Liberty (8-3, 0-0) vs. Lipscomb (5-5,0-0)
Nashville, Tennessee – Allen Arena
Friday, Jan. 1, 3:00 p.m. ET
Saturday, Jan. 2, 5:00 p.m. ET

Last Meeting: Liberty won, 73-57, on March 8, 2020
Series History: Tied 4-4, the Flames have won 4 out of the past 5 meetings

Projected LU Starters:

1 Chris Parker (Sr., 6-1, 170) – 9.1 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 4.9 apg
2 Darius McGhee (Jr., 5-9, 150) – 14.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.5 apg
10 Elijah Cuffee (Sr., 6-4, 200) – 11.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.7 apg
22 Kyle Rode (So., 6-7, 220) – 6.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.9 apg
32 Blake Preston (R-So., 6-9, 225) – 8.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.1 apg

Projected Lipscomb Starters:

25 Miles Miller (So., 6-2, 170) – 4.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.7 apg
1 Greg Jones (Jr., 6-3, 195) – 11.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.7 apg
3 Romeao Ferguson (Sr., 6-5, 195) – 12.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.3 apg
10 Jake Wolfe (So., 6-5, 195) – 10.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.3 apg
23 Ahsan Asadullah (Jr., 6-8, 260) – 11.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 4.6 apg

QUICK FACTS

  • Liberty finished the calendar year with 24 wins, 4th most in all of Division I.
  • The Flames have a 29-game winning streak at home which is the second longest streak in the country, trailing only Gonzaga.
  • Liberty is currently ranked No. 9 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
  • Liberty has made 134 three-pointers this season which ranks No. 1 in Division I. The Flames’ 12.2 makes per game ranks No. 3 in the country.
  • Darius McGhee currently leads the country with 37 made three pointers this season. McGhee is one of three players who rank in the top 65 nationally in made three pointers as Cuffee is No. 24 and McDowell is No. 62.
  • Chris Parker ranks No. 12 in the country with 54 assists this season.
  • Liberty ranks No. 11 as a team in assist turnover ratio. The Flames are No. 3 in the country with 195 assists as a team this season.

PREVIEW

The Liberty Flames begin conference play on the road this weekend for a pair of games on back-to-back nights against the Lipscomb Bisons. These two teams have met in the ASUN Championship game each of the past two seasons with the Flames coming out victories both times. Both teams have advanced to their respective conference championship games for the past three seasons as Lipscomb won the ASUN in 2018 and Liberty lost to Radford in the Big South Championship the same season.

Behind preseason Player of the Year Ahsan Asadullah, Lipscomb was picked as the preseason favorite to dethrone the Flames as ASUN champs this year while Liberty was picked to finish second.

Liberty will be without head coach Ritchie McKay for the games this weekend as he has tested positive for COVID. His longtime assistant Brad Soucie will take over the head coaching duties in Nashville in McKay’s absence. Soucie has coached alongside McKay since 1995 when the two helped resurrect the program at Portland State. They’ve coached alongside one another at Portland State, Colorado State, Oregon State, New Mexico, Virginia, and two stints in Lynchburg. McKay has treated Soucie as basically his defensive coordinator since the two have returned to Liberty in 2015. Meanwhile, Derek Johnston has virtually been the team’s offensive coordinator.

“It will be extremely difficult to watch,” McKay said of missing the games this weekend. “There is a helplessness that I will experience, but I have a lot of confidence in our staff and our players. They know what to do. They are an unbelievably unique group of young men.”

This season, Lipscomb has just two wins over Division I teams, Lamar (76-73) and Southeast Missouri State (80-74), both teams are ranked 300+ in KenPom. Their losses have come against Tulane, Cincinnati, Arkansas, Southeast Missouri State, and Belmont.

“Guarding Ahsan Asadullah is an arduous task for anyone,” McKay said. “He’s got to be someone that we can’t let beat us on both nights. We’ve got to be really sound in our scheme in trying to take away what he does best.”

KENPOM PREDICTION

Liberty 69, Lipscomb 64
Liberty 69, Lipscomb 64