The Conference USA announced the 2023-24 men’s basketball schedule on Monday, revealing the majority of Liberty’s basketball schedule for the upcoming season.
The Flames are entering their first season in CUSA, one of nine members in the league joining FIU, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, UTEP, and Western Kentucky. Teams will play 16 conference games playing a full round robin home and home schedule with each team.
Liberty will begin its quest for a first ever CUSA title on Jan. 6 at Western Kentucky. The home conference opener is on Wednesday, Jan. 10 against Jacksonville State. The season concludes at Liberty Arena as the Flames welcome WKU into Lynchburg for the regular season finale.
Returning starters Colin Porter, Joseph Venzant, and Kyle Rode highlight a group that return to help lead Coach McKay’s Flames this coming season. Key reserves from last season, Zach Cleveland, Brody Peebles, and Shiloh Robinson also return from a team that tied for the ASUN regular season title and advanced to the ASUN title game before falling to Kennesaw State. Liberty finished the year with a 27-9 record and a final KenPom ranking of 48, the highest in school history.
McKay and the Flames have won 131 games over the past five seasons, fourth most in the country. Liberty also has three conference tournament titles in the past five years, four conference regular season titles and one divisional title in the last five years, as well as seven straight 20-win seasons.
The conference schedule can now be added to several non-conference contests already announced for the Flames. Liberty has been invited to compete in the “He Gets Us” 2023 Hall of Fame Series in Charlotte at the Spectrum Center on Nov. 10. The Flames will meet the Charlotte 49ers as part of a triple-header in the one-day event. Liberty will play Florida Atlantic and College of Charleston in Boca Raton, Florida in the new Field of 68 Media Tip-Off event Nov. 30-Dec. 2.
Additionally, Liberty is also set to compete in the 2023 Myrtle Beach Invitational. The eight team tournament will be held Nov. 16-19 at the HTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina. The Chanticleers, as the tournament host, will also compete in the event. The rest of the field includes the College of Charleston, Furman, Saint Louis, Vermont, Wichita State, and Wyoming.
There is also supposed to be a two-game home and home opportunity for Liberty in the CUSA-WAC Challenge. The Flames could play Grand Canyon at home as part of this event. The other game will likely be against of the WAC’s other top teams such as Utah Valley, Utah State, or Stephen F Austin. The CUSA and WAC were ranked as the 10th and 11th best conference, respectively, in the country last year according to KenPom.
Liberty’s current 2023-24 schedule:
Nov. 10: vs Charlotte (Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC)
Nov. 16-19: 3 games in Myrtle Beach Invitational
Nov. 30: at Florida Atlantic
Dec. 01: vs Charleston (in Boca Raton, Florida)
Jan. 06: at Western Kentucky*
Jan. 10: vs Jacksonville State*
Jan. 13: at Louisiana Tech*
Jan. 18: vs FIU*
Jan. 20: vs Sam Houston*
Jan. 27: at Jacksonville State*
Feb. 01: at New Mexico State*
Feb. 03: at UTEP*
Feb. 08: vs Middle Tennessee*
Feb. 10: vs Louisiana Tech*
Feb. 17: at Sam Houston*
Feb. 22: at FIU*
Feb. 29: vs New Mexico State*
Mar. 02: vs UTEP*
Mar. 06: at Middle Tennessee*
Mar. 09: vs Western Kentucky&
