LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine Knights are down to just two more road trips in the regular season, and this week sees the Knights travel to Lynchburg, Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina as BU attempts to avenge losses to Liberty and Queens from earlier in the season.
 
On Thursday at 7 p.m., the Knights will be in Lynchburg to square off against the ASUN Conference-leading Liberty Flames, before making the 200-mile trip to Charlotte to face Queens University of Charlotte at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Liberty (19-6, 10-2 ASUN) was the ASUN preseason favorite, and the Flames have by-and-large lived up to that expectation despite dropping their most recent outing on Saturday at Lipscomb. Led by two-time ASUN Player of the Year Darius McGhee, Liberty is formidable on both ends of the court.  On offense, the Flames are extremely efficient, ranking tops in the league in field goal percentage (.475) and assists (17.4) while ranking second in 3-point percentage.  At the defensive end, Liberty surrenders the fewest points per game (58.8) in the league and holds opponents to just 40.8 percent shooting, the second-best mark in the ASUN.
 
McGhee is leading in the ASUN in scoring at 20.8 points a game, which ranks 16th nationally.  He's one of the most dangerous 3-point threats in the nation, making an average of 4.48 triples per game, which is second best at the D1 level.  In his first outing against the Knights this season (a 70-53 win for Liberty), McGhee tossed in 24 points on eight 3-pointers as he went 8-of-15 from beyond the arc. Kentucky native Kyle Rode also had a strong outing for Liberty in the first meeting between the teams.  The 6-7 forward notched 22 points and dished out four assists. Rode is Liberty's second-leading scorer on the season at 10.2 points per game.
 
On Saturday, the Knights will look to avenge a 74-75 loss to the Royals back on Jan. 5. In that contest, Queens took advantage of Bellarmine's ice-cold shooting in the first half to claim a 40-26 halftime lead then held off a second half charge by the Knights to hold on for a one-point victory.
 
Queens (16-9, 6-6 ASUN) is making its debut at the Division I level this season after being a perennial power at the Division II level.  The Royals are led by the backcourt tandem of Kenny Dye and AJ McKee, who are averaging 16.6 and 15.7 points per game respectively while 6-7 forward Gavin Rains is the league's best rebounder at 10.2 per game.  As a team, Queens likes to push the tempo and leads the ASUN in points per game (79.6), free throws made per game (15.1) and rebound margin (+5.2).   
 
Bellarmine (11-14, 6-6 ASUN) comes into the week off a 71-64 homecoming victory over Jacksonville State that saw redshirt freshman Ben Johnson come off the bench to pour in 23 points aided by nailing seven of 10 3-pointers.

On the year, redshirt senior Garrett Tipton is the leading scorer at 12.9 points per game, and the Columbus, Ohio native also is coming off a strong performance with 19 second half points against JSU.
 
Freshman Peter Suder has seen a surge in his production since having to sit out the Lipscomb game with an injured ankle.  In the last four games, Suder is averaging 14.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.25 assists per game.  He tied his career high of 24 points in a double overtime loss to Kennesaw last Thursday and netted 15 in Saturday's win over the Gamecocks.
 
Graduate student Juston Betz is the leading rebounder and assist man for the Knights, averaging 5.3 and 3.3 on the year.  Senior Alec Pfriem also is contributing in all phases of the game and dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds in BU's latest outing.
 
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