Growing up in Midland, Texas, the Venzant brothers fell in love with the game of basketball.

That may not seem like a big deal, but Midland is in the heart of Texas where football is a way of life. For example, Midland is just 20 miles from Odessa, Texas, the home of Permian High School. Permian’s high school football team was the subject of the book Friday Night Lights which in turn inspired a movie and TV series of the same name. High school football in Texas is a religion.

For Daniel and Joseph Venzant, it was basketball that tickled their fancy as they picked up their game following after their father, Eddie, who played basketball in college.

The two Venzant boys spent countless days playing against one another. Daniel, four years older than Joseph, was able to dominate his younger brother in most of those games. It forced Joseph to be on defense a lot in the make-it-take-it games the two would play. Those games as a child, would set the foundation for the players that each would become.

Each would go on to star at Midland Christian School. Daniel would begin his college career at Cal State Fullerton before transferring to Division II St. Edwards University where he averaged over 17 points per game in two seasons. Meanwhile, his younger brother Joseph became a defensive standout.

“I had to learn how to be a good defender,” Joseph said of the games against his older brother growing up. “It’s just who I am as a competitor. I want to win the game.”

His defensive prowess would continue after his brother was in college and Joseph continued to come into his own as a basketball player. Joseph could score a lot of points for his high school team, and, while playing with several highly rated recruits on the AAU circuit, the younger Venzant would focus on his defensive game to help his team win.

“From a small town in Midland, Texas, when you go to those big (cities) in Dallas and Houston, I might not be in the same talent pool that I’ve seen in Midland, in West Texas,” Joseph said of his defensive strength. “I think I just had to be different in that category.”

On the back of his defensive game, Venzant attracted a ton of attention from college scouts, but it would be Liberty where he would find his home. Under head coach Ritchie McKay, the Flames had installed the Packline system made famous by the Bennett family and coaching tree. McKay and his staff valued what Joseph brought on that end of the floor.

Coming in as a freshman for the 2021-22 season, the 6’3″ Venzant immediately showed his value to the team on the floor. He started 31 of 33 games that year while averaging over 21 minutes per contest. That season he averaged 3.8 points per game, seeing his scoring increase to 4.2 points per game as a sophomore. Now in his third year in the program, Venzant has started 88 of 90 career games. While his scoring is up to a career high of 5.9 points per game this season, his contributions on the game go much beyond that number.

“I think the quality Joseph possesses is that he can actually impact the outcome of a game without scoring a point,” said Coach McKay. “I think that’s rare.”

McKay compared Venzant’s impact to the team to that of former Liberty player Elijah Cuffee and former Virginia players who played for the Cavaliers while McKay was an associate head coach in Charlottesville – Aakil Mitchell, Malcolm Brogdon, and Justin Anderson.

It’s not that Venzant can’t score, it’s just not something the team needs from him. During his Liberty career, Joseph is shooting 58.5% from the field. He’s scored in double figures three times this season.

“He doesn’t care to score,” said McKay. He will take what the defense gives him, but he’s not seeking that opportunity. He’s shooting because it’s a layup or the defense isn’t playing him. Most guys who work as hard on their game as Joseph does, want to see if their reps are manifesting themselves in a game in front of people. He could care less.”

What Venzant does care about is winning and he has played a large part in doing just that with the Flames. Liberty is 62-28 during Venzant’s career. In Liberty’s game against Sam Houston on Jan. 20, Venzant had a plus/minus of +25 in just 20 minutes played while only attempting three field goals, of which he made all three. That’s just one small example of the impact he can have on the final outcome despite rarely turning heads with his total in the scoring column.

“He’s one of the most competitive players I’ve played with if not the most,” said Liberty senior forward Kyle Rode. “He impacts the game in so many ways that you can’t even count them all.”

“In my career in AAU and high school, I played different roles,” Venzant explained. “I always wanted to win the game and wanted to do whatever I had to do to win the game. High school was different, I had to score. AAU I played on a team with several 5-star, 4-star guys, kind of had to do the same thing I’m doing here. As long as we’re winning the game, I’m not too worried about the praise or anything like that.”

This season, Venzant has continued to make a huge impact on the court with his defensive ability, but he has also developed into the team’s best rebounder. He’s always been a good rebounder for his size, but this year Venzant is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game. He’s averaging the fourth most rebounds per game in all of Division I for a player 6’3″ or shorter, only trailing SIUE’s Damarco Minor, Providence’s Devin Carter, and Montana State’s Robert Ford III.

With 478 career rebounds, Venzant is 25th in program history. Based on his 5.3 career rebound average, he’s on pace to finish in the top 8 in rebounds in program history, as he will finish his career as one of the best rebounders in program history regardless of position.

As for Daniel, after he finished his career at St. Edwards, he played overseas professionally for a couple years. Just a few weeks ago, he joined Liberty’s staff as a grad assistant and is now able to be much closer to his brother Joseph than they have been since Daniel left Midland to play college basketball several years ago.

“It’s been a huge blessing,” Joseph said of having his brother in Lynchburg and working with the basketball team. “We are four years apart. We didn’t really get to connect at a younger age. By the time I got old enough to be around and have common interests, he went off to college. Him getting to work with me and (help) develop my game, it’s always nice to have family around that will support you.”

Joseph, with Daniel by his side, now has his eyes set on helping the Flames get back to the NCAA Tournament, something the team has been absent from the last two seasons. If Liberty is able to achieve that goal of winning the Conference USA title and clinching a spot in the Big Dance, it will be in large part to the play of Joseph Venzant.

“He wants to win the game,” McKay said of Joseph. “He owns the defensive end like most players own their shooting prowess, rare, incredibly rare.”