Both BYU Cougars are the Liberty Flames are traveling to the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic tournament with a loss in their last games. With both teams under pressure, it will be a great battle between these two at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, HI, on December 25, 2021.
Match Details
- BYU Cougars vs Liberty Flames
- League: NCAA Basketball
- Date – 25/12/2021
- Starting time – 6.30 PM ET
- Venue: Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, HI
BYU Cougars Stats & Form
The Cougars started the season in great form winning the first six games but have lost three of the next seven. Currently, BYU is first in the WCC with a 10-3 record.
In their last game, the Cougars lost 69-67 to the Vanderbilt Commodores. BYU started the game better leading five at the half but couldn’t keep up with the home team. Scotty Pippen Jr. scored the last 16 points for Vanderbilt.
Alex Barcello scored 15 to lead BYU, with Caleb Lohner and Spencer Johnson adding 11 each. Fousseyni Traore scored nine and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds for BYU, which owned a 43-31 advantage on the boards.
The Cougars are 9-0 when they turn the ball over 14 times or fewer and 1/3 when they exceed 14 turnovers. Brigham Young has an assist on 43 of 75 field goals (57.3 percent) across its past three outings.
Brigham Young is ranked first among WCC teams with an offensive rebound percentage of 35.1 percent. The Cougars have averaged 12.5 offensive boards per game.
BYU Cougars News
Coach Mark Pope will have his full roster available when the Cougars meet the Flames on Saturday. Alex Barcello is the team leading scorer with 18.6 points per game on 49% from the field or the three-point territory.
Liberty Flames Stats & Form
The Liberty Flames have regrouped recently after a 1-3 start of the season. They are on an 8-2 run ever since and are currently on top of ASUN E conference with an 8-5 record.
After three consecutive wins over Carver College, East Carolina and Northern Iowa, the Flames lost 79-76 to Stanford.
Darius McGhee scored 41 points for Liberty tying the tournament scoring record set by BYU’s Chase Fischer in the 2015-16 season. McGhee entered ranked 28th in the nation by averaging 19.8 points per game, and he was 13-of-28 shooting with seven 3-pointers against Stanford.
Stanford was ahead 76-67 with 41 seconds left before McGhee scored eight of the final 12 points.
McGhee has either made or assisted on 53 percent of all Liberty field goals over the last three games. He has 31 field goals and 11 assists in those games.
The Flames are 6-0 when the team records at least seven steals and 2-5 when falling short of that total.
Liberty Flames News
Liberty’s Darius McGhee, Keegan McDowell and Blake Preston have combined to account for 53 percent of all Flames scoring this season, although the trio’s output has decreased to 44 percent over the last five games. All three are ready to go on Saturday.
BYU Cougars vs Liberty Flames Head-to-Head Stats
These two teams have played only once before. Back in the 2006-07 season the Cougars won 73-59.
BYU Cougars vs Liberty Flames Betting Odds
The BYU are favorites in this game with -500 odds to win while Liberty is at 370. The total point margin is set at 132.5 with both ways at -110.
Betting Tip
The Cougars are 7-3 in their last game and there is no doubt they will improve even further. Mark Pope’s team scored more than 70 points per contest and will do so against the Flames, they will definitely cover the spread. The last 10 Cougars games averaged 138.7 total points, 6.2 more points than this matchup’s over/under. With all these numbers taken into account, BYU is expected to win by more than nine points in a game that will go over 132.5 points.
- Tip Quote (Home team win): -500 by DraftKings
- Tip Quote (Away team win): 370 by DraftKings
- Expert betting tip: over 132.5 points (-110 by DraftKings)
