Oregon Ducks vs Liberty Flames Preview

Oregon officially has a timeslot for their 5-12 matchup against Liberty on Friday night. They will play the Flames in Seattle at approximately 10:10pm EST/ 7:10 pm PST. As I mentioned in the original posting about the matchup, I am previewing Liberty coming out of C-USA.

Record and Strong Opponents

Liberty finished the season 28-6, with only 1 non-conference schedule loss this year. That said, the best teams they played in that slate were McNeese State, and Kansas State. Both of these teams were played on a neutral court and both aren’t top 55 teams in the NET rankings. They won those two games by a combined 6 points, and interestingly were outrebounded in both contests. The Flames lone out of conference loss came to FAU, on a neutral floor. Liberty shot sub-30% from deep and a miserable 57.1% from the free throw line in this game.

Liberty played two Quad 4 opponents close this season, Sam Houston State (3-point win at home), and North Carolina A&T (9-point win at home.) The Sam Houston State Bearkats ranked No. 178 in NET, while North Carolina A&T ranked No. 333, which is the 31st worst NET ranking in Division 1. Breaking down how the Conference USA champs did against each Quadrant here’s their record, Quad 1 (0-0), Quad 2 (3-2), Quad 3 (14-4), Quad 4 (8-0). The Flames struggled against No. 155 (in the NET) Seattle on the road, lost to No. 159 Western Kentucky at home, lost to No. 157 UTEP at home, and lost to No. 137 Kennesaw State at home.

Liberty Statistics

I’ll start with some more advanced stats and work my way back to the basic stats. Beginning with Liberty on offense, the Flames are ranked 46th in offensive efficiency, but are No. 1 in effective FG%. They don’t turn the ball over too much, averaging 10.1 turnovers per game. They are 103rd in points per game, averaging 76.6 per contest. One of the biggest weaknesses for Liberty is their inability to get offensive rebounds, they only grab 6.4 offensive rebounds per game, which is 3rd worst in the country. The Flames biggest strength on offense is their blistering 3-point percentage of 39%, 6th best in the nation. 48.5% of all of the team’s shots come from behind the 3-point line and still they connect on this high of a rate.

An interesting note about this squad is that they only shoot 55.8 field goals per game, which is attributed to their slow pace to get the best shot. The issue with just taking away the 3-point shot with this team is that they rank 13th in the country in 2-point percentage as well, at 57.7%. It should also be noted that their last 3 games, the Flames have shot higher than that mark, at 62.7%. Ranking bottom 60 in the country at shots attempted certainly isn’t a bad thing when you connect at the rate Liberty does, making 27.6/55.8 field goals per game, 49.4%.

The Flames don’t get to the line at a very good rate, only attempting 16.4 free throws a game. That ranks 321st in the country, and the team also isn’t great at the line, only making 10.8 (66.1%) of their attempts from the charity stripe. Rebounding as previously mentioned is an issue, specifically crashing the offensive glass, but the Flames rank 304th in total rebounds per game this season. Liberty is a good facilitating team, putting up the nation’s 16th best mark of 16.9 assists per game.

Getting steals aren’t a strong suit for this team, and neither is getting blocks. The defense overall however, is 17th in efficiency, and hold opponents to the 2nd fewest assists per game in the nation. The Flames hold opposing teams to 28% from 3-point range, and 48% on 2-point shots. Liberty’s defense against 3-pointers is 3rd best in the country. What this defense is lacking outside of rebounding is playing clean, they allow teams far too many free throw attempts.

Who to watch for

Liberty plays with a 7-man rotation currently, with Aquino, Cleveland, Porter, Maughmer, and Metheny as the five starters. Off of the bench has a 6’8 rotational big, Zander Yates, and senior guard Taelon Peter. 6’9 Forward Isaiah Inhen was in the middle of a career year for the flames but suffered another season-ending knee injury.

This team is very short with only two 6’8 players, with that being said Oregon should feed the ball into Nate Bittle. Liberty also has two players under 6’0 in their starting lineup, Porter and Metheny. This bodes well for the Ducks as long as they are able to play good perimeter defense, which we have only seen in stretches this season. I truly believe TJ Bamba has a chance to be the X-Factor for this team with his defense. Despite the last game, Kwame Evans Jr has really come on strong down the stretch.