TOWSON, Md. – If you enjoy defense, then the Towson-Liberty men's basketball game will be the perfect holiday gift.
 
With Liberty and Towson leading their respective conferences in scoring defense, an electronic scoreboard may not be necessary as game officials could probably use an abacus to tally up the points. This has the potential to be the hardwood version of three yards and cloud of dust.
 
Both Towson and Liberty love playing defense and getting stops. Expect this contest to be low scoring with every breath, pass, dribble and screen fiercely contested. Only two teams have scored at least 60 points against undefeated Liberty this season.

 

When:	Friday, December 20, 2019
Where	Entertainment & Sports Arena -- Washington, D.C.
Time:	5 p.m.
Records:	Towson (5-5); Liberty (12-0)
Television/Internet:	FloSports.com
Radio:	CBS Sports Radio 1300AM with Spiro Morekas
Series History:	Towson, 9-3
Streak/Last Meeting:	Last meeting: Towson, 75-57 12-16-00/ Towson W1
Social Media Updates:	@Towson_MBB

 
Starting Five

• Liberty is one of four unbeaten teams in the country along with Auburn, San Diego State and Duquesne.
• Towson and Liberty were members of the Big South Conference together from 1993-95.
• The Tigers have won three of their last four games, holding three opponents below 60 points.
• The 2020 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament will be played in this venue from March 7-10.
• Towson's Brian Fobbs was named the CAA Co-Player of the Week and Liberty's Myo Baxter-Bell was named the Atlantic Sun Player of the Week.

 
Tournament/Arena Basics

• The Tigers will meet either Akron or Tulane on Saturday afternoon. The consolation game will be at 1 p.m. and the championship game will be at 3:30 p.m. Both Akron and Tulane enter the tournament with 8-2 overall records.
• The Entertainment & Sports Arena is a new state-of-the-art home to the WNBA champion Washington Mystics. It also serves as the official practice facility for the Washington Wizards while hosting the NBA G League Capital City Go-Go, concerts, boxing matches, esports tournaments and more.

 
Towson Update

• Towson's scheduled game against Cornell on Sunday, Dec 1 was canceled because of inclement weather in Ithaca, New York. The Tigers were already in Ithaca when the game was canceled. The game will not be made up.
• This is Towson's second tournament this season. Towson finished seventh at the Charleston Classic.
• The Tigers lead the CAA in scoring defense (63.7), field-goal percentage defense (40.0) and offensive rebounding percentage (34.2).
• Fobbs is coming off his best game of the season, finishing with a career best 33-points and seven 3-pointers in a 77-71 win over UMBC in Towson's last outing on Dec. 10
• Nakye Sanders has finished with at least six rebounds in seven straight games. He had 15 points and eight rebounds in the win over UMBC. Sanders is seventh in the CAA in rebounding (7.1).
• Allen Betrand has made at least one 3-pointer in every game this season. Betrand is 11th in the CAA in 3-point field goal percentage (42.9).
• Fobbs is seventh in the CAA in scoring (16.2).
• Juwan Gray is seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (44.0).
• Dennis Tunstall is second in offensive rebounds (2.8), tied for fourth in blocked shots (1.2) and 13th in rebounding (5.9).

 
A Look At Liberty

• Liberty is 3-0 against Maryland opponents this season beating Morgan State, Navy and Maryland-Eastern Shore.
• Liberty won the Bahamas Showcase Tournament by beating Morgan State (89-48), Rice (71-59) and Kansas City (62-49).
• Liberty is ranked second in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. The Flames are also receiving votes in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll.
• The balanced Flames have six players averaging at least eight points per outing: Caleb Homesley (11.8), Scottie James (9.8), Darius McGhee (9.8), Elijah Cuffie (9.3), Baxter-Bell (9.3) and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz (8.2).
• Baxter-Bell scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half to help Liberty beat Vanderbilt, 61-56, on the road in its last outing on Saturday.
• Liberty is second in the nation in scoring defense (50.2), field goal percentage defense (34.2) and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (24.3).
• The Flames are also 16th in 3-point field goal percentage (40.3) and 19th in 3-pointers (106).

 
Sound Smart With Your Friends

• Liberty will be the sixth 2019 postseason opponent Towson will face season: Kent State (CIT), Florida (NCAA), Xavier (NIT), Buffalo (NCAA) and Vermont (NCAA).
• Tunstall has 91 career blocked shots. With nine more, he'll become the eighth player in program history with 100 career blocks.
• The Tigers are 31-15, and 3-1 this season, in the Pat Skerry-era when allowing 60 or fewer points.
• According to metrics released by the NCAA this week, Towson has played the toughest schedule (144) of any of the schools competing this weekend.
• Towson is averaging 24.1 bench points per game.

 
Up Next

• Following this tournament, Towson begins CAA competition at home against Northeastern (Saturday, Dec. 28) and Hofstra (Monday, Dec. 30). Both games begin at 2 p.m. and tickets for each game are $5.
• The games against Northeastern and Hofstra conclude a rugged stretch in which Towson will have faced four 2019 postseason opponents over a six-game stretch.
• The Tigers begin CAA play against the only three conference teams that won 20 games last season: Northeastern, Hofstra and College of Charleston.