The Liberty Flames (9-3, 1-0) have their league home opener on Friday night against Kennesaw State (8-4, 0-1).
Here’s what you need to know about the game:
How to Watch
7 p.m. ET | Friday, January 2
Lynchburg, Virginia | Liberty Arena
TV: ESPNU
Liberty vs Kennesaw State Odds (KenPom)
Spread: Liberty -8
Projected score: Liberty 84, Kennesaw 76
Liberty Projected Starters
#0 Colin Porter
Senior Guard | 5’10”, 170
2025-26 stats: 11.2 ppg, 3.6 apg, 2.5 rpg
#3 Kaden Metheny
R-Senior Guard | 5’11”, 170
2025-26 stats: 14.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.3 apg
#4 Brett Decker
Sophomore Guard | 6’3″, 190
2025-26 stats: 18.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 52.6% 3-point field goals
#9 JJ Harper
R-Senior Guard | 6’5″, 200
2025-26 stats: 9.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.3 apg
#25 Zach Cleveland
Senior Forward | 6’7″, 220
2025-26 stats: 9.5 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 7.6 apg
Liberty vs Kennesaw State History
Liberty leads the all-time series, 11-3. The Flames won 2 of 3 last year, including an 81-79 decision in the CUSA Tournament semifinals.
Liberty vs Kennesaw State Storylines
RIVALRY RENEWED
The Flames and Owls have developed a bit of a rivalry on the hardwood in recent seasons. Yes, Liberty has dominated the series with an 11-3 edge, but the Flames won the first nine in the head-to-head. Since then, it has been very even with the Owls holding a 3-2 edge in the last five. The two have also met in the conference tournament twice in recent seasons with high stakes on the line. In 2023, Kennesaw defeated the Flames in the ASUN Championship Game played in Kennesaw, Georgia, as Liberty was relegated to the NIT in Darius McGhee’s final season.
The teams went a year without playing each other before Kennesaw joined Liberty in CUSA last season. The teams split the regular season series with each team winning on the opposing team’s home floor. First, Liberty defeated the Owls, 76-68, in Georgia on January 30. In March, Kennesaw got some revenge with an 85-80 win at Liberty Arena. The Flames got the ultimate revenge in the semifinals of the CUSA Tournament on March 14. Behind Kaden Metheny’s three-point exploits, Liberty made a late comeback to defeat Kennesaw, 81-79, before ultimately winning the CUSA Title the next day.
Now, the two teams were the preseason pick to finish in the top two spots of CUSA this season with Liberty the preseason favorite and the Owls picked to finish second. The Flames will also be looking to win its first CUSA home opener in three tries in the game Friday night.
“We’ve had some battles with Kennesaw,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “I think they’ve become our rival. We won the first bunch of them, and then they beat us at the end of the year to win the home court advantage and then they won the championship game in our last hoorah in the ASUN. I think that gave them a bunch of confidence.”
OWLS LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK FROM 2-GAME SKID
Kennesaw State opened the year at 8-2 before suffering two straight setbacks, first at Middle Tennessee, 68-67, in their CUSA opener and then against Alabama, 92-81. The Owls lost their dynamic freshman Adrian Wooley who transferred to Louisville following last season, but they do return several key pieces from last year’s team who completed for a CUSA Championship. Simeon Cottle is back and he leads the team in scoring at 19.3 points per game while shooting 44% from three. The 6’2″ guard did struggle in the loss at MTSU going just 1 of 7 from three while finishing with 12 points. The 6’9″ Braedan Lue is second on the team with 11.6 points per game and 6.1 rebounds. He scored a team-high 20 points in their conference opener.
6’7″ forward Frankquon Sherman also returns and is averaging 8 points and 8 rebounds per game. He had 11 points and 15 rebounds at MTSU. 6’4″ guard RJ Johnson and 6’6″ forward Ramone Seals are a pair of sophomores who have taken a step up in their second year with the Owls., both averaging 10.2 points per game. Trey Simpson is a 6’8″ freshman forward who is averaging 9.3 points per game. Kaden Rickard is a 6’6″ freshman guard who is averaging 7.6 points per game in 22 minutes a night.
“They are good,” said McKay of the Owls. “Simeon is having a great year, Braeden Lue. They’ve got the usual suspects but they’ve got some other guys. Their freshman Rickard is a good player. I just think they are going to be a hard equation for anybody because of their length and athleticism. Coach Pettway gets them to play so hard.”
MATCHUP OF TOP 2 CUSA SCORERS
Friday’s game will be a meeting of the top two scorers currently in Conference USA in Kennesaw’s Simeon Cottle and Liberty’s Brett Decker. Cottle enters the game averaging 19.3 points per game while Decker is just behind him at 18.6 points per game. It’s no surprise for Cottle who was named the Preseason Player of the Year for CUSA as he returns for his senior season after finishing fourth in the league last year at 18.0 points per game. He was a second team all-conference member last season and is the top returning scorer from the league last season. For Decker it comes as more of a surprise
Cottle has played all four years with the Owls, proving himself to be one of the top scorers at the mid-major level. He scored 32 points against New Mexico State in the CUSA Quarterfinals, setting a new school mark as most points ever by an Owl in a postseason contest. He scored 30+ points three times last season. He scored 33 in a win over FGCU earlier this season. In the two losses to Liberty last season, Cottle averaged just 11.5 points per game and shot 5 of 28 from the field while in the win at Liberty Arena he scored 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting.
“Simeon Cottle, he’s such an engine for them,” said McKay. “He’s such a confident player.”
Decker played in 27 games as a true freshman a year, but he averaged just 4.3 points per game as his opportunities were limited behind a veteran laden team. He only appeared in one of the three games against Kennesaw last year, only playing one minute and missing his only field goal attempt, but he is clearly a much more integral part of the Flames’ offensive attack this season.
“He is an offensive problem,” McKay said of Decker. “Because he can shoot it from so far out, he can also put it past you and play at the rim, he’s a good athlete, makes good decisions. He’s actually got a mid-range game and he’s a really good free throw shooter. He’s a three or a four level scorer, if you add free throws as a level because he’s going to make it when he gets there. I thought he was going to be good. I didn’t know he was going to be our leading scorer and do what he’s doing because I think he’s having as good a season as any guard around. He’s a special player, and everybody else is noting that too.”
