The Bellarmine men’s basketball team opens ASUN Conference play on Thursday, Dec. 29 by hosting the Liberty Flames in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Freedom Hall.
The visiting Flames represent perhaps the toughest challenge of the conference schedule as both the media and coaches polls placed Liberty as the preseason favorite. The media and coaches were no doubt swayed by the fact that two-time defending player of the year Darius McGhee announced that he would come back and play 2022-23 as a redshirt senior and three other starters would be returning as well.
In nonconference play, Liberty went 9-4 with McGhee leading the way. Over the first 13 games of the season, the 5-9 guard averaged 22.1 points per game, which ranks seventh in the nation and leads the ASUN. One of the most prolific 3-point shooters of all time, McGhee is currently leading the nation with 62 made triples on the season, and he has moved into the top 15 of the NCAA’s all-time list with 428 in his career. McGhee is the reigning ASUN Player of the Week, an honor he’s won eight times in his career.
While McGhee is certainly an important cog in the Liberty basketball machine, he’s far from the only offensive weapon on a team with an extremely efficient offense. The Flames lead the league in assists, free throw percentage, 3-pointers per game and are second in the league in overall shooting percentage and 3-point accuracy. Brody Peebles is Liberty’s second-leading scorer at 11.8 per game while Lexington, Kentucky native Kyle Rode leads the team in assists (4 per game), and Joseph Venzant is the rebounding leader at 5.5 per contest.
Bellarmine finished its nonconference schedule with a 5-8 mark after closing with disappointing losses to Miami (OH) and Evansville. Prior to those setbacks, the Knights managed to put together a modest three-game win streak in Freedom Hall capped by a 69-58 win over Murray State.
While the Knights have battled the injury bug all season, Bellarmine is still getting solid production from a variety of players. Redshirt freshman Ben Johnson has upped his offensive production of late, averaging 20 points per game in the last two contests to raise his season average to 10.7. Redshirt senior Garrett Tipton continues to pace the Bellarmine scoring attack at 11.1 per game. Juston Betz, who was voted the ASUN’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, leads the team in rebounding at 4.5 per game while freshman Peter Suder handed out a career-high eight assists in his last outing to take over the team lead with a 2.92 per game average.
After opening at home, the Knights will travel to North Alabama for their next ASUN contest on Monday, Jan. 2. Then, it’s back home for a one-game homestand on Thursday, Jan. 5 against ASUN newcomer Queens University of Charlotte.
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