Liberty jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead before three minutes had run off the clock to begin the game and never looked back, defeating NCCAA member Regent, 85-24. Liberty Arena set a new record with an over capacity crowd of 4,034, the first game Liberty played in its two-year old arena without attendance restrictions.
Darius McGhee led the game with 21 points while true freshman Joseph Venzant chipped in 11 points including an exclamation point finish on an alley-oop from Isiah Warfield in the closing seconds. The Flames shot 57% from the field while Regent was held to just 21% from the floor.
The Flames begin the season at 1-0 and will now hit the road as the competition ramps up significantly. Liberty will be in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Monday night at 7 p.m. EST on ESPNU. The Tigers are 1-0 on the season, defeating Louisiana-Monroe, 101-39, on Tuesday night. LSU takes on Texas State Friday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN+.
DARIUS MCGHEE IS GOOD AT BASKETBALL
The reigning ASUN Player of the Year, Darius McGhee started the new season off with a bang finishing with a team high 21 points. McGhee made 5 of his 7 three point attempts to move into second on the school’s career three point made field goals list. The 5’9″ senior guard now has 229 career made triples, passing Larry Blair on the career list, he only trails Ryan Kemrite who has 258 career made threes.
In addition to his 21 points, McGhee chipped in 5 assists and 3 rebounds as he paced the team to begin the season. He scored 21 points in just 16 minutes played. The team’s starting point guard had 0 turnovers in the game.
KYLE RODE CAN AFFECT THE GAME WITHOUT SCORING
It’s been his style of play his entire career, but the Liberty forward finished the game with just 3 points but that has no correlation to the amount of his impact on the game. Rode added a team high 8 rebounds and 7 assists. He only attempted two field goal attempts, making his only three pointer of the night which came at the 14:35 mark of the second half. Rode also had 0 turnovers.
“It’s just who he is,” head coach Ritchie McKay said of Rode. “There are nights when he can score 20, there’s nights when he will take two shots.”
THE FRESHMEN CAN PLAY
Making their collegiate debuts, Brody Peebles and Joseph Venzant had a big impact and showed their ability. Venzant finished the game second on the team in scoring with 13 points. He made 5 of his 6 field goals and 2 of his 3 three point attempts to go along with 2 rebounds. The athletic guard finished the game by bringing the house down with an alley-oop dunk bringing in the pass from Isiah Warfield in the closing seconds.
Peebles also reached double figures with 10 points making 4 of 8 field goals and 1 of 3 from three. He added 3 rebounds and 1 assist.
“I really think Joseph and Brody have a chance to be special players,” said McKay. “They are the only freshmen on the team that played tonight because we are going to redshirt Bryson Spell and DJ Moore. I thought their minutes were valuable.”
