Liberty’s 2020-21 season has come to an end after the Flames’ loss to No. 4 Oklahoma State in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament last Friday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Flames finish the season at 23-6 after the program’s third straight ASUN regular season and tournament championship. Here are our awards for the Flames’ season.
MVP: Darius McGhee
A case could be made for Elijah Cuffee or Kyle Rode to win this award, but it goes to the Flames’ best offensive player, Darius McGhee. The 5’9″ guard received the ASUN Player of the Year and Tournament MVP honors, repeating from a season ago when Caleb Homesley received both awards. McGhee averaged 15.5 points per game while shooting 40.8% from behind the arc. His 95 made three pointers are 4th most in a single season by a Liberty player. With 224 career made threes, McGhee is now tied for 3rd on Liberty’s career three-point field goals list, tied with Larry Jackson. If he remains healthy next season, McGhee will shatter Ryan Kemrite’s career record of 258 made three pointers.
Defensive MVP: Elijah Cuffee
The 6’4″ guard from Poca, West Virginia will finish his Liberty career as the program’s winningest player with 104 wins. He was awarded the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year award, the first Flames’ player to ever win a conference defensive player of the year honor. For the past two seasons, Cuffee has been given the task of guarding the opposing player’s top offensive perimeter player, and he has frequently made life tough for his opponent. Just last week against Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham, McGhee held him to 3 of 14 shooting from the field, his worst field goal percentage day of the season for the FIrst-Team All-American.
Newcomer of the Year: Chris Parker
Parker was exactly what the Flames’ needed this season as he joined the program for one year as a grad transfer from Henderson State. The 6’1″ point guard started 28 of 29 games this season and was second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game. He led the team with 98 assists and provided a great bridge at point guard from Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz to the heir apparent in Drake Dobbs.
Most Improved: Blake Preston
It’s probably not fair to Preston to call him the most improved because he hadn’t had an opportunity to showcase his ability. Playing behind Scottie James and Myo Baxter-Bell, Preston redshirted as a true freshman and saw very limited time last year as a redshirt-freshman. This season, Blake started 21 games and finished the year averaging 9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while leading the ASUN in field goal percentage at 61.3%.
Rookie of the Year: Drake Dobbs
Out of the four freshmen, Dobbs was the only one who became part of the every day rotation, as was to be expected. He played in all 29 games, starting one, while scoring 3.9 points per game to go along with his 38 assists. Dobbs shot 50.7% from the field and made 45% of his three point field goal attempts. Playing primarily as Chris Parker’s backup at point guard, Dobbs should be ready to step into a starting role next season.
