Liberty (10-0) vs. Grand Canyon (4-6)
Phoenix, Arizona – Talking Stick Resort Arena
Sunday, Dec. 8, 6:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPNU
Radio: Alan York will have the Liberty radio network call on 107.5 FM in Lynchburg or also streaming online.
Last Meeting: N/A
Series History: First meeting

Projected LU Starters:

11 Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz (Sr., 6-1, 175) – 8.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.9 apg
2 Darius McGhee (So., 5-9, 150) – 10.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.9 apg
10 Elijah Cuffee (Jr., 6-4, 200) – 8.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.2 apg
22 Kyle Rode (Fr., 6-2, 220) – 7.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.1 apg
31 Scottie James (R-Sr., 6-7, 230) – 11.3 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.2 apg

Projected Grand Canyon Starters:

10 Jovan Blacksher Jr. (Fr., 5-11, 155) – 11.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.4 apg
1 Isiah Brown (R-Jr., 6-2, 180) – 11.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.8 apg
23 Carlos Johnson (Sr., 6-4, 220) – 14.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.1 apg
13 Lorenzo Jenkins (R-Sr., 6-7, 215) – 8.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.7 apg
25 Alessandro Lever (Jr., 6-10, 225) – 14.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.1 apg

QUICK FACTS

  • Liberty’s next win will be Coach McKay’s 300th career win and will make McKay Liberty’s winningest coach in DI history. Jeff Meyer won 259 games at Liberty, as he is the program’s winningest coach, but only 134 of those wins came at the Division I level. McKay has 134 wins during his time at Liberty.
  • Of the 400 minutes Liberty has played this season, the Flames have trailed for just 10 minutes and 33 seconds.
  • Liberty is ranked #2 in the country in scoring defense, allowing 48.5 ppg.
  • The Flames rank #4 in the country with 93 three-pointers made this season.
  • Liberty has three 1,000 career point scorers on the team, the most of any team in school history.
  • Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz is 4 victories away from becoming Liberty’s all-time winningest player in school history, surpassing Lovell Cabbil who set the record last year with 85 wins.

PREVIEW

The Flames and Antelopes will meet at Talking Stick Resort Arena, home of the Phoenix Suns, as part of the Jerry Colangelo Classic. It is one of three games that will be played as part of the Classic from the arena that day, as Tulane and St. Louis will get this started at 1:30 p.m. Eastern followed by Saint Mary’s and Dayton at 4 p.m. Eastern.

“The Jerry Colangelo Class, it’s an honor to be a part of,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay stated. “He’s done a lot for the game of basketball. I lived in Phoenix awhile so I know first-hand the impact he’s had on the community, the city, the state, and nationally, as well as internationally. For that, I feel like it’s an honor for us.”

This will be the first Division I opponent Liberty has faced since November 24th, when the Flames defeated UMKC to win the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase. The Flames have one of the weakest schedules in the country, ranked #352 out of 353 DI teams by KenPom. The schedule is about to pick up as Liberty will not return to the Vinces Center until January 9th and will face Grand Canyon, Vanderbilt, LSU, and play in a very challenging mid-major tournament in Washington, DC.

“We played who we could get,” McKay said. “I”m just being honest. After the UCLA win, it’s been the hardest to schedule.”

Moving up to the Division I level in 2013 behind former NBA star Dan Majerle as head coach, Grand Canyon has quickly become one of the best mid-major programs in the country. They have won 22 or more games in each of the past 3 seasons and have advanced to a postseason tournament in 4 of their first 5 years at the Division I level.

“They’ve recruited well, he’s a terrific coach,” McKay said of the Loopes. “They have some excellent offensive actions. I think their President and his commitment to building a fan base that solicits a home court advantage has been admirable. If you’ve been to a game or seen a game on their campus, the havocs are legit. It’s where we want to be in terms of a home court advantage. Dan Majerle is an iconic figure in the Valley. He’s done a terrific job there, and I think he will be there for a long time.”

The Antelopes are led by center Alessandro Lever who leads the team with 14.8 points per game. He was picked as the WAC Freshman of the Year and named first team All-WAC following his freshman campaign in 2017-18 where he led the team with 12.2 points per game. Lever was also a member of the Italian 18U and 20U National teams.

“Offensively, they’ve got a center in Ali Lever that can really play,” said McKay. “He’s a high-major player. He can score inside and out. They play through him. He’s a very tough matchup, but their perimeter is very good as well. He’s got Carlos Johnson, who’s a guy that can score at all three levels. Blacksher has had a terrific freshman campaign. They’ve got a really good team. They’ve had some bad patches in games that have cost them 2-3 wins, could easily be a 7-8 win team. They will challenge us.”

Those bad patches McKay references includes a season opening loss to non-DI opponent Davenport, 82-73. The Lopes opened the season 0-3, as losses to Illinois and San Diego State followed, before they defeated Arkansas Pine-Bluff for their first win of the season. GCU’s best win of the year was against KenPom #199 Illinois State, 68-63, and they are coming off an overtime win against Mount Saint Mary’s this past Tuesday night.

“We’re not focused on getting to 11-0,” said McKay. “We’re focused on getting better. Grand Canyon will definitely be a challenge. It’s a program that has belief, especially at home. This may say it’s a neutral game, it’s not a neutral game. If you look at the game last year against Nevada, I think they had about 6 or 7,000 GCU fans there. It will be a great environment for us to be challenged in.”

GCU and Liberty are both similar, faith-based institutions that have become rivals in terms of claiming the label “World’s largest Christian university.” In 2018, GCU had 70,000 online students and 20,000 on-campus students.

“It’s a long way to travel, but if there were a home and home against a really good mid-major that was an opportunity for us, we would be interested in that,” McKay said of possibly playing the Lopes more in the future. “We actually were in the midst of scheduling (a home and home with GCU), just too much time lapsed between conversations. I felt like we had to do something differently and then this game got tabled. Two universities that are faith-based to have an annual series would be good.”

KENPOM PREDICTION

Liberty 66, Grand Canyon 60