The Liberty Flames (9-15) will have their hands full against the top scoring defense in the Big South when they take on the Winthrop Eagles (16-6) at Vines Center. The game starts at 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday, Feb. 2 and will air on EFC and ES3.
The Flames were victorious over Presbyterian 65-61 on Saturday. John Dawson was the team’s high scorer with 19 points on 5-for-9 shooting. The Eagles, meanwhile, are coming off an 87-77 win over Radford on Saturday. Jimmy Gavin shot 9 for 14 and led in scoring with 29 points.
When considering eFG%, the Eagles figure to have a substantial advantage on the offensive end. They rank 14th in the nation in that category at 56.1%, whereas the bottom-tier defense of Liberty ranks 287th in eFG% defense with opponents connecting at a clip of 51.6%.
This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. The Eagles won the first game 74-58. Xavier Cooks was a standout player in the game, producing 22 points, six rebounds, two blocks, and three three-pointers.
Notes
Ranked 29th, the Winthrop Eagles have an offensive rating of 114.6. The Liberty Flames rank 185th with a defensive rating of just 103.6.
Winthrop has an average field goal percentage of 48.6% (ranked 18th). Liberty is an abysmal 1-10 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Liberty Flames and the Winthrop Eagles both rank higher in average effective field goal percentage when compared to their field goal percentages. Liberty is 138th and 59th in the nation for FG% and eFG% respectively, while Winthrop is 18th and 14th in these categories.
The Winthrop Eagles average 5.5 blocks per game, the 20th-ranked team in the country. The Liberty Flames rank a lowly 350th in blocking with just 1.4 per game.
The Liberty Flames make an average of 5.7 steals per game. When the Winthrop Eagles allow 5 or more steals, they are a winning 11-4.
