Men’s Basketball Wins Against Florida International University Panthers

The Liberty University Men’s Basketball team earned their 16th win of the season against the Florida International University Panthers as Head Coach Ritchie McKay found his 260th win, becoming the winningest coach in program history. 

The Flames kicked off their stretch of three away games with a dominate performance against FIU. The game started out close, but at the 7:09 mark, the Flames took a lead of 24-19 and went on a 6-0 run in the dying minutes of the first half. Following a dunk by redshirt senior guard Taelon Peter and a second chance basket from junior forward Zach Cleveland, Liberty extended its lengthy lead, pushing the score to 43-27. 

“This is the week where we have one game, and we wanted to be sure we get a win this week,” junior guard Colin Porter said in a post-game press conference. “We stick to what we do every day, taking care of the ball, getting a great shot on the offensive end and then on the defensive end just being hard to play against.”  

The Flames kept the same intensity in the second half, holding FIU to a 20-point deficit throughout the majority of the half, only allowing the Panthers to get within the 15-point range. At the end of regulation, the Flames took the victory with a score of 82-59, pushing their winning record to 16-4. 

“We were able to try and keep them out of the lane, and they’re a real good team. They attack well, then they create turnovers, get out and transition and run, so we just had to do what we do every day, and we got the desired outcome,” Porter said. 

 McKay was pleased with his team’s performance and complimented them on their defensive run postgame. 

“Our group was really solid defensively. I thought our assistant coach did a great job of preparing us on the defensive end,” McKay said. “They’ve got a lot of different pieces that they like to exploit and some hard actions to guard, and I just thought we were consistent. … I think it was a total team effort and am really pleased.”  

A highlight of the game was McKay’s 260th win as the head coach for Flames basketball, giving him more wins than any other coach in Flames athletic program history. He surpassed Jeff Meyer who had a total of 259 wins while coaching Flames basketball during the 1981-1997 seasons. McKay has led the team in eight of Liberty’s 12 20-win seasons as well as guided them to their first ever NCAA tournament win in the 2019 season. The team anticipated sharing the special moment with McKay. 

“We were aware of it throughout the week,” Porter said. “We were walking to the locker room, Coach Zach came up to me, and he said, ‘Make sure everyone knows that he just got the record.’ So we got our water bottles together and a couple of Gatorade bottles. …  We had a little fun with it. … He’s a special guy.” 

 McKay was humble about the accolade, not making a big deal out of the achievement. In response, he shared that he hopes to continue leading his team to victory and furthering the mission of the university.  

“You really don’t think about it when you’re in the midst of the journey. … I’m trying to get my very best,” McKay said. “I want to represent Liberty in the right way, and that conviction is something our staff and players all share. We feel like it’s a privilege and an honor to be a part of a university like ours.” 

Liberty’s next game will be at Kennesaw State University Jan. 30 at 8:00 p.m. on CBS.  

Warden is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.