It’s hard to believe, but the Flames are now 10 games in to the 2024-25 basketball season. Liberty is off to its second best start in program history at 9-1. With 10 games under our belt, we’ve got a good indication of what this team can be this year. With those games in the books, let’s take a look at what we have learned.
1.) Length and athleticism have arrived.
It’s what was needed, especially after last season’s merciful exit in the CUSA Tournament quarterfinals. Liberty had to get longer and more athletic to compete for a championship in Conference USA. Coach McKay and his staff did exactly that. The four transfer additions in Owen Aquino, Isaiah, Ihnen, Jayvon Maughmer, and Taelon Peter are providing exactly what this team needed. It’s not just the inside presence Aquino and Ihnen provide, it’s the length and athleticism on the wing from Peter and Maughmer, as well. It allows the undersized Colin Porter and Kaden Metheny to operate in their lane at the top of their game.
2.) The team’s balance and depth is as good as we have seen under McKay.
Darius McGhee is the greatest basketball player Liberty has ever produced. That statement can be debated, but it is no doubt the 5’9″ guard is one of the best ever to play for the Flames and the best scorer in program history. As good as he was, some of his last couple of years on the team, the Flames lived and died with #2. More times than not, that was good enough, but there were occasions when it wasn’t and there wasn’t anyone else able to step up and take that pressure off McGhee.
That’s not the case with this year’s team which has significant balance in the team’s top seven. Any guy can lead the team in scoring on any given night. It’s happened several times already this year. Zach Cleveland can be the main guy. The offense can flow through Aquino. Metheny can score in bunches. Ihnen can score 20+. Porter was named the MVP of the Paradise Jam. Maughmer has had his moments. Peter has the potential to have breakout games, as well.
This team will have off nights and won’t win every game, but if one guy is not having a good night, there has been someone else to step up each time. It’s a great way for a team to be built.
3.) Kaden Metheny is an elite shot maker.
Kaden Metheny is starting to inch towards being one of the most efficient three-point shooters in school history. He’s currently made 43.3% of his three pointers this season. He shot 41.2% from behind the arc last year. If he continues at his current rate, he will threaten Ryan Kemrite’s single season record of 45.2% from three during the 2017-18 season. Kemrite’s 43.0% mark for his career is also in jeopardy.
4.) Isaiah Ihnen can be a difference maker.
Perhaps the least heralded of the four incoming transfers this season, Isaiah Ihnen has quickly placed himself among consideration for the most important player on this team. You just can’t teach his size, athleticism, and talent level. Remember, this is a former four-star recruit who had offers from Big 10 and ACC schools out of high school before playing at Minnesota. If it wasn’t for his two serious knee injuries while there, he was on his way to be a serious player for the Golden Gophers. The best part for Liberty is he can come off the bench when the team is completely healthy. He’s also shooting 38.2% from three.
5.) McKay has great lineup flexibility.
This roster gives McKay plenty of options. He can play the two small guards in Porter and Metheny, or, if teams are attacking them in the paint, the Flames can adjust and go big with a lineup featuring Maughmer, Cleveland, Ihnen, and Aquino. Liberty’s never had a roster that could put four talented and skilled players at 6’6″ on the floor at one time. The Flames can also put five three-point shooters on the court or go with 4-5 ball-handlers at once.
6.) Owen Aquino provides an interior presence Flames have lacked.
When’s the last time Liberty had a legitimate threat in the post where the team could dump the ball in there and expect a good shot at a bucker or, at the least, a foul? It feels like it’s been a while and that was something that was severely lacking last year. Insert Owen Aquino. The JUCO transfer provides that ability for the Flames. He’s currently averaging 9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game to go along with 13 blocks in 10 games while shooting 55.4% from the field. It feels like he’s just scratching the surface of how good he can be, and he’s someone the Flames will likely have to lean on at certain points this season.
7.) Depth behind the top 7 is a concern.
Liberty’s top 7 of Porter, Metheny, Maughmer, Cleveland, Aquino, Ihnen, and Peter is very talented and provides the Flames with plenty of options and depth. It would be nice to extend that number to at least 8, but right now there are question marks at the next few guys up. Zander Yates is the next big man up in the rotation while Brett Decker and Gabriel McKay are the options at guard.
Yates is a veteran who has a decent amount of experience, and he has been very efficient with his three-point shooting so far this season, making 9 of 20. If he can continue to play at the level he has, he provides a solid forward off the bench to help spell that first group if needed. Decker has obviously shown his ability to score in bunches, but it’s his defense that is keeping him from playing more minutes. As a true freshman, he should only improve, not only in that area, but in his total game as the season grows.
8.) Liberty should compete for a conference championship once again.
Last year was the first time in nearly a decade where the Flames weren’t serious contenders in the regular season or postseason conference championship race. You have to go all the way back to McKay’s first season back in Lynchburg after his stint in Charlottesville where that was the case. Ever since then there have been regular season and/or postseason conference championship chases that went at or near the end of the season. Through the first 10 games of the year, it feels like Liberty will be back in that race once again this season after a brief one-year absence last year, the team’s first in CUSA. A conference game hasn’t even been played yet, so there’s a long way to go, but it does appear that the Flames will be able to compete at that level.
9.) Colin Porter is playing like the late season freshman version of himself.
If you remember back to Porter’s freshman season, he had a strong finish to that season where it looked like he was ready to take that next step to being an all-conference performer. He scored 25 points in the ASUN semifinals against Eastern Kentucky, willing the team to the win. He then scored 14 in the first round of the NIT against Villanova. Porter didn’t quite take that step that we expected of him last year. If you look at his stats, they are almost identical in his first two seasons with a slight dip in his three-point shooting percentages. Through the first 10 games of his junior campaign, it looks like Porter is ready to take that next step. It might not show up every night due to the depth and many options on this team, but look no further than the wins over Kansas Staet and McNeese where he averaged 16.5 points and shot 50% from behind the arc in those two wins, helping him get named MVP of the Paradise Jam.
10.) This is not the offense we have seen from Liberty most of the time under McKay.
Liberty is currently averaging 77.2 points scored per game this season. Yes, that number is likely inflated slightly due to two games against non-Division I foes and the game against MVSU where the Flames put up 89. But, if Liberty stays close to that average, it will be the highest the team has averaged under McKay, by a healthy margin. The offense seems to be much more wide open with the Flames pushing the ball down the court off made buckets and even seeking to get out into transition off misses and turnovers. We will see how that translates once the competition and meaning of games increases in conference play.
