Liberty will open the 2024-25 season on Monday evening in the Total Athlete Tip-Off presented by Athletes in Action. The Flames will take on Valparaiso at 5 p.m. in Xenia, Ohio at the brand new John Wooden Family Fieldhouse.
Here’s what you need to know about the game:
How to Watch
5:00 p.m. ET | Monday, November 4
Xenia, OH | John Wooden Family FIeldhouse
TV: Gray Media (Televised locally in Lynchburg/Roanoke on WZBJ 24.1) (Full list of TV stations carrying the game) It will also be streamed on the Athletes in Action YouTube channel.
Liberty vs Valparaiso Odds (KenPom)
Spread: Liberty -7
Projected score: Liberty 74, Valparaiso 67
Liberty Projected Starters
#0 Colin Porter
Junior Guard | 5’10”, 170
2023-24 stats: 7.9 ppg, 3.9 apg, 2.8 rpg
#3 Kaden Metheny
R-Senior Guard | 5’11”, 170
2023-24 stats: 13.4 ppg, 2 apg, 3.4 rpg, 2.6 apg
#32 Jayvon Maughmer
R-Senior Guard | 6’6″, 205
2023-24 stats (at Cedarville): 20.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.0 apg
#25 Zach Cleveland
Junior Forward | 6’7″, 220
2023-24 stats: 11.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 4.0 apg
#8 Owen Aquino
Junior Forward | 6’8″, 230
2023-24 stats (at Eastern Florida State College): 14.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.4 apg
Liberty vs Valparaiso History
Liberty is 0-1 all-time against Valpo, losing, 72-54, during the 2003-04 season, a year in which the Flames advanced to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big South Championship.
Liberty vs Valparaiso Storylines
NEW LOOK FLAMES
The biggest storyline for Liberty entering this season is the new look roster. The Flames have a revamped roster highlighted by five transfers that have joined the team for this season.
Coach McKay was adamant on bringing in additional length and athleticism to help the team compete for a CUSA title. Jayvon Maughmer and Taelon Peter are transfer guards that will do just that, bring length and athleticism to the backcourt and wing. They each have the ability to score points in bunches and also affect the game in several different ways.
Owen Aquino and Isaiah Ihnen were brought in to help bolster the frontcourt alongside returner Zach Cleveland. Those three provide a lot of length, athleticism, and versatility for McKay and his staff. Aquino’s game is very similar to that of Cleveland’s while Ihnen is a little bit longer than the other two but also has the ability to step out behind the three-point line and knock down shots.
How will these additions impact the team? Which ones will slide into the starting rotation? How will the chemistry be early in the season? How will the rotation shake down?
All of these are questions Liberty will be looking to answer early in the year.
START OF LENGTHY ROAD TRIP
The Flames begin the season with a neutral site contest against Valpo in Ohio. The team will then head to the west coast to play at Seattle on Saturday. After the home opener at Liberty arena against Carolina University next Tuesday, the Flames then head to Charleston, South Carolina to take on FAU and the College of Charleston. Liberty then goes to the Virgin Islands for three games.
That’s a lot of travel for several difficult games in a short period of time. By the time the Flames have a Division I home game on Dec. 7 against Mississippi Valley State, we will know a lot about this squad.
HOW GOOD IS VALPO
We don’t know much about this year’s Beacons. That’s how it is in college basketball with the transfer portal playing such a large part in how each team is constructed from year to year.
Valpo was 7-25 last season and 3-17 in the Missouri Valley, finishing the season ranked No. 300 in KenPom. This year, the Beacons start the season ranked No. 226 in KenPom and were picked to finish 10th in the 12-team MVC in this year’s preseason poll.
They return their top three scorers from a season ago in Isaiah Stafford, Cooper Schwieger, and Darius DeAveiro.
Schwieger, the 2023-24 MVC Freshman of the Year, was named to the preseason first-team all-conference team after averaging 13.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as a freshman. The 6’10” sophomore forward shot 36.3% from three-point range. Schwieger’s twin brother transferred to Valpo during the offseason from Wright State. The 6’8″ Carson Schwieger redshirted at Wright State last season. Both Carson and Cooper attended Link Year Prep which is where Liberty redshirt freshman Kai Yu attended.
Stafford led the team in scoring a year ago, averaging 16.9 points per game to go along with 3.7 rebounds per contest. The 6’2″ senior guard who transferred from Southern Indiana to Valpo a couple years ago, shot 29.4% from three last season.
DeAveiro, a 6’1″ senoir guard averaged 7.9 points per game and shot 35.9% from three last season.
Another returner, Kasper Sepp, started 15 games as a freshman last year. The 6’7″ forward averaged 4.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
The Beacons have also welcomed in several transfers to this year’s team. Most notably, 6’3″ junior guard Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro comes to Valpo from Western Michigan. He started 61 games over the last two seasons and averaged 8.8 points, 3.1 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game last year.
6’4″ senior guard Tyler Schmidt spent four years at Olivet Nazarene where he twice earned NAIA All-American status. He averaged better than 20 points per game in each of his final three years there, including a career best 23.9 points per game last season.
Valparaiso also welcome in Grand Canyon transfer Isaiah Shaw. The 6’8″ redshirt-sophomore played in 32 of 35 games last year. In their trip to Liberty Arena against the Flames, Shaw played 8 minutes and grabbed one rebound.
Roger Powell is in his second year as head coach of the Beacons. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Valpo while also serving as an assistant at Vanderbilt. He returned to Valpo after a stint as an assistant at Gonzaga from 2019-2023.
Valpo reportedly beat Ball State, 95-86, in a secret scrimmage last week.
