2025–26 Liberty Flames basketball team

2025–26 Liberty Flames basketball
Conference USA regular season champions
NIT, Second Round
ConferenceConference USA
Record26–8 (17–3 CUSA)
Head coach
Associate head coachDerek Johnston
Assistant coaches
  • Stephen Burggraf
  • Kyle Rode
Home arenaLiberty Arena
2025–26 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Liberty 17 – 3   .850 26 – 8   .765
Sam Houston 13 – 7   .650 22 – 12   .647
Western Kentucky 11 – 9   .550 18 – 14   .563
Louisiana Tech 11 – 9   .550 20 – 14   .588
Middle Tennessee 11 – 9   .550 17 – 15   .531
Kennesaw State † 10 – 10   .500 21 – 14   .600
Jacksonville State 10 – 10   .500 15 – 17   .469
FIU 8 – 12   .400 15 – 17   .469
Missouri State 8 – 12   .400 16 – 18   .471
New Mexico State 8 – 12   .400 16 – 16   .500
UTEP 7 – 13   .350 11 – 20   .355
Delaware 6 – 14   .300 10 – 21   .323
† 2026 CUSA tournament winner

The 2025–26 Liberty Flames basketball team represented Liberty University in the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Flames were led by Ritchie McKay in the eleventh season of his current stint as head coach (13th overall). They played their home games at Liberty Arena in Lynchburg, Virginia as members of Conference USA.

Previous season

The Flames finished the 2024–25 season 28–7, 16–5 in C-USA play to finish in first place. As the No. 1 seed in the C-USA tournament they defeated the 8th seed UTEP in the quarterfinals, the 4th seed Kennesaw State in the semifinals, and the 2nd seed Jacksonville State in the championship game to secure their first CUSA championship.[1]

The Flames were a 12-seed in the 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and faced 5th seed Oregon in Seattle as part of the East Regional. Oregon would eliminate Liberty by 29 points.[2]

Offseason

Departures

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure
Taelon Peter 2 G 6'4" 210 Senior Russellville, Arkansas Graduated
drafted by the Indiana Pacers[3]
Bryson Spell 5 F 6'9" 230 Junior Virginia Beach, Virginia Transferred to Elon[4]
Owen Aquino 8 F 6'9" 220 Junior Madrid, Spain Transferred to High Point[5]
Will Gibson 15 F 6'6 225 Freshman Louisville, Kentucky Transferred to Cedarville
Gaberial McKay 21 G 6'2" 180 Senior Lynchburg, Virginia Graduated
Curtis Blair III 24 G 6'6" 210 Freshman Richmond, Virginia Transferred to Cedarville
Jayvon Maughmer 32 G 6'6" 205 Senior Chillicothe, Ohio Graduated
Kai Yu 45 F 7'0" 235 Freshman Zhuhai, China Transferred to Bradley[6]

Incoming transfers

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous college
JJ Harper[7] 9 G 6'5" 200 Senior Orlando, Florida West Liberty
Ryan Jones Jr.[8] 21 F 6'8" 240 Freshman Gainesville, Florida Virginia Tech

2025 recruiting class

College recruiting information
Name Hometown School Height Weight Commit date[9][10][11]
Zander Carter
G 		Greenup, Kentucky Paul G. Blazer High School 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) N/A Jun 19, 2023 
Recruit ratings: No ratings found
TJ Drain
F 		Windermere, Florida Windermere High School 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) N/A Aug 31, 2024 
Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Brady Kester
F 		Huntersville, North Carolina Davidson Day School 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) N/A N/A 
Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Andrew Grimes
F 		Clayton, North Carolina Clayton High School 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) N/A Sep 4, 2023 
Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Torr Sorensen
F 		Goode, Virginia Western Reserve Academy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) N/A Oct 9, 2023 
Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Overall recruit ranking:
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "2025 Team Ranking". Rivals.

Roster

2024–25 Liberty Flames men's basketball team
Players Coaches
[12]
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 0 Colin Porter 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Paul G. Blazer HS Ashland, Kentucky
G 1 Zander Carter 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Fr Paul G. Blazer HS Greenup, Kentucky
G 3 Kaden Metheny 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) GS Bowling Green Morgantown, West Virginia
G 4 Brett Decker Jr. 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Central Hardin HS Cecilia, Kentucky
F 7 Isaiah Ihnen  6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) RS Jr Minnesota Böblingen, Germany
G 9 JJ Harper 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS Sr West Liberty Orlando, Florida
G 10 JC Shirer Jr. (W) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) RS So Grace Preparatory Academy Arlington, Texas
F 11 Zander Yates 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) RS Jr Creighton Germantown, Tennessee
F 12 Josh Smith 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Sr Stetson Monrovia, Indiana
F 15 Drew Grimes 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fr Clayton High School Goldsboro, North Carolina
F 20 Torr Sorensen 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Western Reserve Academy Goode, Virginia
F 21 Ryan Jones Jr. 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) RS Fr Virginia Tech Gainesville, Florida
F 23 TJ Drain 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Windermere High School Windermere, Florida
F 24 Brady Kester (W) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Davidson Day School Huntersville, North Carolina
F 25 Zach Cleveland 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Jr Normal Community HS Bloomington, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule and results

Date
time, TV 		Rank# Opponent# Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 3, 2025*
7:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Kentucky Christian W 98–57  1–0
  29 – Decker Jr.   10 – Cleveland   6 – Porter  Liberty Arena (3,431)
Lynchburg, Virginia
November 7, 2025*
6:00 p.m., YouTube 		Charleston
Field of 68 Media Network Tip-Off Event 		W 90–75  2–0
  23 – Porter   10 – Cleveland   8 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,998)
Lynchburg, Virginia
November 9, 2025*
6:00 p.m., YouTube 		Florida Atlantic
Field of 68 Media Network Tip-Off Event 		W 88–68  3–0
  28 – Metheny   10 – Cleveland   10 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,722)
Lynchburg, Virginia
November 17, 2025*
7:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Carolina W 98–46  4–0
  15 – Tied   10 – Cleveland   9 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,513)
Lynchburg, Virginia
November 24, 2025*
1:30 p.m., ESPNU 		vs. Vermont
Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational 		W 79–73  5–0
  23 – Decker Jr.   6 – Cleveland   7 – Cleveland  State Farm Field House (1,315)
Kissimmee, Florida
November 25, 2025*
12:00 p.m., ESPN2 		vs. Towson
Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational 		L 69–72  5–1
  16 – Metheny   8 – Cleveland   7 – Cleveland  State Farm Field House (957)
Kissimmee, Florida
November 26, 2025*
2:30 p.m., ESPNU 		vs. Bradley
Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational 		L 64–74  5–2
  21 – Decker Jr.   11 – Cleveland   8 – Cleveland  State Farm Field House (547)
Kissimmee, Florida
December 6, 2025*
2:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Coppin State W 92–50  6–2
  20 – Decker Jr.   7 – Tied   13 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (2,878)
Lynchburg, Virginia
December 10, 2025*
7:00 p.m., ACC Network 		at NC State L 45–85  6–3
  12 – Tied   7 – Cleveland   5 – Cleveland  Lenovo Center (14,515)
Raleigh, North Carolina
December 16, 2025*
6:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Midway W 95–57  7–3
  14 – Tied   5 – Tied   5 – Tied  Liberty Arena (2,250)
Lynchburg, Virginia
December 20, 2025*
12:30 p.m., USA Network 		at Dayton W 64–61  8–3
  16 – Metheny   16 – Cleveland   7 – Cleveland  UD Arena (13,407)
Dayton, Ohio
Conference USA regular season
December 28, 2025
2:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		at FIU W 97–94 OT 9–3
(1–0) 		 27 – Decker Jr.   9 – Smith   8 – Porter  Ocean Bank Convocation Center (399)
Westchester, Florida
January 2, 2026
7:00 p.m., ESPNU 		Kennesaw State W 81–73  10–3
(2–0) 		 20 – Cleveland   7 – Cleveland   4 – Metheny  Liberty Arena (3,415)
Lynchburg, Virginia
January 4, 2026
2:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Jacksonville State W 78–69  11–3
(3–0) 		 22 – Metheny   10 – Cleveland   7 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,087)
Lynchburg, Virignia
January 8, 2026
7:00 p.m., CBS Sports Network 		at Louisiana Tech W 72–56  12–3
(4–0) 		 15 – Decker Jr.   8 – Smith   2 – Tied  Thomas Assembly Center (2,373)
Ruston, Louisiana
January 10, 2026
3:30 p.m., ESPN+ 		at Sam Houston W 82–74  13–3
(5–0) 		 23 – Cleveland   7 – Cleveland   10 – Cleveland  Bernard Johnson Coliseum (1,170)
Huntsville, Texas
January 15, 2026
6:00 p.m., CBS Sports Network 		New Mexico State W 73–71  14–3
(6–0) 		 17 – Tied   6 – Cleveland   7 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (2,580)
Lynchburg, Virginia
January 17, 2026
3:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		UTEP W 80–69  15–3
(7–0) 		 20 – Tied   6 – Cleveland   4 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,082)
Lynchburg, Virginia
January 21, 2026
7:30 p.m., ESPN+ 		at Western Kentucky W 76–69  16–3
(8–0) 		 19 – Metheny   5 – Tied   6 – Metheny  E. A. Diddle Arena (3,512)
Bowling Green, Kentucky
January 24, 2026
1:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Delaware W 67–51  17–3
(9–0) 		 25 – Decker Jr.   8 – Cleveland   7 – Porter  Liberty Arena (3,475)
Lynchburg, Virginia
January 29, 2026
7:00 p.m., CBS Sports Network 		at Middle Tennessee W 81–65  18–3
(10–0) 		 29 – Metheny   6 – Cleveland   9 – Cleveland  Murphy Center (3,922)
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
February 4, 2026
7:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		at Delaware W 75–69  19–3
(11–0) 		 23 – Porter   7 – Metheny   9 – Cleveland  Bob Carpenter Center (2,084)
Newark, Delaware
February 7, 2026
2:00 p.m., CBS Sports Network 		Missouri State W 79–76  20–3
(12–0) 		 20 – Decker Jr.   10 – Cleveland   11 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,991)
Lynchburg, Virginia
February 11, 2026
9:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		at New Mexico State W 77–75  21–3
(13–0) 		 19 – Harper   14 – Cleveland   5 – Porter  Pan American Center (5,236)
Las Cruces, New Mexico
February 14, 2026
2:00 p.m., ESPN2 		at UTEP W 73–64  22–3
(14–0) 		 18 – Harper   6 – Tied   7 – Metheny  Don Haskins Center (3,914)
El Paso, Texas
February 19, 2026
6:00 p.m., CBS Sports Network 		FIU W 90–89 OT 23–3
(15–0) 		 18 – Cleveland   7 – Smith   8 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,553)
Lynchburg, Virginia
February 21, 2026
7:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Western Kentucky L 73–94  23–4
(15–1) 		 20 – Porter   4 – Cleveland   5 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,922)
Lynchburg, Virginia
February 26, 2026
7:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		at Kennesaw State L 65–74  23–5
(15–2) 		 15 – Decker Jr.   4 – Metheny   4 – Metheny  Convocation Center (2,046)
Kennesaw, Georgia
February 28, 2026
6:00 p.m., ESPNU 		at Jacksonville State W 81–78  24–5
(16–2) 		 24 – Metheny   7 – Cleveland   5 – Tied  Pete Mathews Coliseum (1,573)
Jacksonville, Alabama
March 5, 2026
7:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Louisiana Tech L 71–76  24–6
(16–3) 		 30 – Decker Jr.   6 – Metheny   8 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,134)
Lynchburg, Virginia
March 7, 2026
2:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		Sam Houston W 79–72  25–6
(17–3) 		 19 – Cleveland   9 – Cleveland   9 – Cleveland  Liberty Arena (3,523)
Lynchburg, Virginia
Conference USA Tournament
March 11, 2026
6:30 p.m., ESPN+ 		(1) vs. (9) Missouri State
Quarterfinal 		L 69-77  25–7
  20 – Cleveland   14 – Cleveland   5 – Porter  Von Braun Center 
Huntsville, Alabama
National Invitation Tournament
March 17, 2026
6:00 p.m., ESPN2 		at (3 AU) George Mason
First round 		W 77–71  26–7
  23 – Smith   9 – Smith   7 – Cleveland  EagleBank Arena (1,485)
Fairfax, Virginia
March 21, 2026
9:00 p.m., ESPN+ 		at (2 AU) Nevada
Second round 		L 63–73  26–8
  20 – Decker Jr.   7 – Cleveland   6 – Cleveland  Lawlor Events Center (4,616)
Reno, Nevada
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
AU=Auburn.
All times are in Eastern.

Sources[13]

References

  1. ^ Associated Press (March 16, 2025). "Liberty wins first Conference USA title to earn NCAA berth". ESPN. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  2. ^ Crepea, James (March 21, 2025). "Oregon Ducks rout Liberty Flames in 1st round of NCAA Tournament: Live updates rewind". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  3. ^ Wright, Killian (July 30, 2025). "What the Indiana Pacers Can Get Out of Taelon Peter". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  4. ^ Berfield, Benjamin (November 15, 2025). "Transfer additions get accustomed to Elon men's basketball team". Elon News Network. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  5. ^ Sharma, Aman (April 19, 2025). "Flynn Clayman Lands Impact Transfers for High Point in His First Week As Head Coach". College Football Network. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  6. ^ Eminian, Dave (April 27, 2025). "Bradley basketball gets 7-foot center from China via NCAA transfer portal". Journal Star. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  7. ^ Manson, Jon (April 14, 2025). "West Liberty transfer JJ Harper commits to Liberty". A Sea of Red. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  8. ^ Manson, Jon (April 12, 2025). "Former 4-star recruit, VT transfer Ryan Jones, Jr commits to Liberty". A Sea of Red. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  9. ^ "Liberty 2025 Basketball Commits". 247Sports. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  10. ^ Allen, Nick (January 27, 2025). "Liberty signee TJ Drain creating history in final year at Windermere". Spectrum News 13. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  11. ^ Manson, Jon (June 20, 2025). "Torr Sorensen, Brady Kester added to Liberty roster". A Sea of Red. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  12. ^ "2025-26 Men's Basketball Roster". Liberty Flames. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  13. ^ "Schedule". Liberty Flames. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.