ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Campbell opens play in the Big South Conference Championship Thursday with a 9:00 p.m. quarterfinal matchup against Liberty at Kimmel Arena in Asheville, N.C.
 
Under the direction of fifth-year head coach Kevin McGeehan, the Camels (16-14, 10-8) earned their highest seed (fourth) in the league tournament in six years and posted their best conference victory total since the 2012 squad finished 11-7.
 
Campbell won four of its final six games in the regular season to secure fourth place - one game above a five-way tie at 9-9 for fifth in the Big South standings.  CU closed the regular year Saturday with a 72-56 home win over Presbyterian.
 
Liberty (18-13, 9-9) won the fifth-place tiebreaker after splitting its final six games of the season.  The Flames are coming off a 65-45 dismantling of High Point Saturday at Lynchburg.
 
Thursday's game marks only the third meeting ever between the rivals in Big South tournament play.  Campbell defeated the Flames in the 1992 semifinals at Anderson, S.C., en route to its first Big South championship and NCAA tournament berth.  Liberty topped Campbell in the 1994 title game at Charleston, S.C., to earn its first-ever NCAA appearance.
 
Campbell defeated Liberty twice during the regular season - CU's first-ever sweep of the Flames - a 94-85 triumph in Lynchburg on Jan. 23, followed by a 79-69 victory Feb. 18 in Buies Creek.
 
Last year, the Camels charged to the Big South title game from the seventh seed before falling to top-seeded and host Winthrop in the final 76-59.
 
The Camels are led by first-team all-conference pick Chris Clemons. The nation's fourth-leading scorer (24.6), Clemons enters the Big South Championship just 30 points away from setting a new school all-time scoring record.  A junior from Raleigh, Clemons has tallied 2,124 points in 93 career games, just 29 shy of Jonathan Rodriguez, who had 2,153 in his career from 2006-10.
 
Liberty is led by second-team all-conference forward Scottie James, who ranks second among the league rebounding leaders (8.5) and 15th in scoring (13.1).
 
The winner of Thursday's quarterfinal will advance to Friday's 8 p.m. semifinal against the winner of the matchup between top-seeded and host UNC Asheville (20-11, 13-5) and eighth seed Charleston Southern (15-15, 9-9).
               
LAST TIME OUT
Campbell – Chris Clemons scored 23 points and tied his career high with nine assists to lead Campbell to a 72-56 win over Presbyterian Saturday at Gore Arena.  Damontez Oliver came off the bench to add a career-high 13 points for Campbell, which knocked down 12 three-pointers, while senior Mogga Lado added nine points and five boards in his final home game.  Senior walk-on Nick Parker had 8 points in his first career start for the Camels, who shot 51 percent from the field.
 
Liberty - Scottie James scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting and Liberty held High Point to just 31 percent shooting in Saturday's 65-45 win at the Vines Center.  Elijah Cuffee added 11 points, while Ryan Kemrite and Caleb Homesley chipped in 9 apiece for LIberty, which limited the visitors to just 4-of-22 (.182) shooting from 3-point range.
 
CAMPBELL-BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

• Campbell has posted a 13-14 record in Big South tourney play and has never lost a semi-final game in five tries (1987, 1989, 1992, 1994, 2017).
• Since returning to the Big South from the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2011-12, Campbell owns a 4-6 record in league championship tournament play.
• Campbell hosted the Big South Conference men's basketball championship in 2016 for the first time in the league's history, which dates to the inaugural 1986 tournament.
• Campbell made four appearances in the Big South Conference Tournament championship game from 1987-94.
• The Camels won the 1992 tournament – defeating Charleston Southern 67-53 in the final at Anderson, S.C. – and earned the Big South's first automatic bid in men's basketball in 1992.
• Including last year's 81-79 Campbell victory over UNC Asheville, the seventh seed has now defeated the second seed each of the last four times they have met in the Big South quarter final round.  High Point defeated second seed Liberty in the 2011 quarterfinals, while VMI downed Coastal Carolina in 2012.  The match up didn't happen in either 2013 or 2014 due to divisional matchups before seventh-seeded Gardner-Webb defeated High Point in overtime at the 2015 event.  Last year, 10th-seeded Presbyterian upset 7th-seeded Radford in the first round.
• In addition to his Big South tournament single-game tournament records for points (51), field goals (18) and three-pointers (8, tied) set in the 2017 quarterfinals against UNC Asheville, Chris Clemons also broke the Big South full tournament marks for total points (140), field goals (48) and three-point field goals (20).
• Campbell's run to the 2017 Big South final marked the 1st time since 2012 (VMI) that the 7th seed reached the Big South title game.  The 7th-seed team also reached the final in 2005 (Charleston Southern lost to #1 Winthrop 68-46) and 2002 (High Point lost ot #1 Winthrop 70-48).
• The lowest seed to reach a Big South title game was Liberty, which won the 2013 crown as the 5th seed in the North Division (9th or 10th seed overall) over the South Division champ Charleston Southern 87-76.

CAMPBELL-LIBERTY NOTES

• Chris Clemons scored 24 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and Campbell defeated Liberty 79-69 Feb. 18 at Gore Arena. Marcus Burk added 19 points, while Damontez Oliver came off the bench to chip in a career-high 12 for the Camels, who knocked down 15-of-27 threes and swept the regular season series from the Flames. Campbell shot 63 percent in the second half - 53 percent overall - and committed a season-low five turnovers. The Camels took advantage of 11 Liberty miscues to grab a 20-2 edge in points off turnovers.  Clemons' three from the right side gave Campbell its largest lead (61-46) with 8:19 to play.  Liberty, meanwhile, hit 11-straight shots, but could get no closer than 73-69 after consecutive treys by Kemrite with 2:38 remaining as the Camels made 7 of 8 from the floor during that span.
• Chris Clemons and Marcus Burk combined for 74 points and 20 three-point field goals to lead Campbell to a 94-85 win Jan. 23 at the Vines Center.  Clemons broke his own school record for points in a road game with 42, including 10-of-14 from 3-point distance, while Burk finished 10-of-16 from long range in a 32-point effort, one shy of his career record.  Clemons and Burk became the first teammates in NCAA Division I history to make 10 three-pointers each in the same game.  Campbell (12-9, 6-3) finished 23-of-33 (.697) from long distance – shattering the school record of 16 triples, set three times – most recently on Nov. 26 vs. USC Upstate. 
• Liberty ranks No. 14 in scoring defense in the country allowing 64.0 points per game.
• The Flames have only allowed nine of their first 31 foes to shoot 50% or better this season and stand 2-7 (including 7-straight setbacks) in those contests.  Campbell shot 64 percent from the floor - the highest percentage Liberty has surrendered this season - in its win Jan. 23 at Lynchburg, and hit 53 percent of its attempts in its Feb. 18 victory in Buies Creek.
• Ryan Kemrite has set the school record for most career three-pointers (243).
• Liberty currently ranks 4th in the country in free throw percentage (78.6).
• Liberty has six players shooting over 82% from the free-throw line.
• Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz ranks 19th in the country (tops in the Big South) in free-throw percentage (89.4).
• Liberty is 7-6 away from the Vines Center (1-1 on neutral floors) this season.  Campbell is 4-10 away from Gore Arena this year and has not played a neutral site game.