A Sea Of Red

Men's basketball returns in 20 minutes!



LIBERTY AT JACKSONVILLE PREVIEW

I realize we've been off for almost two weeks, but this team has clearly regressed since the beginning of the season. Jacksonville is not a great basketball team. McKay still hasn't figured out the rotation either.

LU led for most of the first half but went into halftime tied at 22. McGhee is the leading scorer at the half with 8 points.

Another friday. Another ugly ugly game.

McGhee just heaving parking lot threes. Poor defense to top it off. Keep him on the bench.

Wow, we look bad. Lid on our bucket.

Does anyone know if McKay is ok? He just doesn't seem to be himself since COVID.

Fridays are rough for this team. Such an ugly game.

Parker willed us to victory. Best player on the team.

Free throw shooting helped up out at the end. LU wins 59-54. Parker's 18 points were all scored in the second half.

Something to build on. Larry Bird said it best--"anybody can score in the first three quarters." Clutch play down the stretch is critical.

I wanna think this is an example of a young team playing down to their opponent but this has been happening since conference play began so I'm not sure. There is still plenty of season left to prove they are more talented than they've been showing. Until then we just need to keep squeaking out wins like this.

CHRIS PARKER SPARKS 13-0 LIBERTY RUN IN FLAMES COMEBACK WIN OVER JACKSONVILLE

The Liberty Flames (13-5, 5-2) get a comeback win in the final five minutes of the game Friday night over the Jacksonville Dolphins (9-8, 3-4), 59-54. With the win, the Flames are now 6-0 all-time against the Dolphins. The Flames also improve to 25-0 against ASUN teams not named Lipscomb, North Florida, or Stetson since joining the conference a couple of seasons ago.

Game 2 of the weekend series tips off tonight at 6!

Is it just me or have they changed their style of play. Seems to me, first part of season ball movement gave them open 3's which they buried. Now it seems to me that they are all about tring to drive and penetrate. A bit out of control at times.

LUDad wrote: ↑January 30th, 2021, 6:44 pm Is it just me or have they changed their style of play. Seems to me, first part of season ball movement gave them open 3's which they buried. Now it seems to me that they are all about tring to drive and penetrate. A bit out of control at times.

Conference teams know what we try to do more than non-conference teams and force us to adapt.

Solid first half tonight. McGhee doing a better job not forcing threes, so far. For minutes played, McDowell is one of our most efficient offensive players. Has a sweet stroke. Preston is struggling. Might need to get Abii or Robinson more minutes.

Tale of two halves with the whistles; keeping JU in it.

You would think this play-by-play guy would be able to clean up a few things on night 2. First, we do not have a Prescott. Second, how many times is he going to call Parker, McGhee and vise versa? 3. Stop whining about every call that goes against Jacksonville.

LU Grad 11 wrote: ↑January 30th, 2021, 7:42 pm Solid first half tonight. McGhee doing a better job not forcing threes, so far. For minutes played, McDowell is one of our most efficient offensive players. Has a sweet stroke. Preston is struggling. Might need to get Abii or Robinson more minutes.

I know Rode does all of the little things, but as cold as he has been, I would like to see McDowell get more of his minutes.

Agreed. Rode's shot is not nearly as pure. Best game for McGhee in a while.

Jonathan Carone wrote: ↑January 30th, 2021, 6:51 pm

LUDad wrote: ↑January 30th, 2021, 6:44 pm Is it just me or have they changed their style of play. Seems to me, first part of season ball movement gave them open 3's which they buried. Now it seems to me that they are all about tring to drive and penetrate. A bit out of control at times.

Conference teams know what we try to do more than non-conference teams and force us to adapt.

Agreed Carone. I actually love the fact we can do both with 2 different guards able to penetrate. Conferences always adapt to the leader and Defense is stout top to bottom in the A-sun. Not the most pleasant to watch, but this is a gritty league without much separation. A conference tourney win is going to be very tough. Unfortunately the non con records were horrendous, but even Kennesaw makes you work hard all game...that plus the fact we aren’t nearly as polished a team as last year - we came back to the pack some, but the pack is also much better as a whole ( in my casual basketball fan, arm chair analysis ).

I signed up for ESPN+ this weekend so I could watch all Liberty basketball games. Watched both games in entirety.

Agree - we seem to be playing down to the level of competition. Easy to do when you are playing in what is essentially a high school stadium against a school with enrollment of 2900 students.

We had some very cold 3-point shooting Friday night. Rode had a terrible night from behind the arc Saturday. Despite that, we got big contributions from other players to fill in the gaps. McGee was cold Friday but put up 23 points Saturday and looked special in his game both driving to the hoop and making 3-pointers.

I was disappointed Micaiah Abii got limited minutes Friday and no minutes Saturday. We are going to need a big body off the bench in the ASUN and NCAA Tournament. The kid has so much potential but needs minutes.

Why is Abii in the doghouse? He came into the season on fire but hasn’t played much since. I feel like Rode had a similar trajectory last year and has been pretty flat this year too.

stokesjokes wrote: ↑January 30th, 2021, 9:35 pm Why is Abii in the doghouse? He came into the season on fire but hasn’t played much since. I feel like Rode had a similar trajectory last year and has been pretty flat this year too.

Practice habits and defense. Those are what get you playing times in this system. It’s a tough adjustment knowing how to practice hard all season long. Then learning this system where Bigs aren’t exactly valued it can add up. He can figure it out

That could be part of the equation, since he's not the most physical option. However, his known strength is shooting. Red hot first two games--but ice cold after the fact. Needs to find his rythmn when he gets in space, regardless of the match up. When he does that, we'll see more of him. Tremendous potential.