The NC Central Eagles and the Liberty Flames meet in college basketball action from the Liberty Arena on Monday night.
The NC Central Eagles will be out to bounce back from an 0-2 start after a 79-74 OT loss to Appalachian State last time out. Justin Wright led the Eagles with 17 points along with 6 rebounds while Brendan Medley-Bacon had 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting. Eric Boone added 10 points with team-highs of 8 rebounds and 5 assists with a pair of steals while Devin Gordon added 10 points with 6 boards to cap off the scoring in double figures for NC Central in the losing effort.
The Liberty Flames will try to bounce back from a 95-59 loss to Alabama in their last game. Shiloh Robinson led the way with 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting with 4 assists while Brody Peebles added 10 points with a pair of threes as the only other double-digit scorer for Liberty in the loss. Kyle Rode also added 9 points with 4 assists of his own and Joseph Venzant added a team-high 4 rebounds.
NC Central is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 road games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the under is 7-2 in their last 9 games following a loss. Liberty is 1-10 ATS in their last 11 games overall and 0-7 ATS in their last 7 home games while the over is 8-2-1 in their last 11 games overall.
I get why Liberty would be favored at home but with the Flames it’s hard to get a read at the moment because we’ve seen them beat up a subdivision team and get blown out by a clearly better Alabama squad. However, NC Central’s battled to respectable results against much tougher opposition in Appalachian State and Virginia, and I think the Eagles could battle again here. I’m not saying they win outright, but I think the Eagles can keep this one close.