Myo, Zach, Luke, and the guys that aren’t – Caleb, Lovell – to win 45 games in a row at home is amazing. Sad that the streak has come to an end, but they were the better team tonight. Hopefully we will learn from it. We’ve got a tough stretch coming up. Our bounce-back needs to happen fast.”
ON THE TURNOVERS
“They are a good defensive team. The last two games have been really physical, but that one hasn’t been as physical since LSU. We’ve got to find a way to respond to that. You know Darius is the target. I think teams are willing to grab and hold him and make the referee blow the whistle because what do you got to lose? Unless they keep blowing it and it taxes you, I’m not making excuses, again Jacksonville State deserved to win, they played great defense, they played really good offense.”
ON TRYING TO OVERCOME THE DOUBLE DIGIT DEFICIT
“I won’t ever make excuses. This was the next game on our schedule at the juncture. So, all the circumstances prior to or post don’t matter. We’re going to play. The good thing is, it’s January 29th. I’m not sure, but I don’t think they’re crowning a champ yet. We’ve got room to improve to see if we can get better and continue to make a run.”
KYLE RODE ON THE PHYSICALITY OF THE GAME
“I think I saw everything I saw on film from our coaching staff. They do a great job, Coach Johnston, Coach Pierre, all of our support staff do a great job prepping us. Saw what I saw on film and tried to implement it in the game and didn’t execute like we wanted to in certain areas, myself included, especially some of those turnovers. We will respond the right way and hopefully get another chance to play.”
DARIUS MCGHEE ON JSU’S DEFENSE ON HIM
“They did a great job of making it difficult and making it hard on the offensive end. I think we’ve just got to really lock in, figure out ways to counter that and just be better.”
DARIUS MCGHEE ON JSU’S DEFENSE
“I’m sure our coaching staff will do everything they can, and I’m pretty sure they will prepare us and we will have a game plan for next time we play them or face a cover like that. The turnovers also put us in a bind, so if we take care of the ball a little bit better that will help us out.”
DARIUS MCGHEE ON SHOOTING OUT OF HIS SLUMPS
“As long as we’re fighting to get great possessions on the offensive end and getting clean looks, I think we will take whether the ball is going in or not. Sometimes the averages come out, sometimes we shoot way better than expected, sometimes we shoot way worse than expected. As long as we keep pursuing it we will be fine at the end of the day.”
KYLE RODE ON HIS MESSAGE TO THE TEAM MOVING FORWARD
“Especially what Coach talked about in the locker room a little bit, we’ve got a quick turnaround. So, really learn, respond from this game and go on and respond on the next game. Build on what we saw on film. Coaches will prep us tomorrow and we will be ready to go on Monday.”
