Maryland-Eastern Shore at Liberty, 7:00 PM Eastern, MASN/espn3
With only 15 games on the Division I schedule tonight, the choices for our Under the Radar Game of the Day are once again fairly slim. That being said, we do have a game tonight that features a pair of very intriguing teams who, although not having done much so far in non-conference play, could both be in the thick of things to win their conference titles. We also have an intriguing matchup of coaches tonight as well. The Fighting Hawks of Maryland-Eastern Shore, led by Bobby Collins who has done an amazing job bringing this team up from virtual irrelevance to become a factor in the MEAC, are travelling to Lynchburg (Virginia, not Tennessee) to take on Ritchie McKay’s Liberty Flames.
UMES enters tonight’s game at 3-6 on the season, with only two D1 wins, at home against American and in their exempt tournament against Jackson State. Freshman Miryne Thomas had a breakout game in the win over American, registering the first of what may be many career double-doubles with 17 points and 10 boards. With a current starting lineup that features three freshmen and two sophomores, the Hawks should just get better and better as the season goes on, and could be poised be make a serious impact in the MEAC for years to come.
Liberty is currently 6-3 overall with a notable early season win at Wake Forest. They also gave Houston a real tough game in the Paradise Jam (which they hosted), falling by only 2 points. The Flames have played four overtimes their last two games, falling in triple OT at home to UNC-Greensboro before defeating Georgia State Monday night in just a single overtime. Scottie James had an impressive 19 points and 15 rebounds in the loss to UNCG, marking the fourth time he has had 10 or more rebounds in a game, including 14 against Wake Forest. With James for Liberty matching up against Thomas for UMES, we have a rare game between a pair of UTR schools where the centers, and not the perimeter players, should be the key to determine who wins or loses this one.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES
-SAINT JOHN’S VS ARIZONA STATE (Staples Center, Los Angeles). This is a tail of two teams that are off to much better starts than any of us expected. The Johnnies have just one loss and if they’re able to win this one you have to start thinking of them as a tournament caliber team.
-COLORADO STATE AT OREGON. If Oregon is going to land on the right side of the bubble then they need to turn it around and start winning. A home loss to a team that looks to be nowhere near the tournament would be very damaging.
-OKLAHOMA VS USC (Staples Center, Los Angeles). I think both of these teams will continue to improve as the year goes along, but as of now they haven’t done all that much to get excited about. A win tonight would certainly give one of them a boost both on and off paper.
-NEVADA VS TCU (Staples Center, Los Angeles). Those of us on the east coast will be up to 3am watching this one, but it’s worth it. It’s the game of the night between a Nevada team that’s coming off a tough loss at Texas Tech and is looking to rebound, and a TCU team that’s unbeaten, but doesn’t have a win of this caliber on their resume yet.