marshallLiberty looks to recapture some magic from last season’s run in Myrtle Beach. The Flames open the tournament as the 5th seed from the North Division, and will face the 4th seed from the South, Winthrop, in the first game of the 2014 Big South Tournament on Wednesday at noon. Here are 5 things to consider entering the tournament:

  1. The Flames are 1-4 all-time against Winthrop in the Big South Tournament with their lone win coming in 1997. The Eagles have won the past 4 meetings including an 80-72 victory in 2010 in Rock Hill in Dale Layer’s first season as head coach at Liberty. Following the last 3 meetings (2002, 2006, 2010) Winthrop eventually won the Big South Tournament Championship. Coach Pat Kelsey & company hope that trend continues in 2014.
  2. In the teams’ lone meeting this season, Winthrop defeated Liberty 73-62 in Lynchburg on February 4th. The Flames trailed by just 2 points with less than 5 minutes to play before the Eagles went on a 7-0 run. Winthrop finished the game on a 17-8 run over the final 4 plus minutes. This has been a repeating trend throughout much of the season for the Flames. You can read our Overtime report from the game here.
  3. Winthrop has the most tradition of all the teams that call the Big South Conference home. Under current Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall, the Eagles represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament 7 out of 9 years from 1999-2007. Winthrop is still the only Big South team to advance to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament when they defeated 6 seed Notre Dame 74-64 in 2007. The Eagles have made the NCAA Tournament two times since Marshall left for Wichita State, 2008 and 2010.
  4. The Eagles concluded their most successful regular season since 2010 finishing 17-12 overall and 10-6 in conference play. The 10-6 mark was good enough for a tie for 2nd place in the South Division with Gardner-Webb and UNC-Asheville. Based on tiebreakers, Winthrop earned the 4th seed. Kelsey’s bunch is one of the hottest teams in the league having won 7 of their past 9 games.
  5. The winner of the game will advance to face the #1 overall seed in High Point on Friday at noon.  The Panthers were a combined 3-0 against Liberty and Winthrop this season.