Liberty (23-5, 15-2 CUSA) dropped a second straight game, falling at Kennesaw State (17-11, 9-8 CUSA) on Thursday night, 74-65.
“They deserved to win,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said. “We did a decent job in certain aspects that we didn’t do last weekend against Western and against FIU, but not enough to win the game, not when Kennesaw scores 30 points in the paint. It’s going to be our lot. Everyone’s going to play super physical. We’re going to have to combat that. It’s great for us to continue to see those coverages two weeks before the conference tournament because we can surely expect it.”
The Owls utilized a 10-0 run late in the first half to grab the lead and they would not look back. Kennesaw went into the locker room with a 32-29 lead. The Flames tied it twice in the opening minutes of the second half with a pair of Brett Decker triples.
RJ Johnson provided too much for the Flames. The Kennesaw guard scored 25 points on 8 of 13 from the field and 5 of 6 from three. The Owls were unconscious from behind the arc, connecting on 11 of their 18 makes, good enough for 61%.
“At least three of them, maybe four, was coverage mistake, that’s on us,” McKay said of Kennesaw’s shooting from deep. “We’ve got to do a better job there. Take nothing away from (Johnson). He’s done a great job filling in for Simeon Cottle. Coach Pettway has empowered him, and he is playing like an all-league player, no doubt about it.”
The loss marks Liberty’s first time losing on the road in conference play since February 1, 2025 at Jacksonville State as the Flames had won 12 straight. It is also just the second time the Flames have lost two straight this season and first time doing so in conference play since Jan. 11-16, 2025 against Louisiana Tech and UTEP.
Brett Decker led the Flames with 15 points on 5 of 7 from three. JJ Harper added 14 while Colin Porter had 11. Zach Cleveland had 10 points on 6 of 6 from the free throw line as he played with a sleeve on his left leg after suffering a knee injury in the loss to Western Kentucky this past Saturday.
“They made it hard for us, they really did,” said McKay. “They played off of Zach, tried to have some rim protection down there. We got to the line, we were 19 for 23. People are going to run us off the (3-point) line, make us finish at the rim, and be really, really physical. We shot season high attempts the last two games from the free throw line because everybody is running us off the line. If those guards can’t get free at the top, that’s the only way to combat it.”
The Flames will try to end their losing streak on Saturday night at Jacksonville State when Liberty takes on the Gamecocks at 6 p.m. on ESPNU. Jax State is 14-14 on the season and 9-8 in conference play. They had lost four straight prior to picking up a win at home over Delaware, 80-70, in overtime on Thursday night.
“We are going to have to match teams’ physicality. We are the 5th fewest fouling team in the country, but I don’t know if that does you any good if one team is really, really physical and you are not. You get to the line a bunch and they outlast the whistle. We’ve got to respond to that physicality ourselves.”
