Liberty (8-5) vs. BYU (10-3)
Diamond Head Classic
3rd Place Game
Honolulu, Hawaii – Stan Sheriff Center (Capacity: 10,300)
Saturday, Dec. 25, 6:30 p.m. ET
ESPN2
Last Meeting: BYU won, 73-59, on Dec. 28, 2006
Series History: BYU leads 1-0
Projected LU Starters:
2 Darius McGhee (Sr., 5-9, 150) – 21.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.8 apg
23 Joseph Venzant (Fr., 6-3, 170) – 4.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.4 apg
20 Keegan McDowell (R-Sr., 6-6, 180) – 10.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.1 apg
22 Kyle Rode (Jr., 6-7, 220) – 5.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.3 apg
33 Shiloh Robinson (R-Jr., 6-7, 200) – 8.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.8 apg
Projected BYU Starters:
3 Te’Jon Lucas (Sr., 6-1, 187) – 9.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 5.1 apg
13 Alex Barcello (Sr., 6-2, 192) – 18.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.7 apg
21 Trevin Knell (Jr., 6-5, 197) – 6.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.0 apg
33 Caleb Lohner (So., 6-8, 235) – 7.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.0 apg
3 Atiki Ally Atiki (Fr., 6-9, 213) – 1.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.3 apg
PREVIEW
The Liberty Flames and the BYU Cougars will meet on Christmas Day in Hawaii in the third place game of the Diamond Head Classic. Both teams won their first game in Honolulu, the Flames dispatching Northern Iowa, 76-74, while BYU defeated South Florida, 54-39.
On Thursday, both Liberty and BYU dropped their second game on the island. Liberty was outlasted by Stanford, 79-76, and the Cougars fell to Vanderbilt, 69-67. Liberty senior guard Darius McGhee scored 41 points in the loss to the Pac-12 Cardinal, tying the Division I program record for points in a game as well as the Diamond Head Classic individual game record. BYU led most of the game against Vanderbilt before falling. The Cougars had 19 turnovers and the Commodores scored 18 points off those turnovers in the setback. Alex Barcello scored a team-high 15 points. His jumper in the paint with five seconds remaining that could have tied the score and potentially forced overtime, rimmed out.
BYU has been one of the mid-major darlings early in the season, after they demolished Oregon, 81-49, to open the year at 3-0. The Cougars would improve to 6-0 after knocking off in-state rival Utah, 75-64, on Nov. 27. They spent three weeks ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, peaking at No. 12 before eventually dropping out of the poll the past couple of weeks. Since their 6-0 start, the Cougars have gone 4-3 with losses to Utah Valley in overtime, Creighton, and then Vanderbilt on Thursday.
Head coach Mark Pope is in his third season at the helm for the Cougars, leading them to 20-win seasons in each of his first two campaigns. Last year, BYU finished the year at 20-7 overall and 10-3 in West Coast Conference play. They fell to Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament championship game before advancing to the NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed. The Cougars would drop their first round game to eventual Final Four participant UCLA.
KENPOM PREDICTION
BYU 71, Liberty 62
