Game 10: Liberty University

[kochrab]

I don't know much about Liberty other than they seem to always put together a fairly competent team. They have a 7-4 record with a win over a pretty "meh" Missouri team. Need to win this game to keep on the right side of the bracket. Let's hope the Hawaii Hangover doesn't plague us as it has in the past. Go Panthers!

[BCPanther]

Liberty has good guards.

Not a gimme by any means but a game we should win.

[sivert]

Watching their game from Friday vs East Carolina. Pack-line, back-cuts, and a bunch of 3s. I think this will be like playing us.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Liberty Flames, friends.

[not a drake fan]

Liberty is one of the slowest teams in the country. They are not experienced, but are #84 in minutes continuity. They are #99 in defensive efficiency and #152 on offense.

They like to heave it from deep - they're 4th in the country in percentage of shots that come from 3. And they make a decent percentage of them too, they're 130th in that. So it'll be a challenge for UNIs defense, which struggles to defend the arc.

They have one clear go-to-guy statistically - #2 Darius McGhee, a 5'9" guard. He's 15th in the entire country in percentage of possessions used and 4th in percentage of shots taken. He's not been a very efficient scorer though; he must be streaky at best. For comparisons sake, it seems like UNI relies on AJ a lot and he is just 185th and 66th, respectively.

They don't defend the arc well either so UNI should be able to get some good looks on the offensive end.

Kenpom says it'll be a 1 point game in UNIs favor but who knows what you'll get when you fly a bunch of college kids out to Hawaii. Really hope to see some good ball this weekend - a good couple days could really change the mood around here.

[BCPanther]

It would.

Get the first two and get a shot at BYU on Saturday.

[sivert]

Pretty cool that a 5’9” player with that level of usage can continue to get that many shots off and keep his % up. But he’s really quick and he’s got a quick release.

[UNIAlum95]

Let's go. Looking forward to a distraction during the last day of work for the year. Let's get a couple of good wins and come home feeling a whole lot better about conference play.

[BCPanther]

KenPom of Teams at Diamond Head (12/21/21):

UNI-114
Liberty-121

Stanford-90
Wyoming-109

BYU-24
USF-235

Vanderbilt-84
Hawaii-220

NET of Teams at Diamond Head (12/21/21):

UNI-162
Liberty-128

Stanford-127
Wyoming-19

BYU-25
South Florida-262

Vanderbilt-99
Hawaii-215

Have to win that first one because South Florida and Hawaii offer nothing and you're going to be stuck with one of them with a loss to Liberty most likely.

[06panther10]

Outside of a 20 game winning streak, the at-large is already dead so I would suggest not wasting the mental energy on RPI and NET rankings. Its about stacking wins and finishing as high as we can in Valley play. Just have to keep improving and hope we are at our best on March 1st.

[BCPanther]

Outside of a 20 game winning streak, the at-large is already dead so I would suggest not wasting the mental energy on RPI and NET rankings. Its about stacking wins and finishing as high as we can in Valley play. Just have to keep improving and hope we are at our best on March 1st.

Oh I completely agree.

It's all about us continuing to play well but it's also about us moving up so that we can help ourselves or whoever ends up winning The Valley for seeding purposes and extra NCAA units.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Outside of a 20 game winning streak, the at-large is already dead so I would suggest not wasting the mental energy on RPI and NET rankings. Its about stacking wins and finishing as high as we can in Valley play. Just have to keep improving and hope we are at our best on March 1st.

Football made the playoffs, while you are already saying that certain post-season chances for basketball are dead.

YET, you gripe about football while extoling the greatness of UNI basketball. Makes sense to me!

[BobCat]

I am really looking forward to this game and tourney - hadn't checked the field yet so thanks for posting that. Was unaware BYU was doing so well. I love any UNI win but a couple here would really be good for getting some momentum as they head toward conference play.

I enjoyed watching the cuts and off-the-ball movement against Marshall, that was really lacking in previous games. Ty and Cole have great energy and I hope Phyfe is recovering enough to play more and bang inside a bit. Liberty appears to be starting a more traditional 3 forward -2 guard lineup...although I don't know how athletic they are and if their 4 is really a slasher/big guard type.

[sevelev711]

By the by, this game will be on ESPNU.

[BrockLesnar]

Just hold Maghee to 19 and we win. They're guard oriented and have average bigs. This will be a 1-2 possession game, but should be a W.