Fresh off the team’s big win at Lipscomb Wednesday night, arguably the program’s best ever win, the Flames are back in action Saturday afternoon in Florence, Alabama to take on the North Alabama Lions. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 and can be seen on ESPN+.
At 22-5, Liberty is just 1 win off the school record of 23 wins in a season as a Division I member. Previously, the Flames won 23 games in 1996-97 and 2008-09, the latter of which was under head coach Ritchie McKay when Seth Curry was in a Liberty uniform. Overall, the Flames also won 23 games in 1982-83 as a Division II member and the program record for wins in a single season is 28 when Dale Gibson’s team won 28 games in 1979-80 as the team won the NCCAA National Championship.
North Alabama is 8-18 on the season and 5-6 in the ASUN. The first-year Division I and ASUN member, jumped out to a surprising 4-1 league record, before dropping 5 out of 6, including 4 straight. In the first ever meeting against the Lions on January 21st in Lynchburg, Liberty won, 72-47. Lovell Cabbil led the way with 20 points on 5-of-6 shooting and 8-of-9 from the free throw line while Caleb Homesley added 15 points and 9 rebounds.
The Lions are led by a freshmen backcourt of Christian Agnew and Jamari Blackmon. Agnew is averaging 11.4 points per game on the season and scored 13 in the first meeting against Liberty. Blackmon is leading the team with 14.7 points per game and also scored 13 on January 29th.
In the race for first, Lipscomb (20-5, 11-1) is in Atlanta to take on Kennesaw State (5-21, 2-9) Saturday afternoon at 3:30. The Bisons beat the Owls, 86-57, on January 21st. If the Flames and Lipscomb both win out to finish 15-1 in the ASUN and tied for first place, the tie-breaker will be the NET rankings. Following the outcome Wednesday, Lipscomb dropped to 38 in NET while the Flames moved up to 54.
