NCAA Basketball: Liberty, Jhivvan Jackson top mid-major performers of the week
By Logan Butts
Conference play is in full swing the and the NCAA Basketball year continues to be chaotic. But a few mid-major teams and stars stood out in the chaos this week.
Best Performance, Team – Liberty
I have written about Liberty in this column a couple of times this season, but this is their first appearance as the Team of the Week. The Flames didn’t pull off any major upsets orknock-offf their strongest in-conference contender this week, but they did continue chugging along, putting forth one of their most impressive (and depressing) score-lines of the season.
With for Cavalier associate head coach Ritchie McKay as the head man, the Flames continue to go full Virginia in their approach. Liberty won two ASUN games this week, the first being a fairly pedestrian 63-52 home win over North Alabama.
But the second victory showed off their Virginia-lite approach. The Flames smothered Jacksonville, holding them to a season-low 37 points in a 17-point home win. It was the fourth time they have held an opponent below 40 points this season, three of which came against DI opponents. They have held nine teams below 50, seven of which were DI.
The Flames have the second-best scoring defense in the nation (51.1 points per game) behind – surprise – Virginia (48.7 ppg). That sort of defense can be the recipe for an upset if Liberty makes the NCAA Tournament, which at this point it would be a true shocker if they didn’t.
Liberty is 18-1 on the season, with a win at Vanderbilt and their only loss coming at LSU. They sit at 22 in the latest NET rankings. A neutral-court win over Akron gives them a Q1 win, but most of their victories have been Q3 and Q4. But they are thoroughly dominating those teams for the most part.
If the Flames can win out, a big if but they are favored in every game left on their schedule, then they will be an interesting test case for the committee, especially if they slip up in the ASUN Tournament. Although that’s unlikely, that same defense that can be lead to a major upset also can lead to an upset of their own. If some team gets a hot start and shoots the lights out to build a big early lead, it’s hard to make a comeback at the Flames’ deliberate pace.