Liberty (10-3, 2-0 CUSA) defeated Kennesaw State (8-5, 0-2), 81-73, in front of 3,415 fans at Liberty Arena on Friday night.
“That’s what it’s going to be like in Conference USA,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “Anticipate all those games being a grind. It doesn’t matter how big your lead is, it doesn’t matter how many games you’ve won out of how many games, or how many games you haven’t won. It’s just going to be a fight. This league is really good. No disrespect to some of the other conferences we’ve played in, because their are some really good players and coaches in those leagues too, but this league is a beast.”
In a showdown between the preseason CUSA favorite Liberty and the No. 2 team in the poll, the Owls’ only lead was at 1-0 on an administrative technical on Liberty to begin the game due to a shot clock malfunction. From there, Liberty jumped out to a very strong start, making its first seven shots, pushing its lead to 10 before the first media timeout. An 8-0 run later in the half pushed the advantage to 36-21. The lead was as high as 17 on a few different occasions in the closing minutes of the first half as Liberty improved to 2-0 in CUSA play for the first time and also won its CUSA home opener for the first time.
Kennesaw State closed the first half on a 4-0 run and carried that momentum into the second period. The Owls then scored the eight points of the second half and they went on an extended 18-2 run to cut the deficit to 1. The Owls had 10 field goal attempts over the next several minutes when they trailed by 1, missing all of them as they were unable to get over the hump and take a lead. Colin Porter helped end the Kennesaw good fortune as he scored five straight for the Flames before a 7-0 Liberty spurt pushed its advantage back to 8. The Owls would not get closer than 4 points the rest of the way.
“It was a very physical game,” McKay noted. “We knew it was going to be like that. They missed a couple of easy ones that we were fortunate on. Once we bumped it back up to a two-possession game, I felt like we had a little wiggle room. I have confidence in our group. We typically won’t beat ourselves, but Kennesaw is good enough to beat you. They have a really good team and a special player in Cottle.”
Zach Cleveland led the way for the Flames, scoring a season-high 20 points on 9 of 13 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Colin Porter added 18 on 5 of 9 shooting with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. All five Liberty starters reached double figures as Brett Decker, JJ Harper, and Kaden Metheny also got into the fun on the offensive end. Decker had 13 points while Harper added 12 and Metheny had 10.
Simeon Cottle got the better of the individual matchup between the top two scorers in Conference USA entering the game, as he outscored Decker, 22-13. Cottle’s 22 was a game high as he shot 8 of 23 from the field and 5 of 15 from three.
The Flames shot 8 of 21 from three (38.1%) and 50.9% from the field while the Owls were 33.8% from the field and 10 of 36 (27.8%) from three. It’s the 9th time in 13 games that the Flames have shot over 50% from the field, improving to 10-0 when out-shooting its opponent. Liberty was dominated on the glass, with the Owls holding a dominating, 25-4 edge on the offensive glass. It helped lead to 27 more field goal attempts for the visitors. Kennesaw held a 19-4 edge in second chance points.
“They are one of the leading offensive rebounding teams in the country,” McKay said of the Owls and the rebounding edge they had. “It’s not how we want to roll. It’s not acceptable. We have to do better. Period.”
Liberty and Kennesaw State have developed a strong rivalry dating back to the 2018-19 season when both squads were ASUN members. The Flames now own a 12-3 edge in 15 all-time meetings. Last season, Liberty prevailed at KSU (Jan. 30) by a 76-68 score before falling 85-80 at home (March 2) to the Owls. This was Liberty’s last home loss and its only home setback in its last 13 games in its home building. The two teams met again in the 2025 CUSA Championship semifinals, with the Flames overcoming a 13-point second half deficit to win 81-79 and advance to the title game, which it won over Jacksonville State (79-67) to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
“Really, really proud of our group the way we navigated that one because not too often can you give up 25 offensive rebounds and still win a game,” said McKay. “They had 27 more (field goal) attempts than us. We just found a way. I’m very into the process. Happy we won, but also know we have a lot of room for improvement.”
Liberty returns to action on Sunday afternoon back at Liberty Arena against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in a rematch of last season’s CUSA Tournament Championship. Jax State is currently 7-6 on the season and 2-0 in conference play following their 67-64 win on Friday at Delaware. The Gamecocks have won three straight after starting the season 4-6 and 1-6 against Division I opponents.
