.png&width=100&height=100&type=webp)
MBB Game Day: UTEP
1/16/2026 3:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game Day Coverage
- Liberty vs. UTEP (Liberty Arena)
- Tipoff: Saturday at 3:02 p.m. ET
- TV: ESPN+
- Radio: LFSN Radio
- Live Stats
- CUSA-leading Liberty (14-3, 6-0 CUSA) will host UTEP (6-11, 2-4 CUSA) on Saturday afternoon. The Flames topped NM State 73-71 on Thursday to stay unbeaten in conference. UTEP edged Delaware 70-69 on the road.
- This will be the seventh all-time meeting between the two squads. Liberty and UTEP have split the previous six meetings. Neither team has a home win in the series, with the Flames dropping both matchups at Liberty Arena. Liberty is 2-0 all-time at UTEP. The two squads have split a pair of meetings at the CUSA Championship, with Liberty prevailing in the quarterfinals in 2025 and UTEP topping the Flames in the quarterfinals in 2024.
- Last year, Liberty went 2-1 against UTEP and ended the Miners' season with an 81-60 win in the 2025 CUSA Championship quarterfinal round. In last season's meeting at Liberty Arena (Jan. 16, 2025), UTEP's Ahamad Bynum hit the game-winning basket with 2.8 seconds remaining, lifting the Miners to a 72-70 victory. Taelon Peter paced Liberty with 20 points and six boards, and Kaden Metheny added 17 on 6-of-8 shooting.
- Zach Cleveland became the 35th player in program history to score 1,000 career points as a Flame with his 11-point effort against the Aggies. Liberty is one of only two schools in the nation to have three active players with 1,000-plus career points at their current institutions. The only other school is Purdue (Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn).
- The Flames are 9-0 at home this year and have won 111 of their last 122 games at home (91 percent). Liberty has won its last eight games overall. Last season, the Flames won nine straight games from Nov. 17-Dec. 21, 2024.
- Liberty has 191 wins since the start of the 2018-19 season, sixth most in the nation in that span. In that same span, the Flames have the fourth-best winning percentage (.757, 191-61) of any team in the country, behind only Gonzaga (.865), Houston (.862) and Duke (.796).
- The Flames are one of 25 teams in the nation with five or more players averaging double figures in scoring.
- Liberty is No. 2 in the nation in effective field goal percentage (.617), No. 3 in assist/turnover ratio (2.01), No. 3 in fewest turnovers per game (8.9), No. 4 in field goal percentage (52.3) and No. 6 in three-point percentage (40.1). The Flames CUSA in all of those categories.
- Liberty is 9-0 at home this year, including a 3-0 CUSA mark. The Flames average 88.1 points per game at home and allow only 62.9 ppg. The Flames are shooting 55.8 percent from the field and 45.2 percent from deep in their home building.
- The Flames are 6-0 in CUSA play for the first time.
- Liberty is the first team to start 6-0 or better in CUSA play since the 2022-23 Florida Atlantic team (11-0). The Flames are the only team to start 6-0 since they joined the league prior to the start of the 2023-24 season.
- Zach Cleveland (1,006 points) became the 35th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark in his Liberty career with an 11-point effort against NM State. Cleveland joined Colin Porter (last Thursday at LA Tech) and Kaden Metheny (Dec. 16 at Midway) as one of three active 1,000-point scorers for the Flames.
- Cleveland ranks No. 3 in the country in assists per game (7.6) and No. 6 in defensive rebounds per game (7.63). He is also first in the league and 54th nationally in rebounds per game (8.4) and leads the conference in double-doubles (6).
- Liberty is 28-of-33 from the foul line (84.8 percent) in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime in its first six CUSA games.
- Liberty is 14-0 when outshooting its opponent.
- Brett Decker Jr. ranks No. 4 nationally in three-point percentage (49.6) and No. 11 in both three point makes (60) and threes per game (3.53).
- Decker Jr. is the only Flame to score in double figures in all 16 games this season. He has been Liberty's leading scorer (or tied) eight times and has six 20-plus point games. He is averaging a team-best 17.3 ppg in six CUSA games.
- Liberty finished 66th in the nation in the NCAA Men's Basketball NET Rankings and No. 64 in the KenPom rankings last year. The Flames are currently No. 90 in the NET and No. 97 in KenPom. UTEP is No. 270 in the NET and No. 274 in KenPom.
- Through Jan. 15 games, CUSA teams are 9-27 in league road games. Liberty (3-0) has three of those seven road wins.
- The Flames were picked to win the league. The Miners were voted to finish eighth.
- Liberty is third in CUSA and 50th in the country in scoring defense (67.9).
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballCoach McKay Talks About The Win Over NMSU
Friday, January 16
Zach Cleveland & JJ Harper Talk About The Win Over NMSU
Friday, January 16
My Moment: Kaden Metheny
Wednesday, January 14
Coach McKay Talks About Preparing For NMSU
Wednesday, January 14