Liberty has been invited to compete in the “He Gets Us” 2023 Hall of Fame Series in Charlotte at the Spectrum Center on Nov. 10. The Flames will meet the Charlotte 49ers as part of a triple-header in the one-day event.
“We have been fortunate enough to play in some Hall of Fame events in the past,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay in a release. “Add to the fact we get to play a quality opponent such as Charlotte, and it certainly feels like a great opportunity for our program.”
The event will be played at the Spectrum Center, the home of the Charlotte Hornets. In addition to the Flames and 49ers, Virginia will also meet up against Florida while Virginia Tech will face South Carolina on the same date at the Spectrum Center as part of the event.
Charlotte finished this past season with an overall record of 22-14 and 9-11 mark in Conference USA play. The 49ers also won the CBI following the conclusion of the regular season. Charlotte will be leaving CUSA and joining the American Athletic Conference this coming season.
Ron Sanchez was Charlotte’s head coach for the past five seasons, but he has recently resigned to take over as Associate Head Coach for Tony Bennett at Virginia. Aaron Fearne has been named the 49ers’ interim head coach for the upcoming season.
Vic Sfera remains on staff as an assistant at Charlotte. He has been there since Sanchez was hired as head coach of the 49ers prior to the 2018-19 season. He left Liberty as an assistant under McKay to join Sanchez at Charlotte. Sfera was on staff for the Flames for two seasons, coming to Lynchburg from Charlottesville where he was on staff for four seasons under Tony Bennett and alongside McKay and Sanchez.
Sanchez and McKay both served on the staff as assistants at Virginia when Tony Bennett was hired by the Cavaliers. The two both left to take over their own programs with Sanchez now returning to UVA.
The Flames have participated in Hall of Fame events three times with a 4-2 overall record in these events.
Returning starters Colin Porter, Joseph Venzant, and Kyle Rode highlight a group that return to help lead Coach McKay’s Flames this coming season. Key reserves from last season, Zach Cleveland, Brody Peebles, and Shiloh Robinson also return from a team that tied for the ASUN regular season title and advanced to the ASUN title game before falling to Kennesaw State. Liberty finished the year with a 27-9 record and a final KenPom ranking of 48, the highest in school history.
McKay and the Flames have won 131 games over the past five seasons, fourth most in the country. Liberty also has three conference tournament titles in the past five years, four conference regular season titles and one divisional title in the last five years, as well as seven straight 20-win seasons.
The game against Charlotte adds to a strong set of non-conference games already announced for the Flames. Liberty will play Florida Atlantic and College of Charleston in Boca Raton, Florida in the new Field of 68 Media Tip-Off event Nov. 30-Dec. 2.
In addition to the two games at FAU, Liberty is also set to compete in the 2023 Myrtle Beach Invitational. The eight team tournament will be held Nov. 16-19 at the HTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina. The Chanticleers, as the tournament host, will also compete in the event. The rest of the field includes the College of Charleston, Furman, Saint Louis, Vermont, Wichita State, and Wyoming.
There is also supposed to be a two-game home and home opportunity for Liberty in the CUSA-WAC Challenge. The Flames could play Grand Canyon at home as part of this event. The other game will likely be against of the WAC’s other top teams such as Utah Valley, Utah State, or Stephen F Austin. The CUSA and WAC were ranked as the 10th and 11th best conference, respectively, in the country last year according to KenPom.
Liberty’s current 2023-24 non-conference schedule:
Nov. 10: vs Charlotte (Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC)
Nov. 16-19: 3 games in Myrtle Beach Invitational
Nov. 30: at Florida Atlantic
Dec. 01: vs Charleston (in Boca Raton, Florida)
