Golden Eagles Set to Tangle with Liberty in Lynchburg

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team is set to take on Liberty (2-1, 0-0 ASUN) Friday night in Lynchburg, Va. The Golden Eagles (3-0, 0-0 SNC) will make their Liberty Arena debut at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN+.

Follow Along
- The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with Matt Warner and Paul Nazigian
- Chris Harris will carry the game on the Southern Miss Learfield Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and the Gameday App
- Follow @SouthernMiss MBB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates

The Need to Know
- Southern Miss is off to its first 3-0 start since the '18-'19 season
- The Golden Eagles got a 17-point performance from Felipe Haase and 16 from DeAndre Pinckney in Monday's win
- Austin Crowley increased his season average to 14.3 points per game after another 15-point performance against Loyola New Orleans
- Southern Miss' win against Vanderbilt last Friday was its first over a SEC school since 2011
- As of Tuesday, Southern Miss ranks 12th in scoring defense, 8th in steals per game, 13th in turnover margin and 25th in turnovers forced.
- Southern Miss has forced double-digit turnovers in each of its first three games after only reaching that mark two times last season
- Mo Arnold and Crowley each have eight steals on the season
- Friday's meeting marks the start of the Cancun Challenge that includes one game stateside against a team from the other bracket

Scouting the Flames
- Liberty enters the game at 2-1 with a win on Monday night over NC Central
- Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Liberty Head Coach Ritchie Mckay ranks No. 6 in the nation among all active Division I coaches in winning percentage. McKay and the Flames are 104-28 over the last four years for a .789 winning percentage.
- On Tuesday, Darius McGhee was selected to the 2022-23 John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy's® Preseason Top 50 Watch List.
- McGhee (17.3 ppg so far this season) has made 378 career three-pointers, which is the second most among active players in Division I
- Sophomore guard Brody Peebles enters the game as the team's second leading scorer at 13.0 ppg. Peebles has been in double figures in each of Liberty's first three games.

Series History
- Liberty and Southern Miss are meeting for the second time ever and first in Lynchburg
- The Golden Eagles hold a 1-0 edge in the series
- The two squads have not played since 2012, a 74-56 Southern Miss win in Huntsville, Texas

Up Next
- The Golden Eagles travel to Cancun, Mexico to take on Winthrop on Tuesday, Nov. 22. They will play either Eastern Michigan or Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday.

Golden Eagles Set to Tangle with Liberty in Lynchburg

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Players Mentioned

Mo Arnold

Austin Crowley

Felipe Haase

DeAndre Pinckney