In a senior class that features ASUN Preseason Player of the Year Caleb Homesley, First-Team All-ASUN performer from a season ago Scottie James, and the winningest player in school history Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz, Myo Baxter-Bell can easily be overlooked and underappreciated.
But ask anyone in the locker room and they will tell you a different story.
“I can’t tell you the importance that he has played,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said of the redshirt-senior. “You wouldn’t be able to see it with the naked eye, especially if you just look at the stats, but each one of his teammates would tell you.”
The 6’5″ redshirt-senior is having an all-conference level of performance this season for the 21-3 Flames as he’s averaging at or near career bests in minutes (17.2), scoring (7.5), rebounds (3.3), assists (1.5), and field goal percentage (52.9%) while playing as the team’s 6th man.
“I see him as a starter,” said McKay. “You can only start 5. If you could start 6, he would be a 6th starter. Having the ability to throw different pitches, if you will, is a major asset to our repertoire. Myo’s ability to decision make, to handle the ball, to space the floor, but I also think his voice and the way he’s connected our guys on the floor is a statistic that doesn’t get recognized.”
Growing up in Ohio, Baxter-Bell fell in love with basketball at an early age. Being a bit of a tweener in size and battling grade struggles in high school, the offers were few and far between. He had interest from several of the MAC Ohio schools including Akron, Kent State, and Ohio, but his mom encouraged him to go to a school away from home. When Radford assistant coach Kyle Getter showed up in Ohio during Baxter-Bell’s junior year of high school and took an interest in him, Myo listened.
“At one point, I just remember him calling and saying he had taken the job at Liberty,” Baxter-Bell said of Getter who McKay hired away from Radford prior to the 2015-16 season. “He wanted me to come and take a visit to see how I liked it. Wherever I went, I knew I could trust him. When he came (to Liberty), I just kind of flipped it, was like, ‘I’m following Coach Getter.'”
When he showed up in Lynchburg, he was unable to participate in any official team events as he worked to improve his academic situation. By the end of his first semester on campus, he was officially added to the roster as he was able to practice with the team while he redshirted.
In 2016-17 as a redshirt-freshman, Baxter-Bell made an immediate impact on the court as he started 28-of-35 games while averaging 17.9 minutes, 7.9 points, and 3.4 rebounds per game, all career bests prior to this season. In the last three seasons, he’s only started a combined 8 games as he was resorted to learning a new role coming off the bench behind transfer Scottie James. He also fought the foul trouble demon through his first three seasons on the court. As a freshman and sophomore, he averaged 5.6 personal fouls per 40 minutes. That number ballooned to 6.2 last season. He’s made a number of improvements as a senior, but the most is in avoiding foul trouble. This season, he’s averaging just 3.2 fouls per 40 minutes.
“He overcame the issue of habitual foul trouble,” said McKay. “Because of that, we see the best version of Myo that we’ve seen.”
A case could be made that Myo is the team’s MVP this season. In consecutive games against Grand Canyon and Vanderbilt, he scored 15 and 18 points respectively. His field goal percentage numbers have increased every year he’s been in a Liberty uniform, but this year they’ve jumped to over 50% while he’s also getting to the free throw line much more.
At his size, Baxter-Bell is still one of the team’s better ball handlers. Many times, McKay will go to him down the stretch because of his ability to handle the ball and his ability at the free throw line. He becomes a matchup nightmare for many teams, including some of the Power Fives.
“He’s a tough matchup for anybody, including the high majors,” McKay said. “You saw it in the (NCAA) Tournament a little last year. Because of his ability to mismatch, I think it just helps our offense.”
He may not start, he may not average double figures, and he may not get the recognition he deserves, but Liberty would not have made such a remarkable turnaround under Coach McKay if it wasn’t for Myo Baxter-Bell.
“Make no mistake about it,” said McKay. “He’s at the core of our success, not only from his numbers, his stats, but his influence that he has in the locker room and the impact he has on the outcome. He’s selfless. He’s been a guy that is willing to play whatever role we need to have success.”
