Liberty (15-1) vs. NJIT (3-10)
Newark, New Jersey – Wellness and Events Center (3,500 capacity)
Saturday, Jan. 4, 4:00 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN+
Radio: Alan York will have the Liberty radio network call on 107.5 FM in Lynchburg or also streaming online.
Last Meeting: Flames won 77-57 in Lynchburg on February 2nd and 57-51 in Newark on March 1st last season.
Series History: Liberty leads 2-0.

Projected LU Starters:

11 Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz (Sr., 6-1, 175) – 8.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.0 apg
2 Darius McGhee (So., 5-9, 150) – 9.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.6 apg
10 Elijah Cuffee (Jr., 6-4, 200) – 9.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.4 apg
1 Caleb Homesley (R-Sr., 6-6, 205) – 12.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.5 apg
31 Scottie James (R-Sr., 6-7, 230) – 10.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.3 apg

Top LU Reserves:

0 Myo Baxter-Bell (R-Sr., 6-5, 255) – 8.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.7 apg
22 Kyle Rode (Fr., 6-7, 220) – 6.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.5 apg
33 Shiloh Robinson (Fr., 6-7, 200) – 3.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.6 apg

Projected NJIT Starters:

4 Zach Cooks (Jr., 5-9, 155) – 22.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.5 apg
11 Shyquan Gibbs (Sr., 6-1, 150) – 7.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.3 apg
14 Reilly Walsh (Sr., 6-3, 180) – 4.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.9 apg
2 San Antonio Brinson (Jr., 6-8, 200) – 8.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.2 apg
21 Souleymane Diakite (So., 6-9, 210) – 7.5 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 2.0 apg

Top NJIT Reserves:

22 Byron Breland (Fr., 6-3, 180) – 3.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.3 apg
5 Diego Willis (So., 6-4, 175) – 4.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.7 apg
0 Levar Williams (Fr., 6-0, 185) – 3.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.4 apg
32 Xavier Mayo (Fr., 6-7, 230) – 1.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.2 apg

QUICK FACTS

  • Liberty ended 2019 with the second highest winning percentage (.882) in Division I going 32-4.
  • The Flames have 9 wins away from home this season, the most of any team in Division I.
  • Liberty is ranked No. 2 in the country in scoring defense, holding opponents to 52.7 points per game.
  • Liberty has three 1,000 career point scorers on the team, the most of any team in school history. Richmond is the only other Division I team in the country that has three 1,000 point scorers on their team.
  • The Flames ended non-conference play with 6 neutral court wins, the most Liberty has ever had in a single season.
  • Liberty looks to become the first team since FGCU in 2017 to repeat as ASUN Champions.
  • The Flames are 18-2 in the team’s first 20 ASUN games, including last year’s ASUN Tournament.

PREVIEW

The Liberty Flames will conclude its seven game road trip against NJIT where McKay and his team will look to improve to 2-0 in the ASUN for the second consecutive season.

Under 4th-year head coach Brian Kennedy, the Highlanders are coming off their best season as a Division I program where they set a program record with 22 wins. NJIT finished 5th in the ASUN standings last year following its 8-8 league mark before falling to Lipscomb in the ASUN semifinals. The Highlanders would advance to the CIT postseason tournament where they would fall to Hampton in the quarterfinals.

Liberty will be the 5th KenPom top 100 team the Highlanders have faced this season. NJIT has struggled in its first four matchups, losing to Providence, Rutgers, UCF, and UConn by an average of 22.75 points per game. Their only two Division I wins this season have come against Cornell, 59-58, and Wagner, 88-69. NJIT has four losses to teams ranked 260 or worse in KenPom.

The Flames got no easy path to open ASUN play, having to travel from Fort Myers, Florida to Newark, New Jersey to play its first two league games in a span of less than 48 hours. Meanwhile, NJIT has yet to play an ASUN game as they have been off since December 29th when the Highlanders fell to UConn, 69-47.

NJIT is led by 5’9″ scoring phenom Zach Cooks who leads the ASUN in scoring at 22.2 points per game. He will probably coast to the ASUN scoring title as North Florida’s Carter Hendricksen is currently in 2nd place at just 15.5 points per game. Cooks is currently 8th in the country in scoring, and he has scored in double figures every game this season including 11 outings over 20 points. Last year against the Flames, Cooks was severely hampered by Liberty’s Lovell Cabbil who shut him down in the two games the teams played. Cooks had 8 points on 3-of-22 shooting in the two games against the Flames last year.

KENPOM PREDICTION

Liberty 68, NJIT 59