Welcome from inside the Winthrop Coliseum. Big game between Liberty and Winthrop this afternoon. Let’s set it up:

- Follow the blog on Twitter for in-game updates.

- With a win, Liberty improves to 4-1 in Big South play, its best league start ever.

- It would give the Flames their first win here since the 2003-04 season.

- It would give Liberty a rare three-game road win streak.

The projected starters:

LIBERTY (8-8, 3-1 Big South)
G Jesse Sanders (6.7 ppg/6.3 rpg)
G Evan Gordon (11.3/4.0)
G/F Kyle Ohman (14.8/5.5)
F Patrick Konan (7.2/4.4)
F Antwan Burrus (5.4/2.9)

WINTHROP (6-9, 2-3)
G Reggie Middleton (7.9/3.0)
G Robbie Dreher (5.8/1.9)
F Mantoris Robinson (6.6/5.7)
F Matt Morgan (7.9/4.1)
C Andy Buechert (7.2/6.9)

Some things worth watching:

- What do we make of Winthrop’s 96-point showing against VMI Thursday? The Eagles entered the game as the worst shooting team in Division I but broke out of that slump in a big way. The problem, though, is that it’s hard to judge anything offensively against VMI, because the Keydets simply haven’t played defense this year. They allow more than 100 points per game and give up far too many uncontested layups. Liberty scored 110 against the same Keydets team in Lexington last Saturday, and Liberty isn’t the sort of team that can string together 100-point performances. That game was an offensive anomaly.

- The physical game. Liberty’s coaching staff—specifically head coach Dale Layer and assistant Jason Eaker—can talk all they want about how physical Winthrop plays. But until the players see it, they probably won’t believe it. Winthrop is a nasty defensive team. The Eagles don’t play dirty. They just play hard, and they make opponents earn everything they get. Some of Liberty’s young players will be getting their first taste of playing the Eagles, so it could take five minutes or so for the Flames to adjust.

- Thirty minutes before tip here and the joint is empty. I mean empty. Maybe 200 people in the Coliseum right now. We’ll see how that changes before game time.

- Winthrop has won six of the last seven and 12 of the last 16 against Liberty.

- Before shooting 52 percent against VMI, Winthrop had shot below 40 percent in 12 of its 14 games.

- Winthrop’s George Valentine is out for the season with a broken wrist.

- Layer is not unfamiliar with this area. Rock Hill is about 20 minutes south of Charlotte, where Layer got his head coaching start at Queens University.

- Travel note: I’ll be at some Big South road games, but not all this year, which is why I’m here today but wasn’t at Presbyterian on Thursday. Like any other media company, we’ve experienced budget cuts, etc., so any game involving overnight stays is out for now. So I’ll be at High Point and Radford, but not at Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville. Of course, things can change, but that’s the plan for now.

Some quick Big South/ACC thoughts before the game:

- Impressive showing by Virginia today at North Carolina State, rallying from 10 down in the second half to overtake the Wolfpack. Mike Scott was outstanding down the stretch. The Hoos have a huge home game next Wednesday against Georgia Tech.

- One-line roundup of Thursday’s Big South games:

* Liberty’s win at Presbyterian was impressive because two teams ahead of the Flames in the Big South standings struggled down in Clinton. The Flames won with relative ease, holding a double-digit lead for most of the second half.

* Charleston Southern cannot continue to blow opportunities like it had Thursday at Gardner-Webb. The Bucs were up double digits against a GWU team missing its best player, Grayson Flittner, but they failed to hold the lead.

* Was anyone shocked that Winthrop broke out against the Keydets? VMI showed little in the way of defensive intensity or rebounding effort last week against Liberty, and the Flames are far less physical than the Eagles are.

* Coastal Carolina wins on a late shot at UNC Asheville. Makes you start to think this is a charmed season for the Chanticleers.