ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop has a quick turnaround is it looks to push its win streak to three games when it takes on Liberty Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.

GAME SNAPSHOT 
Winthrop (11-6, 3-3 BSC) vs.  Liberty (5-14, 2-4 BSC)
Game Time: 4 p.m. EST / Site: Rock Hill, SC (Winthrop Coliseum)
Live Video: Big South Network (Mike Pacheco/Bobby Stevens)  Television: none  Audio: 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 3:30 p.m. with Dave Friedman/Ron Mikels)
Live Stats / Live Video / Live Audio





Winthrop Probable Starters
G    1      Bjorn Broman (6.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg)
G    5      Keon Johnson (20.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
F    12     Xavier Cooks (13.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
F    44     Jimmy Gavin (17.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg)
C    25     Zach Price (6.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg)

FREEZE THE FLAMES/COAT DRIVE
Freeze the Flames with Frozen. Dress like your favorite Disney character to receive free admission, donate a new or used coat to receive free admission. Anna and Elsa will be on hand for pictures and to help us break the world record for the largest "Let It Go" singalong at halftime. The first 100 fans will be able to enjoy a free ice cream sundae bar. Let's get Frozen

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 53^rd meeting all-time between the Eagles and Flames. Winthrop has won eight straight in the series and nine straight over the Flames at the Winthrop Coliseum. The all-time series is led by the Eagles with a 37-15 advantage in all games and 34-14 in league only games. During the win streak over the Flames the Eagles have held them to 65 or fewer points.

HOME SWEET HOME
This season the Eagles are 8-1 at the Winthrop Coliseum and 42-11 (79 percent) since 2012-13 when Pat Kelsey took over the program as head coach. Under Kelsey the Eagles hold a 47-12 mark when scoring at least 70 points in a contest and are even more impressive in home games when doing so at 32-3. In games the team scores 80 or more they are 28-4 under Kelsey's leadership. Since the 2004-05 season, the Eagles are 85-7 at home when scoring 70 or more points. Since 1998-99 the Eagles have won 81 percent of their home games (70 percent all-time in home games). Winthrop has won eight of the last nine Big South contests at home.

PERKINS COULD BE OUT UNTIL MID-TO-LATE FEBRUARY
Junior Rod Perkins was injured in practice on Jan. 5 and is expected to miss up to six weeks with a hand injury. Perkins has started six straight games before missing the game at UNC Asheville and against Ferrum. Before his injury, Perkins was averaging 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists.

THE MATCHUP
Winthrop is coming off one of its best performances of the season with the 20-point win over High Point for a second consecutive win. The Eagles shot 50 percent or better from the floor for the seventh time this season and the third consecutive game. The victory helped the Eagles avoid going two games under .500 in league play and keeps them in the upper half of the Big South standings. The Eagles boast the league's top scoring offense and it was on display Thursday night, posting their highest point total in a league game (86) behind 54 percent shooting in the game and 69 percent in the second half. Winthrop's offense wasn't the only thing going well as the team held High Point to just 66 points as it came into the game averaging 80.1 ppg. Winthrop held the Panthers to 34 percent shooting, the lowest an Eagle team has held a Big South opponent since holding Presbyterian College to 30 percent on Feb. 28, 2015 in an 80-53 win. Liberty is coming off a one-point loss at Charleston Southern, but have won two of the last three games. The Flames got a boost midway through December when John Dawson became eligible to play and in the last eight games he's led the team in scoring average at 13.5, which is a team-high for the season. Liberty in 2-6 in that stretch with four of the losses by single-digits and all four conference losses have been by single-digits. This game will feature the league's top scoring offense and the league's lowest scoring offense. However, Liberty is second in the league defensively by allowing just 67.1 ppg.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Two-time Big South Conference Player of the Week  Keon Johnson continues to lead the Eagles in scoring at 20.1 ppg, which ranks second in the Big South. He has nine games of scoring 20 or more points and is coming off 21 in the win over High Point. Senior Jimmy Gavin is the Big South's fourth leading scorer at 17.4 ppg and is coming off his best scoring output in league games with 29 as he hit six threes. Gavin, who has six games of 20 or more points this season is due for a breakout game in conference play. John Dawson has averaged 15.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 43 percent from the field, 35 percent from three and 83 percent at the foul line in four league games since becoming eligible. Dawson had 16 points in the loss at CSU as well as seven rebounds and six assists. Evan Maxwell is the team's second leading scorer on the team through 19 games at 11.8 per game and shoots 66 percent from the floor. Maxwell hasn't scored more than five points in the last three games, but is capable of putting up big numbers as he's scored 20 or more three times this year.

LAST TIME OUT
The Eagles picked up a much needed win over High Point and remain near the top of the league standings. Jimmy Gavin and Keon Johnson combined for 50 points as Gavin led all scorers with 29 and Johnson had 21. Winthrop shot 69 percent from the field in the second half as they outscored the Panthers by 14 points in the final 20 minutes. Duby Okeke was a force in the post as he finished with six points, nine rebounds and six blocks. Xavier Cooks chipped in with 17 points as he was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field

THE COACHES
Pat Kelsey is in his fourth season at the helm of the Winthrop men's basketball program. He holds a record of 64-49 in four seasons with appearances in the Big South championship game the past two seasons. The Eagles are 31-25 in Big South games under Kelsey. During his tenure the team has a couple of the program's notable victories with wins at Clemson and Auburn. Liberty is coached by Ritchie McKay, who is in his first year of his second stint with the Flames. McKay coached the Flames from 2007-09 before taking an associate head coaching gig with the University of Virginia. In his two seasons with Liberty he had a combined record of 39-28 overall and 19-13 in the league. In his head coaching career, McKay has a record of 209-199 in 14 seasons.

MILESTONES
Junior Keon Johnson was recognized for his 1,000 career points before the High Point game as he became the 23^rd player in the program's history to reach 1,000 points in his career. Johnson then scored 21 points to surpass 1,100 career points and is now 17^th all-time. In his career he's averaging 13.6 ppg and if he were to maintain that average for the remainder of his career (estimation of at least 43 possible games to play) he would finish with over 1,600 points, which only two players in school history have achieved.  He is the third player to reach 1,000 career points in Pat Kelsey's four years (Keon Moore/A. Smith). Johnson also joined an elite club of 30-point scores as he recorded his third of the season and his career with 32 in the loss to Campbell. He became just the fourth player in the history of the program to reach 30-points or more for a third time. Charles Brunson has the most 30-point games with nine and Fred McKinnon had five while Johnson is now tied with Torrell Martin for the third most with three. Johnson moved into the Top 10 for free throws made and three-pointers made. He's currently made 275 (9^th) in his and is among the top free throw shooters in the history of the program as he's currently shooting .844 in his career, which ranks fourth all-time. He's currently tied for 9th all-time in made threes with 160. Duby Okeke is averaging 3.07 blocks per game, which leads the Big South and ranks in the Top 10 in the nation. In 14 games he's blocked 43 shots and the program record for blocks in a season is 66 by Josh Grant in 2002-03. Okeke moved into 9^th all-time with 89 career blocks and Xavier Cooks has 70. Billy Houston is the all-time leader in career blocks with 139.  Okeke is only 15 blocks from the Top 3 all-time and his 43 blocks this year rank 7^th best for a single-season.