Three takeaways from Liberty’s loss at Eastern Kentucky

Liberty (12-5, 3-1) saw its six-game win streak come to an end in a 62-59 loss at Eastern Kentucky (10-7, 3-1) on Sunday afternoon.

“I”m proud of our guys effort,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said. “I think they threw a couple of haymakers and our guys responded. We had some different lineups that we haven’t really played with a while. Proud of our effort, not as clean in our execution, but Eastern Kentucky had a lot to do with that.”

It was a back and forth contest in the first half with a number of lead changes. The Colonels would go into the locker room at halftime with a one point lead. EKU would take a 43-35 lead thanks to an 8-0 run as Liberty went nearly four minutes without scoring.

The Flames would respond with a 9-0 run to take the lead at 44-43. Eastern Kentucky would quickly answer with an 11-0 run to push the lead to double figures.

Liberty wouldn’t go down without a fight though. The Flames would claw back to make it a one possession game in the final seconds. The Flames trailed by three in the closing seconds and clean looks from three by Brody Peebles and Jonathan Jackson, that would have tied the game, missed the mark.

Brody Peebles led the team with 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting despite missing all three of his three-point attempts. Colin Porter scored 12 points to go along with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Kyle Rode had 9 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. Blake Preston finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds.

“This will be good for us in the end,” said McKay. “I think you can get really caught up in the analytics and where you’re ranked. I think we have a really good team. I think if we keep getting better, I think we will contend for the championship race in the league.”

The Flames get a few days off before returning to action Thursday night against North Alabama at Liberty Arena. The Lions are 9-8 overall and 1-3 in conference play so far this season. UNA picked up a win over Ole Miss during the non-conference portion of their schedule and opened ASUN play with a win over Jacksonville State. Since then, the Lions have dropped three straight against Bellarmine, Lipscomb, and Stetson.

LIBERTY STRUGGLED FROM 3 ALL AFTERNOON

Entering the game as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, Liberty was unable to find any consistency from behind the arc on Sunday in Richmond, Kentucky. The Flames were just 4 of 23 from three-point range, good for only 17.4%, a season low.

Colin Porter was 2 of 5 from three, but the rest of the team really struggled. Darius McGhee made just 1 of his 8 attempts while Isiah Warfield, Brody Peebles, Joseph Venzant, and Jonathan Jackson all failed to make a triple. Jackson’s shot attempt came as time was expiring, as he had a very clean look that would have tied the game.

“It’s life on the road,” McKay said of the cold shooting. “I think it’s hard to win on the road. I like the looks that both (Peebles and Jackson) had. We will take those all day.”

McGHEE STRUGGLES

It was obvious that Darius McGhee was not at 100% on the day health-wise. He has been fighting through several ailments in recent weeks, and it was evident on Sunday as he was seen on the stationary bike located behind the team’s bench frequently throughout the game. He also had longer and more frequent spells on the bench than has been normal.

McGhee would score a season low 7 points while just making 2 of 11 from the field and 1 of 8 from three. Coach McKay would not provide an update on his injury status following the game.

“We’ve just got to find a way to overcome the physicality,” said McKay. “When Darius doesn’t have a lane to move freely, it’s hard on our offense. I think the template is to be as physical as you can. There is a consistent theme in our defeats and it’s when #2 can’t get away from the off ball action. That’s hard to overcome but we’ve got to figure out a way to do so.”

PORTER SHINES IN DEFEAT

Back in his home state, Colin Porter had one of the best games of his early career at Liberty. The 5’9″ freshman point guard scored 12 points and was frequently able to get into the lane to create havoc on the Eastern Kentucky defense. He has a chance to be a very good lead guard for the Flames in the coming years.

“CP was great,” McKay stated. “I thought Zach (Cleveland) was really good too. Zach doesn’t log the same minutes Colin does. We have a good team. We’re not going to win every game, but I do think our freshmen have played in such a way that gives us a chance. I think they will be a better version of themselves a month from now than they are right now because they really care, they have a great work ethic.”

“CP is a unique player because he is well beyond his years in the way he sees the game, how tough he is. The moment he catches up to our defense, and that happens on a daily basis with regularity, I think the better we are going to be.”