Matchup Preview: Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty

Who: Liberty at Coastal Carolina

Where: The HTC Center, Conway

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Radio: WSEA-FM 100.3

About the Chanticleers (8-6, 2-2 Big South): If Coastal Carolina’s last game was any indication then the Chants are really starting to hit their stride. They were thoroughly impressive in an 82-63 win over Winthrop on Saturday and have now won five of their last seven games with one of those losses coming to ACC foe Wake Forest. The Chants have found great offensive balance with junior guard Elijah Wilson (13.7 points per game), senior forward Badou Diagne (12.3), junior point gaurd Shivaughn Wiggins (12.1) and sophomore gaurd Jaylen Shaw (11.6) all capable of carrying the load during stretches. As for the series with Liberty, Coastal Carolina has won the last three meetings, including a dominant 96-56 victory last February in Conway.

About the Flames (3-13, 0-3): Liberty is in a full rebuild under new coach Ritchie McKay, who is in his second stint as the Flames’ head coach after spending the six seasons in between as an assistant at Virginia. The roster returned minimal experience this season – including just 16.5 percent of the team’s scoring from 2014-15 – and includes six freshmen and five sophomores. Predictably, that young group has struggled. Liberty does not have a win over a Division I opponent yet and comes into Conway on a 12-game losing streak. The bright spot has been the emergence of 6-foot-10 sophomore center Evan Maxwell, who is averaging 13.2 points and 6.4 rebounds and ranks eighth in the country in field goal percentage at .667. Sophomore guard/forward Ryan Kemrite, meanwhile, is averaging 12.7 points and 6.7 rebounds over his last three games, and freshman guard Caleb Homesley is averaging 11 points and six rebounds in that same stretch.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Matchup Preview: Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty."