The Liberty Flames and the Bellarmine Knights meet in college basketball action from the Freedom Hall on Thursday night.
The Liberty Flames will look to build on their 88-50 win over subdivision Mid-Atlantic last time out. Darius McGhee leads the Flames in scoring with 22.1 PPG while Brody Peebles has 11.8 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Liberty up to this point in the season. Kyle Rode has 8.2 PPG with a team-high 4.1 APG to lead the Flames in assists while Joseph Venzant has a team-high 5.5 RPG to lead the Flames on the glass this season. As a team, Liberty is averaging 76.6 PPG on 47.6% shooting from the field, 40.5% from three and 75.3% from the foul line this season.
The Bellarmine Knights will hope to bounce back from a 73-61 loss to Evansville in their last game. Garrett Tipton has 11.1 PPG to lead Bellarmine in scoring while Ben Johnson has 10.7 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Bellarmine up to this point in the year. Juston Betz has a team-high 4.5 RPG G to lead the Knights in rebounding and Peter Suder has a team-high 2.9 APG to lead the Knights in assists up to this point in the season. As a team, Bellarmine is averaging 68 PPG on 46% shooting from the field, 38.5% from three and 74.4% from the foul line this season.
Liberty is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games while the over is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400. Bellarmine is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games against a team with a road winning percentage below .400 and 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 home games against a team with a losing road record.
I get the case to be made for a home underdog like the Knights here, but I just feel like Liberty is the better team here and a Liberty squad that at one point was defense first has found some solid offensive chops all of a sudden. The Flames are going to have the best player on the floor in McGhee and I think his supporting cast helps guide Liberty to a win and cover here.