Liberty will play NC State in men’s basketball this coming season new Wolfpack head coach Will Wade told Andy Katz.
“We’ve got a really good Liberty team coming in here,” Wade told Katz when referring to his upcoming non-conference schedule. “Ritchie McKay always does a phenomenal job.”
McKay and Wade are familiar with each other, having played a few times previously. Just this past season, Liberty defeated Wade’s McNeese team to win the 2024 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. Both Liberty and McNeese would advance to the NCAA Tournament this past March with Wade and the Cowboys upsetting 5-seed Clemson in the first round before Wade formally accepted the NC State position.
This will be the sixth meeting between McKay and Wade with Wade holding a 4-1 record. The pair first met up when Wade was at VCU when the Flames and Rams had a home-and-home agreement. VCU defeated Liberty, 85-57, on Dec. 27, 2016, in Richmond and again, 64-59, on Nov. 15, 2017, in Lynchburg. After Wade took over as head coach at LSU, the Flames made the trip to Baton Rouge a couple of times. A 14-0 Liberty team suffered its first setback of the season Dec. 29, 2020, to Wade and LSU, 74-57. On Nov. 15, 2022, Wade and the Tigers defeated McKay and Liberty, 74-58.
Wade takes over for Kevin Keatts in Raleigh. The Wolfpack are coming off a 12-19 season and 5-15 mark in ACC play. This was just one year after NC State made an improbable run to the ACC Tournament championship and Final Four. This will be the third ever meeting between NC State and Liberty. The two previous meetings, both Wolfpack wins, were played in Raleigh. NC State defeated Liberty, 85-50, on Dec. 17, 2000, and again on Dec. 11, 2005, 94-60.
Liberty hasn’t played an ACC team in the regular season since defeating Wake Forest, 79-66, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Nov. 14, 2017. Lovell Cabbil led the way for the Flames in that win with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals while Ryan Kemrite added 17 points. The Flames did meet up with Virginia Tech in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament on March 24, 2019, falling, 67-58.
This continues to add to Liberty’s known non-conference schedule for next season. As we reported previously, the Flames will compete in an Orlando ESPN Event next season where eight teams will play a three-game tournament at Disney World Resort’s State Farm Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Florida. Official matchups are to be determined for the event taking place Monday, Nov. 24 – Wednesday, Nov. 26 just ahead of Thanksgiving. The rest of that tournament field includes Bradley, Princeton, Rhode Island, Temple, Towson, UC San Diego, and Vermont. This event, Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational, was officially announced Wednesday. The Flames will compete in the Adventure Bracket.
This coming season is also the final year of the three-year Field of 68 Invitational. As part of that event, the Flames will host College of Charleston and FAU at Liberty Arena for a round robin event this upcoming season. Over the past two seasons, Liberty has competed in this event first in Boca Raton, Florida two years ago and last year in Charleston, South Carolina.