Liberty basketball made its unofficial debut of the 2023-24 season with McKay’s Madness on Friday night in front of a strong crowd at Liberty Arena, but it was a member of the student body who stole the show.

Two students were picked to compete against the team in a slam dunk contest and one student, a freshman named Boston, quickly energized the crowd with his dunking ability. With a series of eye-dropping dunks, Boston wowed the judges, fans, and Liberty basketball team as he won the dunk contest, beating Liberty forward Zach Cleveland in the finale.

Come to find out, this student has game and comes from a strong pedigree. Boston Smith is the son of former NFL star receiver Steve Smith.

Boston was recruited as a basketball player, part of the 2023 class out of Carmel Christian School in North Carolina. The 6’2″ guard picked up offers from Hampton and Utah but ended up at Liberty not playing sports. After his performance at Liberty Arena Friday night, could we get him a walk-on spot on the team?

Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay began the night by taking to the court to help energize the crowd. McKay announced he recently had surgery and had stitches in his mouth and would not be staying at Liberty Arena for the entire event so he could return home to rest.

Redshirt-freshman Ben Southerland did not participate in the evening’s activities as he had a walking boot on his left foot. The 6’7″ forward did not play last season as he redshirted.

McKay’s Madness began with an 8-minute scrimmage between two teams that were split up by the Flames. There wasn’t much, if any, defense played during this scrimmage as the team was treating it more like all-star type event than trying to lock someone up.

With that said, Brody Peebles came out firing, making three of five three pointers and two of his three two point attempts as he led the light blue team with 13 points.

Freshman 7-footer Kai Yu, a teammate of Peebles, attempted two three pointers during the scrimmage, missing both. He did make three buckets at the rim. The big man from China seemed very comfortable on the floor and liked to hang out around the perimeter on offense.

Fellow freshman Jaylen Davis from Kentucky had 9 points during the scrimmage. He had three dunks including an alley-oop he connected on from Peebles while also making his only three point attempt.

Bowling Green transfer Kaden Metheny showed off his shooting ability as he made both of his three point attempts for the navy blue team. Both of his shots were attempted from well behind the three-point line with his first attempt coming from the LU logo on the floor at midcourt.

Freshman guard Curtis Blair made both of his three pointers during the scrimmage and had 10 points for the navy team during the scrimmage.

Shiloh Robinson made one of two three point attempts and Creighton transfer forward Zander Yates also made one of two three pointers.

Following the scrimmage, there was a three-point shootout. Two fans from the crowd were selected to go up against Blair and Peebles.

Brody Peebles easily won the three point contest, as he calmly sank nine of his 10 attempts, all coming from the top of the key.

In the dunk contest, in addition to the two students and Zach Cleveland, Kai Yu, Joseph Venzant and Jaylen Davis also competed in the event.

The Flames will open the 2023-24 season on Monday, Nov. 6 against Mid-Atlantic Christian at Liberty Arena.