Defending Conference USA champion Liberty opened its season on Monday night with a 98-57 win over Kentucky Christian in front of 3,431 fans at Liberty Arena. The Flames are now 103-11 at home over the last seven years.
“It’s great to get back out there,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “Obviously, it’s been since March since we’ve played a game in real uniforms. I was pleased with our guys effort. I think the scrimmages have prepared us in a way that we at least got to see some combinations that we were kind of hoping to get to. I’m still learning this team, but it’s been a minute since I’ve seen our group play in a way that I thought was really connected.”
The Flames led from wire to wire and had little trouble with their NAIA opponent. With the win, Liberty improves to 11-2 in season openers under Coach McKay and 7-0 all-time against Kentucky Christian. This was the first meeting between the two since 2019, an 88-42 Liberty win on a night where Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz (who was in attendance Monday) scored his 1,000th career point.
The story coming into the season was about the return of the big three in Colin Porter, Zach Cleveland, and Kaden Metheny, but it was Brett Decker who stole the show in the season opening win. The sophomore had a career high 29 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the floor and 8 of 10 from three.
The big three wouldn’t disappoint though. They combined for 28 points, 21 rebounds, and 15 assists. Cleveland had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Metheny did struggle from range, missing all five of his three point buckets.
Virginia Tech transfer RJ Jones had an impressive debut. The first off the bench for the Flames on the night, the former four-star recruit finished with 10 points and four fouls on 4 of 6 shooting while also knocking down 2 of his 4 triples in 16 minutes.
“We recruited RJ because we thought he had a chance,” McKay said. “He really fits our university, from a character standpoint and a mission alignment. Remember, he’s a 4-star recruit coming out. I think he’s super talented. Now, it’s just a matter of keep stacking the days. He keeps getting better and better. If you would have saw from the summer time when he got here until now, you would be super impressed with his development. I think he’s going to add a lot of value.”
West Liberty transfer guard JJ Harper got into double figures in his first game in a Liberty uniform, finishing the night with 11 points on 4 of shooting and 1 of 2 from three. He also added 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
“I thought Brett Decker was really good,” said McKay. “He shot it well. He’s been doing that since he’s been here, but his defense has gotten better. RJ had a nice night. He’s a pretty versatile player because he can pop a little bit, he is very physical down there. JJ Harper is so unsung. He’s a terrific defender. He’s a great teammate. He really knows how to play.”
13 players played on the night for the Flames with 12 of them getting in the scoring column. True freshman Zander Carter played 17 minutes, finishing with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assists while shooting 2 of 7 from the field and 0 of 4 from three.
“Our freshmen, I’m happy with the minutes they got,” said McKay. “They have very little reps, comparatively speaking, on the defensive end, but t hey play really hard and they are unselfish. I thought Zander Carter, Drew Grimes, TJ Drain, all did a nice job. Even Torr in some late minutes.”
Liberty finished the night shooting 61.3% from the floor and 16 of 33 (48.5%) from three while making 6 of 11 (54.5%) from the charity stripe. The Flames held the Knights to 35% shooting from the field while they made 9 of 23 (39.1%) from three.
Isaiah Ihnen and Josh Smith were noticeable absences from the court in the lid lifter despite both being in uniform and going through pregame warmups with no apparent restrictions. Ihnen and Smith are coming off serious knee injuries and are expected to return to the court soon. McKay called them day to day following the game.
“I’m trusting (our training staff),” McKay said of getting Ihnen and Smith back on the court. “They look pretty good. We will wait and see. I don’t want to put them out there in a situation where they are tentative. We got to see them in practice a little bit longer.”
The competition will ramp up considerably this weekend for the Field of 68 Showcase at Liberty Arena. The Flames will take on Charleston Friday night at 6 p.m. and then FAU Sunday at 6 p.m.
“We’ve waited three years to get this kind of quality opponent in Liberty Arena, a place that we’ve been blessed to be a part of because we have terrific fan support,” McKay said. “We need it packed on Friday night and then again on Sunday night. I’ll take one game at a time, it’s a 6 o’clock start, Flames Nation, please come out because Charleston is a first class program. They are incredibly well coached and they are super talented. Hope we can get our Arena packed for those games.”
