WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William & Mary men's basketball team hosts the Liberty Flames on Saturday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. The in-state foes meet on the hardwood for the eighth time in the last nine years. The contest is slated for a 4 p.m. tip and will be broadcast for FREE in HD on Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet.

Tribe fans can also catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.

Catch up with the Tribe through social media. Follow the Tribe on Twitter @TribeAthletics and for in-game updates @TribeGameDay. Check in with the Tribe on Facebook at WMTribeAthletics, and see what happening with the Green and Gold on Instagram @TribeAthletics. Finally, follow along with the catalog of video content on TribeAthletics.com or check out the Tribe YouTube page. Fans can keep up with W&M men's basketball by following the program on social media as well. Be sure to check out the Tribe on Twitter (@TribeMensHoops), Facebook (TribeMensHoops), Instagram (TribeMensHoops) and Snapchat (TribeMensHoops).
 

News and Notes
- Liberty and W&M meet for the eighth time in the last nine seasons on Saturday. The Tribe has won four straight against the Flames and leads the all-time series at 5-4.
- W&M is 21-15 all-time against the Big South, including a 15-8 mark under head coach Tony Shaver. The Green and Gold is 8-2 against Big South teams over the last four years and has won three straight against the league. 
- The Tribe owns a 15-game home court non-conference winning streak, dating back to 2013. The Tribe's home record over the last three seasons is 36-9 (.800). 
- The Green and Gold connected on double-digit 3-pointers in two of its first four games, including 15 vs. Presbyterian. W&M leads the CAA and ranks 36th nationally in 3-pointers per game (9.5).
- The Tribe leads the CAA and ranks 24th nationally in assists per game (18.5). According to KenPom.com, W&M ranks second in the country in assist rate, recording an assist on nearly 75 percent of its made field goals against Division I competition (74.3).
- Junior Jack Whitman produced the first two double-digit scoring games of his career in the Tribe's last two games. He averaged 14.5 points per game in those contests, hitting nine of his 10 field goal attempts.
- Sophomore Paul Rowley has connected of 7-of-10 from 3-point range over the last two games. He ranks second in the CAA and 21st nationally at 55.6 percent from 3-point range.
- In two career games with Liberty, senior Omar Prewitt is averaging 17 points, four rebounds and 3.5 assists.
 
Scouting Liberty
- Liberty enters Saturday's game at 3-2 on the year with back-to-back home wins over UMass-Lowell, 84-77, and Mississippi Valley State, 70-55, at home. The Flames losses on the year have come at the hands of VCU, 64-59, and at top-10 Indiana, 87-48.
- Sophomore Caleb Homesley leads the Flames in scoring (13.4), rebounding (5.2) and assists (2.6). He tied his career high with 22 points in Liberty's win over Mississippi Valley State.
- Junior Ryan Kemrite and senior John Dawson round out the double-digit scorers for the Flames at 12.4 and 10.2 points per game. Kemrite tallied 21 points in the win over UMass-Lowell, while Dawson tallied 14 points against VCU. Kemrite averages almost three 3-pointers per game, hitting 58.3 percent from long range.
- Liberty ranks 16th nationally in turnover margin (5.8). They force opponents into 18.8 turnovers per game, and according to KenPom.com, rank third nationally forcing foes into turnovers on 28.1 percent of its possessions.
- The Flames take and make a lot of 3-pointers. LU ranks 17th nationally at 10.4 triples per game, while shooting 38.8 percent from long range as a team. According to KenPom.com, the Flames are fourth nationally with 46 percent of their offense coming from 3-pointers. In its victories, Liberty is averaging 13.3 3-pointers made per game compared to just six per game in its losses.
- W&M leads the all-time series with Liberty at 5-4 and have won the last four meetings between the teams. They meet for the eighth time in the last nine years. The Tribe downed the Flames, 70-59, last season in Lynchburg. For his career, senior Omar Prewitt is averaging 17 points, four rebounds and 3.5 assists in two contests against the Flames.
 
Tribe vs. the Big South
- Since the Big South was established in 1983, the Tribe is 21-15 all-time against the league, including a 15-8 mark under head coach Tony Shaver.
- The Green and Gold is 8-2 against the Big South over the last four seasons, including victories in each of its last three games with the league.
- Last week, W&M routed Presbyterian, 89-59. The Tribe scored the game's first nine points on the way to victory and hit 15 3-pointers in the process. The Green and Gold also dished out 27 assists on 32 made field goals.
- W&M is 27-15 all-time against the current 10 members of the Big South. The Tribe has faced nine of the 10 current Big South members. The only Big South team that the Tribe has yet to face is UNC Asheville.
 
Kaplan Arena Dedicated in Honor of Jim and Jane Kaplan
- On Friday, William & Mary Hall — home to hundreds of Tribe sporting events, concerts and ceremonies every year — was dedicated in the name of generous W&M benefactors, Jane Thompson Kaplan '56 and Jim Kaplan '57. The building, in its totality, will now be known as Kaplan Arena.
- The Kaplan family legacy has been built on their long record of advancing causes they are most passionate about, including scholarships support for students committed to excelling academically and athletically at William & Mary. Their most recent scholarships gift — which was given during the leadership phase of the For the Bold campaign — is the largest the athletics department has ever received and will provide full financial support for generations of men's basketball players.
- They are also dedicating a significant portion of their gift to fund the Muscarelle Museum of Art expansion project — a priority in the For the Bold campaign. A new wing of the museum will also be named in their honor. A new wing of the Muscarelle Museum of Art will be named in honor of the Kaplans.
- Jim Kaplan was a captain and three-year starter for the Tribe on the hardwood. He scored 863 career points, and in 1987, was inducted into the W&M Athletics Hall of Fame.
- Together, the Kaplans have served on nearly 10 different boards, committees and foundations at William & Mary, spanning over 15 years. Both currently sit on the Campaign Steering Committee and each have been recipients of the Alumni Medallion, the most prestigious award given to alumni for their professional accomplishments, leadership, dedication to the community and commitment to their alma mater.
 
Becoming the (Whit)man
- Redshirt freshman Jack Whitman has been the Tribe's best player of late, averaging 14.5 points over the last two contests. After scoring a career-high 16 points against Presbyterian, he followed that with 13 on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field in just 16 minutes at Duke.
- Whitman currently ranks 27th in the CAA in scoring (10.0), 19th in rebounding (5.5), seventh in blocked shots (1.0) and fifth in the offensive rebounding (2.5).
- Over the last two games, Whitman has hit nine of his 10 field goal attempts and been better from the free throw line at 11-of-17 (64.7 percent). He was even better against Duke, hitting 5-of-6 at the charity stripe. On the year, Whitman is shooting an impressive 70.6 percent from the floor.
 
Bomber Package
- The Tribe lineup possesses three of the top 3-point shooters in the Colonial Athletic Association in senior Daniel Dixon, junior Connor Burchfield and sophomore Paul Rowley. W&M has two of the top four in the CAA in 3-point percentage and two of the top three in 3-pointers made.
- Rowley, who has started all four games for W&M, ranks second in the league in 3-point percentage (55.6) and third in 3-pointers made per game (2.5). As of Nov. 24, he ranks 21st nationally in 3-point percentage. Over the last two games, Rowley is 7-of-10 from 3-point range.
- Burchfield, who is a 50.9 percent (56-of-110) career 3-point shooter, ranks fourth in the CAA in 3-point percentage, hitting 50 percent from long distance. Last season, Burchfield led the country in 3-point field goal percentage among players that made at least one per game. He connected on 56.3 percent (40-of-71) from long range, which was a W&M program record.
- Dixon leads the CAA at 2.8 3-pointers made per game, while coming in 12th in 3-point percentage (36.7).
 
Helping Hand
- An important characteristic of the Tribe's offense under head coach Tony Shaver has been its ability to share the basketball. For the fourth straight season and eighth time in the last nine years, W&M eclipsed the 400-assist mark in 2015-16.
- The Tribe is once again dishing out assists at a high rate. W&M leads the CAA and ranks 24th nationally at 18.5 per game in 2016-17. According to KenPom.com, the Tribe ranks second nationally in assist percentage (74.3), as of Nov. 24. That means that Green and Gold records an assist on nearly 75 percent of its made field goals.
- Last season, W&M dished out 500 assists for just the second time in school history, finishing with 501.
- The Tribe led the CAA and ranked 28th nationally at 16.2 assists per game in 2016. It marked the third time in the last four years that W&M led the CAA in assists.
- The 16.2 per game assist average ranked third in Tribe history and was the best since 1985.
- The Tribe ranked among the top 100 nationally in assists per game each of the last three years, including 39th in 2014-15 at 14.8.
- In 11 of Shaver's previous 13 seasons, W&M ranked among the top 100 in the country in assist percentage, according to KenPom.com. In fact, the Tribe has been among the top 50 in five of the last eight seasons. Assist percentage measures the percentage of made field goals assisted on by a team. Last season, the Tribe is 37th in assist percentage at 59.2.
 
In the National Rankings
The Tribe ranks among the top 100 nationally in a number of statistical categories. Here is a look at where W&M ranks nationally (as of Nov. 24):
 
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio - 20th (1.54)
Assists Per Game - 23rd (18.5)
3-Point Field Goals Per Game - 36th (9.5)
Blocked Shots Per Game - 55th (5.0)
Steals Per Game - 57th (8.3)
Fouls Per Game - 58th (17.3)
Turnovers Per Game - 67th (12.0)
Turnover Margin - 70th (3.0)
3-Point Field Goal Defense - 87th (.305)