[Rooster Cogburn]

An amazing gutsy finish after some sloppiness late on defense. Foul shots cost a lot too. This is a young team that is going to be really good team. I love how hard they play. Jc was amazing so were john Jesse and Evan. I still say Layer left manaya out too long.

[ALAFlamesFan]

Their bigs are both seniors ours are freshman and sophomores. Their inside guys came up big tonight.

Gray 12pts 5 boards
Holmes 11 pts 7 boards

As the season goes on we will continue to close that maturity gap. JVP got a little bit of an education tonight. Fortunately to this point he has been a quick study. Sommy gave us a few good minutes. No where to go but up for us.

[LUconn]

JC should have been the guy taking that shot anyway. He was on fire.

The outcome of this game sucks but there is no question we can beat them in the tournament. I feel really good about this team going the distance. It's not just a "lucky start". We're good. home court would be nice though.

[ballah09]

did u see the gardner webb game?? that was a weak call..Liberty was lucky there.


anyway back to what I was saying earlier Layer should stick to man to man D leave the 3-2 zone behind. Liberty is really good when they play in it. When they match up with a team like coastal DOUBLE their bigs! like Ben Howland, Tony Benett, etc..Make Nieman and Raffa, beat you

[LUconn]

did u see the gardner webb game?? that was a weak call..Liberty was lucky there.


any back to I was saying earlier Layer should stick to man to man D leave the 3-2 zone behind. Liberty is really good when they play in it. When they match up with a team like coastal DOUBLE
their bigs! like Ben Howland, Tony Benett, etc..Make Nieman and Raffa, beat you

Nieman did kill us when he got the chance.

[jbock13]

If you think that those calls ever get called then you haven't been watching basketball very long..there was contact, but it wasn't blatant contact, they got him some with the body.

Liberty has there chances through out the game so it wouldn't have to come down to a play at the end like that, so please don't blame this on the refs...

[ballah09]

yes but Gray and Holmes did most the damage.

[sporter]

Niemann did hurt us but two big shots were in transition and once against the zone. We are going to have to give our big guys some help next time. Glad to hear they are seniors - was wondering that during the game.

Great game - the guys should be really proud of themselves. Showed that while not the favorite, they are legit conference contenders this year.

[Rooster Cogburn]

OH yea JC got one point per minute. 16 points in 16 minutes. Their Bigs were just to much for us to match up with and they got to many easy buckets in a string in the middle of the second half.

This Flames team is going to be very exciting and very much fun to watch

[From the class of 09]

Man I really thought we were going to pull that off. Still overall I thought we proved that we can compete with Coastal. No reason not to expect to win out from here right? I know we may slip up once or twice but man I really love how this team is coming together.

[Randy]

As for this, that kid's a d-----. He's talked crap on Twitter for a couple of years now. I'm completely shocked that they allow someone who is speaking for the university say the things that he did. I was a freaking grad assistant and didn't have anything Liberty related in my name and got in trouble multiple times for things I said on Twitter. He'll never be half the mascot that Patrick Brochu was anyway.

Must be awfully nice in that glass house of yours, Jon!

Some people just don't know the difference between good smack talk and crossing the line. I've rarely seen the guy that does the Chauncey Twitter account cross the line (to be honest, I can't even think of one time). Get off your high horse for once.

As for the game itself, congrats to the Flames on a great game. You guys are obviously poised to make some noise at the top of the conference - I'm going to hold off on a definitive judgment until after the Winthrop game, but as of right now I wouldn't be surprised if we played a third game this season and that game was for all the marbles.

[Bigsouthking]

Okay didn't get to see but the last 7mins of game, so my opinion isn't great. But reading the 2nd page of this thread, IMO Liberty built this game up to much... Jesse quote was "dream come true" playing for first basically....

there is WAY too much hoops left to put all marbles in one game this early. LU good enough to beat them but they need not pressure themselves.

[jbock13]

Radford beat High Point

[olldflame]

I was extremly impressed with our late run. With a couple of minutes left it looked like they were putting us away. Nope. Absolutely no quit in this team and a very business-like approach. A bit of a coming out for both JC and Sommy. If they can build on that and increase their contributions, we will get nothing but better. I agree that tonight it was the maturity/experience of CCUs bigs that did us in. That and poor foul shooting.

[Sly Fox]

Postgame Video Interview with Ray & Naz interview John Caleb & Jesse + Coach Layer ...

http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm? ... ewsID=6379

[GoEagles]

it pains me to say this


JS is a beast. I enjoyed watching ya'll in the half-court. lots of movement and somehow, someway Jesse just creates. When he can't find a guy he gets himself open and makes important shots. Ya'll are so lucky to have him.

[kuntryboimike]

Tonights game has brought me back to the site via droid. I've been in nc for a while with no internet and terrible phone signal but ill be back in lynchburg tomorrow. Of course I was upset about the result but my gosh I haven't enjoyed a game that much in a long long time. I won't say anything that's already been said except I'm excited to see where the flames are headed. Extremely proud of our mens team and the effort they show on the court. Go flames!

[jimflamesfan]

Just a question...Why did Coastal get to inbound the ball to start the second half?

Didn't Coastal win the opening tip...plus we were losing at the half. Shouldn't we have gotten the ball to start the second half? That one possession makes a big difference. Or does the away team always get the ball to start the second half.

I always thought that the team that lost the tip got the ball to start the second half.

[LUconn]

There was a jump ball called when Burrus was wrestling on the floor with the ball and that changed the possession arrow.

[jimflamesfan]

There was a jump ball called when Burrus was wrestling on the floor with the ball and that changed the possession arrow.

Thanks. I forgot about that.

[jcmanson]

This is a young team that is going to be really good team.

I'm not sure what you constitute a really good team, but for the Big South we are a really good team. Now. Not in the future. Now.

[jcmanson]

This Flames team is going to be very exciting and very much fun to watch

This team IS exciting and fun to watch. Not going to be. IS. Right now.

[jcmanson]

As fans we need to stop with the moral victories. This team can win the conference regular season championship and tourney championship this year. No more talk about the future, but this year. The offseason is long and leaves plenty of time to talk about the future. This was a game we could have and should have won. We need the #1 seed in the conference tourney. It will come down between us and CCU and now we have to nearly win out to beat them out. Anyways, it's time for us to change our expectations for this season.

[olldflame]

Our expectations for this year have certainly been raised, and rightly so, but I am taking my lead from coach Layer on that. The real goal is to just keep working hard and getting better, so as long as I see this team continuing to improve, I am a happy fan. Last year CCU beat us by 15 at the Vines and 23 in Conway, and we were really never in the game either time. The consensus seems to be that they have stepped it up a notch from last year. If that's so, then clearly we have stepped it up SEVERAL notches. Getting the first seed is still possible, but that doesn't mean anything less is a failure.

[ALAFlamesFan]

I agree and disagree Manson. Yes, this team is good now and yes they have a legit shot at winning the championship this year. It is also great to watch this team improve each game and think about what the future may hold. This team only gets better next season. JVP only gets better. Sommy only gets better. Baird gets on the court. We get another big 3 or 4 guy. This just excites me. I have been watching LU Basketball since 1991 and never have I been more confident that we are finally going to be able to compete in the near future not just for Big South Championships but for consistent wins against top 100 teams.

Winning the BSC this year is obtainable and I will be disappointed whenever we lose BUT it is refreshing to finally see some legitimate HOPE that we could be taking the next step I have been waiting for ever since the disaster of the mid to late 90's.

Coach is doing a great job and the way these guys compete and the mental toughness they continue to develop and display is just a joy to see after all these years. The continued development of our bigs will be the biggest factor as to how far we go this year imo. Therefore, that is what I watch for each game.