The 2017-18 Liberty men’s basketball team did not play in the NCAA tournament.
A heartbreaking last-second loss at Radford in the Big South championship game dashed any hopes the Flames had of making the big dance. Instead, the Flames ended up in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. After wins against North Carolina A&T and Central Michigan, Liberty found itself hosting the semifinal round of the tournament against UIC.
The UIC game was forgettable for most, but I remember it well. I went to the UIC game. It was the spring semester of my freshman year at Liberty, and while the Flames weren’t competing in a nationally-renowned postseason tournament, I was still excited to root for my school in what everyone knew could be the last game of the season.
Liberty jumped out to an early 12-5 lead, sparked by the energy of then-sophomore forward Myo Baxter-Bell. A scoring drought put the Flames behind by just four points at halftime, but UIC dominated the second half and secured an easy 67-51 win.
The game attendance of 2,248 was larger than most crowds in 2018, and I remember being pleasantly surprised by the turnout. There was finally a little buzz in the Vines Center, and I was glad that then-Liberty senior Ryan Kemrite got a well-deserved ovation as he walked off the court for the final time in a Liberty jersey. I left the game optimistic for 2018-2019, and somewhat pleased by the game’s attendance.
That is, until I overheard a student on my hall groaning about the homework he had been “forced” to put off. I was confused by his comment, and I asked him to clarify. He gave me a bothered look, chuckled, and said, “All community group leaders got an email. We were required to go to the game.”
“It was mandatory for me, literally.”
About that time, a group of reporters huddled around Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay for his final postgame press conference of the season. McKay covered all the no-brainers: praising the character and commitment of his team, noting which facets of the game Liberty had fallen short in, and offering a brief word on the program’s future. That final clause caught my attention then, and it makes me smile today when I re-watch the interview.
“I hope it motivates us going forward . . . that although we did some good things, there’s another step for Liberty’s basketball program on the men’s side.”
Fast forward to 2018. The Flames reeled off three straight wins to open the season, lost at Vanderbilt, and collected another four victories. Granted, the biggest of those victories came Nov. 28, 2018 against Navy; but 7-1 was still a great start to the year. A month later, Liberty stumbled into UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion coming off of a bad loss against Austin Peay.
What happened that night, few anticipated. Behind Caleb Homesley’s 21 points, Liberty controlled the game from start to finish and trounced the Bruins 73-58.
The UCLA game was an eye opener for me. The Flames’ victory over one of the most storied programs in college basketball wasn’t a lucky, down-to-the-wire victory. It was an absolute drubbing. From tip to final buzzer, Liberty left absolutely no doubt that it was a much better team than the 11-time national champion Bruins. Bill Walton was, and still is, upset.
From there, the Flames just kept winning. After finishing 2018 as co-regular season ASUN champions, Liberty found itself in a rubber match with top seeded Lipscomb. After Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz’s late corner three put the game out of reach for the Bisons, the Flames dogpiled near the sideline in Allen Arena to celebrate Liberty’s NCAA tournament berth.
On Selection Sunday, I settled into a concourse-level seat in Vines and nibbled on some cold pizza as I watched the selection committee announce Liberty, a 12-seed, would take on 5-seed Mississippi State. The gym went berserk when Liberty’s name was announced, and something dawned on me: I was living something that I’d been watching every Selection Sunday for years.
The Mississippi State game was special, too. The first tournament win for Liberty in program history. Like many Flames fans, the Mississippi State game is one of those moments that I’ll always remember where I was and what I was doing at the time. I was packed into a car with four other friends on a dark South Carolina highway en-route to Charleston for a mini vacation. We obviously couldn’t watch the game, so we listened.
As the Flames slowly chipped away at the Bulldog’s double-digit lead, I grew increasingly anxious. When Homesley hit a late, contested three to give Liberty its first lead; I had to pull over. Then Lovell Cabbil buried another three with a minute left, and I knew it was over. We were moving on.
Even though Liberty fell to Virginia Tech in the next round, I couldn’t be upset. The Hokies were a good team; and Liberty was slated for another great season in 2019-20. The Flames had just concluded a magical year and were returning an incredible senior class in Scottie James, Myo Baxter-Bell, Caleb Homseley, and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz. I expected nothing less than another record-breaking season.
The 2019-20 season opened with a home matchup against Radford: the team that broke Liberty’s heart and sent the Flames to the CIT two years before. This game, however, was different. Unlike 2017-18, Liberty’s season trajectory was not hampered by Radford. Rather, Liberty’s Nov. 2019 victory over the Highlanders seemed to catapult the Flames into a 14-game winning streak to open the season.
Liberty’s name was beginning to be mentioned in top-25 discussions before the Flames lost their first game at LSU in late December. Before that loss, Liberty was one of three remaining unbeatens in the country.
With the exception of losses to Stetson, North Florida, and Lipscomb; Liberty made easy work of its remaining schedule: securing a share of the ASUN regular season title and the top seed in the ASUN tournament.
Fast forward to March 8, 2020. 29-4 Liberty was hosting Lipscomb for the ASUN Championship and the final game in Vines Center history. I had become accustomed to arriving at Vines thirty minutes before tip, breezing through security, and finding a good seat without issue. March 8 was different.
I arrived at Vines about 2 hours before tip and lines had already formed. Thousands of Liberty students encircled the gym: posing for ESPN cameras, demanding security personnel open the gates, and preparing to cheer on the Flames in the biggest game of the year. When the gates finally opened, students literally sprinted to seats.
It was only 1:45. Tip was scheduled for 3:00 pm.
Fans continued to file into Vines as tipoff approached, and nobody left early. That game was the most raucous I’ve ever seen the Vines Center. When Scottie James threw down a second-half transition dunk, the gym erupted. When Myo Baxter-Bell drained an uncharacteristic three with a minute left to play, I thought the aging Vines Center roof would be blown into the stratosphere.
All 7,728 fans stood for the entire game: jumping, screaming, waving, and fanning the Flames to their second consecutive conference championship and NCAA tournament berth. Following the game, head coach Ritchie McKay spoke to reporters about his team’s victory: just two years after 2.248 Liberty students attended a CIT game, some of them against their own will.
“Lastly, was that environment not phenomenal? That was big time,” McKay reflected through a grin. “That’s what you dream about when you’re a basketball player or you’re in a program. Hats off to Flames Nation.”
“They were tremendous.”
This jump in attendance was no accident. Rather; it was the direct result of a careful, calculated approach with no shortcuts. It was the result of an email from LU professor Christy James, a point guard from Puerto Rico with only one division one offer, a diamond-in-the-rough from Indian Trail, North Carolina; and a lineman-esque forward from Cincinnati who could handle the ball and yes, even drain the occasional three.
It was the result of the packline; of long recruiting trips, countless nights in the gym, prayers, anguish, tears, and elation. It was the brainchild of Ritchie McKay and his staff, the players he recruited, and the high standard demanded of a basketball program not accustomed to historical success. A foundation has been set; and upon that foundation rests a college basketball program that started in the Vines Center basement and has risen to national prominence.
This year’s NCAA Tournament appearance was expected since a year ago. It felt much different all season, but then it got taken from us by the unlikeliest of sources – a virus that runs rampant throughout the globe.
I’m upset that Liberty won’t have a chance to unseat another Power Five team in the NCAA tournament this year. I’m upset that the best senior class in Liberty men’s basketball history had their season cut short by a virus, and I’m upset that a Sweet 16 banner won’t hang in Liberty’s gym for at least one more year.
But more than anything, I’m proud of this program; and I’m thrilled to see what’s in store for the Flames in 2021 and beyond.
These past two years have been nothing short of remarkable for Liberty basketball. When I left a Vines Center basketball game for the final time on March 8, the big dance was the only thing on my mind. Now, the eyes of Liberty basketball and the university look forward with full hearts to a late-fall evening in the brand-new Liberty arena. An opponent has yet to be announced, but you know the rest of the saying. . .
Can’t lose.
