Liberty hopes the lumps they’ve taken over the past month will pay dividends down the stretch this basketball season as the ’Canes kick back into action this week after playing their last game nearly eight days ago.

Liberty (4-6) is in the midst of a four-game losing streak, which is one of the longest in Chad Landis’ tenure as head coach of the program.

With those four losses coming to Pocono Mountain West, Spring-Ford, La Salle College and George Washington, the Hurricanes have faced a brutal stretch of competition that has put them in an awkward position, but one that will hopefully mold them in the second half of the season.

“You hope that by taking your lumps with these games, that you’ll be better for it when you get back into league play,” he said. “That remains to be seen heading into this week. I don’t really know how we’re going to respond but I am surprised to be 4-6 right now. That certainly isn’t what we expected.”

What Landis wants his group to take away from the difficult competition and defeats is a hardened mentality, as well as an ability to finish games off.

“We’ve been competitive, but we need to find a way to close games out,” he said. “That’s one thing we’ve been preaching with them over the past week. We got to find ways to close things out in the fourth quarter. When you play against really good teams like we have, that’s the biggest thing that has stood out for us.”

Against PMW, Liberty led by two heading into the fourth quarter, but then were outscored 16-8 in the final frame to lose. Against Spring-Ford, Liberty led by two entering the fourth and were outscored 12-7 in the final eight minutes.

At the Parkland Holiday tournament, the Hurricanes were never in that position against La Salle, as they trailed from beginning to end, but saw a similar theme against George Washington, as they were tied at 24 heading into the third period, only to lose by 22.

With contests this week against East Stroudsburg South (4-7) and Nazareth (8-2) Tuesday and Friday, Liberty will have an opportunity to see what they’ve learned.

“Things don’t get any easier with our schedule in the league,” said Landis. “We really got to fight in every game to get out of this hole.”