Liberty senior Elijah Cuffee has concluded his collegiate career with the Flames, and he does so as one of the most successful players in school history.
The 6’4″ guard from Poca, West Virginia had the option to return for one more season as the 2020-21 men’s basketball season will not count against players’ eligibility the NCAA has previously ruled due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. Cuffee has instead elected to pursue a professional basketball career.
Cuffee will finish his career as Liberty’s winningest player with 104 victories during his 134 games played. He’s been a full-time starter for the majority of his career, after being inserted into the starting lineup midway through his freshman campaign. Cuffee played a vital role on the best Liberty teams of all-time. This season, he stepped into more of a leadership role and finished with a career best 9.8 points per game average.
“There’s very few players that I’ve ever witnessed live that can influence the outcome of a game without scoring a point,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said earlier this season. “I’ve seen some players over the years that have been able to do that. In our conference, and even when we play up a little bit, Elijah Cuffee is usually the best defender on the floor. I’m biased, I know, but to me he’s the best defender in the league and one of the best in the nation.”
Just a couple weeks ago, he became the first Liberty player to ever be named conference defensive player of the year, as he was named the ASUN DPOY following his senior season. Cuffee is the first Liberty player to ever advance to four consecutive conference championship games, winning three straight. He joins fellow teammates Darius McGhee and Keegan McDowell as the only Flames who have seen playing time in two different NCAA Tournaments.
Cuffee finished his career with perhaps his best ever single game performance on Friday in the NCAA Tournament First Round game against 4-seed Oklahoma State. He led the team in scoring with 16 points while making 6 of 9 field goals and 4 of 6 from three to go along with 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Yet, as has always been the case for the defensive-minded Cuffee, his best performance came on the defensive end where he bottled up Cade Cunningham. First-Team All-American and likely No. 1 NBA Draft pick, Cunningham scored 15 points but was held to 3 of 14 from the field. His 21.5% field goal shooting in the win was the lowest Cunningham has shot all season.
“Elijah Cuffee’s so special on the court,” McKay said following his team’s loss to the Cowboys Friday night. “We can talk about his accomplishments and his career leading win total, we can talk about his defensive prowess, but what I love about him is his person. He’s really become an exceptional leader. Our team wouldn’t be where we are programmatically without the selfless investment that Elijah has made and we’re going to miss him. I’m going to miss coaching him, but at the same time, I’m so happy for him that, he had a career that was worthy of remembrance.”
