Liberty Men’s Basketball Start Strong In First Home Conference Game

The Liberty men’s basketball team notched a 71-56 win over North Florida Jan. 11 on the back of junior Shiloh Robinson’s career-high 21 points, bringing the Flames to 11-6 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.  

The victory continued the Flames’ impressive home game winning streak, which now stands at 43 games. Liberty’s streak is currently the second longest in the country, only behind last year’s national runner-up Gonzaga.  

Robinson led the scoring effort in an unexpected way, earning nearly half of his points from free throws. He had a near-perfect day behind the free throw line, making 10 of 11 attempts. 

Robinson credited his dominating performance to his teammates and coaches. 

“I have some really good teammates who are able to help me get open,” Robinson said. “We have some really great coaches who are able to make concepts that are easy to understand, and we’re able to execute that pretty well.” 

Liberty came into this matchup following a conference win over Stetson. The Ospreys, however, lost their two prior conference matchups against FGCU and Jacksonville before Tuesday’s contest. To get into the win column, North Florida needed to control the pace of the game and catch Liberty’s defense off guard. The absence of redshirt sophomore guard Jose Placer, however, put the squad at a disadvantage. 

The Flames built an 11-point lead to end the second quarter, but the Osprey’s went on a nine-point run after freshman guard Joseph Venzant added two points for the Flames to open the second half. This would be the closest the Ospreys came to tying the game as Liberty immediately went on a 10-point run. 

The Flames’ 17 turnovers gave North Florida many scoring opportunities, but the Ospreys had a tough time finding the net and finished with a 31.6% field goal percentage.  

Senior guard Darius McGhee admitted that defense was a huge area of focus for the Flames’ game plan. 

“We were just mostly focused on making sure it was tougher on the other end, on the defense end, something we can control,” McGhee said. 

In previous years, North Florida has been a strong presence in the ASUN. The Ospreys shared a regular season championship title with the Flames in the 2019-20 season. Though North Florida’s record was a dismal 4-11 going into the game, Head Coach Ritchie McKay said his team has learned not to underestimate any program. 

“They take every opponent and every opportunity with an approach that this is an opportunity for us to grow and get better,” McKay said. “And when you have some leaders like we do, I think it’s kind of natural for our guys now to give every opponent the respect they deserve.”  

Before the Flames continue the rest of their conference schedule, McKay acknowledged the high number of turnovers the Flames have had recently.  

“We’ll address the 17-turnover tomorrow at practice,” McKay said.  “We’ll start with 17-line drills.” 

Liberty men’s basketball will be back on the court when the team takes on Jacksonville at home Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. 

Cosentino is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter