It will be a battle between Big South opponents when the Winthrop Eagles (11-6) welcome the Liberty Flames (5-14) to Winthrop Coliseum. Action begins at 4:00 pm ET on Saturday, Jan. 16.
The Eagles won big over High Point 86-66 on Thursday. Jimmy Gavin was the game’s high scorer with 29 points on 8-for-17 shooting. The Flames, meanwhile, are coming off a bitter 64-63 loss at the hands of Charleston Southern on Thursday. Caleb Homesley had a game-high 17 points.
It will be a battle of conflicting tempos, as the up-tempo Eagles (ranked 35th in the nation in possessions per game) will look to push the slow-paced Flames (342nd in possessions per game).
Notes
In its last game, Winthrop won by a margin of 20 points. Liberty is 2-3 in games decided by a margin of 18 points or more. Winthrop has a 4-1 record in blowouts.
Ranked 48th, the Winthrop Eagles have an offensive rating of 113.2. The Liberty Flames rank 227th with a defensive rating of just 104.9.
Liberty has an average field goal percentage of 44.4%. Winthrop is a poor 2-5 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Winthrop Eagles and the Liberty Flames both rank higher in average effective field goal percentage when compared to their field goal percentages. Winthrop is 35th and 25th in the nation for FG% and eFG% respectively, while Liberty is 156th and 93rd in these categories.
Winthrop, the 27th-ranked team in blocked shots, records an average of 5.5 per game. Liberty does worse, ranked 347th with 1.5.
Winthrop has forced an average turnover percentage of 16.7% this season. Liberty has a subpar 4-12 record when its TO% is 16.7% or higher.
