Getty Garrison Mathews and the Lipscomb Bisons will host the Liberty Flames.
The Lipscomb Bisons will host the Liberty Flames at Allen Arena for the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament championship on Sunday.
The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN. If you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream of ESPN on your computer, phone or streaming device via one of the following live-TV streaming services:
PlayStation Vue: PS Vue–which doesn’t require an actual PlayStation console to sign up or watch–offers four different live-TV channel packages: All four include ESPN.
You can start a free 5-day trial of PS Vue right here (select “Start Streaming” in the upper-right corner), and you can then watch a live stream of Liberty vs Lipscomb on your computer via the PS Vue website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation (3 or 4), or other supported device via the PS Vue app.
Hulu With Live TV: In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including ESPN.
You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of Liberty vs Lipscomb on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show, or other streaming device via the Hulu app.
Sling TV: ESPN is included in the “Sling Orange” channel bundle.
You can start a free seven-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of Liberty vs Lipscomb on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the Sling TV app.
Liberty vs Lipscomb Preview
Lipscomb and Liberty went 14-2 in conference play and split their head-to-head matchups, sharing the regular season title, but Lipscomb secured the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage in the tournament by virtue of a better NET rating, the NCAA’s new metric for determining team strength.
The Bisons routed No. 8 Kennesaw State and No. 5 NJIT to reach their second consecutive tournament championship game; last year they topped No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast as the No. 2 seed to reach their first NCAA tournament.
Against NJIT, Bisons senior guard Garrison Mathews led all participants with 22 points and nine rebounds, tying teammate Kenny Cooper with a game-high five assists in a 78-55 win.
“We just get out of the way and give [Mathews] the ball,” senior guard Rob Marberry said, according to The Tennessean. “He can score at will from any position. He’s an incredible player; the best player in our conference. When he gets hot like that it’s hard for a team to stop him.”
Mathews averages a team-high 20 points per game.
The Bisons held the Highlanders to 18-of-46 (39.1 percent) shooting from the field, helping their foes to 17 turnovers.
“Over the last few weeks we’ve had a lapse defensively and that’s really been our success all year long,” Mathews said, per The Tennessean. “We’ve been pretty good offensively, but defense is what we pride ourselves on. That’s really what’s been winning us games, so it feels good to get back to that a little bit.”
The Flames dispatched Jacksonville by 14 in their tournament opener, but had to fight in the semifinals to get past North Florida, who trailed by two with five and a half minutes remaining.
“Even though we led for a lot of the game, I never felt comfortable because of the way they shoot the ball, how well-coached they are and the confidence that they’re playing with,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said, according to The News & Advance. “There’s a reason they had won seven in a row.”
Redshirt junior big man Scottie James led the Flames with a season-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, adding nine rebounds and a pair of assists.
The forward did much of that damage while defended by Ospreys junior Wajid Aminu, the conference defensive player of the year.
“He’s a good player. He knows how to get to his point where he’s able to score,” Aminu said of James, per The News & Advance.
“I was just trying not to foul and that probably shouldn’t have been the right mindset going into guarding him, but he’s a good player and he’s able to get to his spot. Once he gets to his spot, it’s hard to stop him.”