Football-free blog today.

Interesting game tonight between Liberty and High Point, as both teams come in at 4-3 in Big South play. The winner stays in the top half of the league standings. The loser moves into a clump in the lower half with hard-charging Winthrop and UNC Asheville.

First, game updates will be posted on my Twitter feed.

Your projected starting lineups:

LIBERTY (9-10, 4-3 Big South)
Jesse Sanders (G, 6-3, 200)  6.7 ppg/6.2 rpg
Evan Gordon (G, 6-2, 185)  11.3/4.3
Jeremy Anderson (G, 6-4, 200) 5.5/1.6
Patrick Konan (F, 6-5, 205)  7.1/4.5
Antwan Burrus (F, 6-6, 210) 6.3/3.5

HIGH POINT (9-8, 4-3)
Tehran Cox (G, 6-1, 170)  3.4/1.6
Nick Barbour (G, 6-3, 175)  17.9/2.9
Eugene Harris (G, 6-2, 180)  14.5/2.5
Corey Law (F, 6-6, 210)  7.3/5.3
Cruz Daniels (C, 6-11, 220)  6.2/5.6

Some notes:

* Liberty’s Kyle Ohman successfully had a pin inserted into his broken left wrist today. He’s not with the team today. The newest injury prognosis has him out for 2-6 weeks, which is potentially much longer than expected. Just spoke to Liberty athletics trainer Aaron Schreiner, who told me Ohman’s wrist will be in a splint for the next two weeks, and after the splint comes off, they’ll be able to determine the next course of action. Really, it sounds to me that it’s all going to be about Ohman’s pain tolerance going forward. He’s a senior, so there’s no redshirt option left for him.

* Ohman’s loss really can’t be understated for Liberty. For the Flames to survive without him, several players are going to have to play above their heads to a certain degree.

High Point has had four days to prepare for an Ohman-less Liberty squad. None of Liberty’s remaining players are accustomed to playing the role of No. 1 scorer and No. 1 man on the opponent’s scouting report. Do the Flames have players capable of being that guy? Sure. But let’s break down the remaining players:

1. Anderson is a spot-up, rip-off-a-screen type of shooter. He has no floor game to speak of and really gets his points in one way—the 3-pointer. He’s rarely been an emphasis for opponents, and if you can take away Anderson’s catches and keep up with him on screens, he’s easy to slow down.

2. Evan Gordon can shoot and score off the bounce, but if you pressure him, he has a tendency to cough the ball up. He’s much more turnover prone than Ohman is, and I’m sure that’s something High Point will try to exploit.

3. Jesse Sanders can only score so much. Liberty’s offense runs much smoother when Sanders is the main ball-handler trying to draw defenses in on the drive to free up open shooters.

4. Patrick Konan and Antwan Burrus are only really effective from about eight feet and in. Easier to defend a guy if you don’t have to worry about defending him on the perimeter.

5. David Minaya is athletic and can score off the bounce, but he’s just a mental mess right now and can’t seem to snag more than three minutes in a game. His last couple of games have gone about the same way—he comes in, turns the ball over and returns to the bench. If Liberty can get anything out of Minaya and Perez, they might be able to survive this. But that’s a big if. Since scoring 21 at VMI Jan. 2, Perez has combined for nine points in his last four games.

6. Carter McMasters will have an opportunity to show what he can do offensively as well. He seems a lot more comfortable shooting from 10-12 feet than he does banging down low. He may be tall, but he’s got the strength of a three-man, not a five.

On High Point’s end ...

1. Former GW-Danville standout Nick Barbour really struggled on the Panthers’ road trip to the beach last weekend, scoring a combined 19 points on 7-of-27 shooting. He is quite capable of blowing up, though. He hit 10 3s in one game at Millis earlier this season. I suspect Liberty will put Anderson on Barbour, considering the job Anderson did on UNC Asheville’s Sean Smith last Saturday. It should be noted, though, that Barbour is far more athletic than Smith. Defending Smith meant keeping up with him on curls and cuts. He’s not juking anyone. Barbour can.

2. Eugene Harris, who had an awful year last year, is coming off a great weekend at the beach, scoring 44 points on 15-for-30 shooting.

3. High Point hasn’t lost in this building this year, and that includes a win over Radford, though none of the other home wins are very notable—UNC Pembroke, Hampden-Sydney, South Carolina State, North Carolina Central, Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville.

4. High Point goes 10 deep and no player is averaging 30 minutes per game.

That’s it for now. Check Twitter for in-game updates.