.png&width=100&height=100&type=webp)
MBB Game Day: Western Kentucky
1/20/2026 2:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game Day Coverage
- Liberty at Western Kentucky (E.A. Diddle Arena | Bowling Green, Ky.
- Tipoff: Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT
- TV:Â ESPN+
- Radio:Â LFSN Radio
- Live Stats
- CUSA-leading Liberty (15-3, 7-0 CUSA) will head on the road to face WKU (11-7, 4-3 CUSA), Wednesday.Â
- This will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools. The series is even 2-2. After the first three meetings were decided by a combined six points, Liberty earned a dominant 90-61 road win at WKU to close out the regular season last year and secure its first outright CUSA regular season crown, its sixth regular (or division) title in the last seven years. Jayvon Maughmer paced the Flames with a double-double of 19 points and 15 rebounds to go along with six assists and two blocks. Taelon Peter added 21 points and nine boards, and Brett Decker Jr. had his best game in CUSA play with 16 points. Zach Cleveland filled the stat sheet as well with 14 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
Liberty finished the game shooting 52.5 percent (32-of-61) from the field and buried 16 threes on 34 attempts (47.1 percent). Liberty held WKU to 33.8 percent (23-of-68) from the field and 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from long distance. - Liberty's 7-0 league start is tied for its best in program history. The 2018-19 Flames squad started 7-0 in the ASUN.
- The Flames have won nine straight games overall, matching last year's best winning streak and tying for fourth-longest streak in school history.
- The Flames are coming off a a pair of wins over NM State (73-71 final) and UTEP (80-69) at home. The Hilltoppers dropped an 81-65 decision to Kennesaw State in their most recent action but are 8-2 at home.
- Liberty is 4-1 in true road games this year, including a perfect 3-0 CUSA mark. The rest of CUSA is 9-30 in road league contests.
- Liberty has 192 wins since the start of the 2018-19 season, sixth most in the nation in that span (see pg. 4 of notes). The Flames have the fourth-best winning percentage in the nation during that span (see bottom right of front page of notes).Â
- Liberty is No. 2 in the country in field goal percentage (52.6), No. 2 in effective field goal percentage (.619), No. 3 in fewest turnovers per game (8.7), No. 4 in assist/turnover ratio (2.01), No. 6 in three-point percentage (.399) and No. 6 in fewest fouls per game (13.7) (leads CUSA in all of the above).
- Brett Decker Jr. has the third-best three-point percentage (49.6) in the nation. Zach Cleveland is No. 6 in the country in assists per game (7.3).
- Liberty was picked to win the league, and WKU was picked to finish sixth.Â
- The Flames are 7-0 in CUSA play for the first time.Â
Liberty is the first team to start 7-0 or better in CUSA play since the 2022-23 Florida Atlantic team (11-0). The Flames are the only team to start 7-0 since they joined the league prior to the start of the 2023-24 season. - Cleveland (1,026 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.
- 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).
- Cleveland ranks No. 6Â in the country in assists per game (7.3) and No. 6 in defensive rebounds per game (7.53). He is also second in the league and 58th nationally in rebounds per game (8.3) 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 seven CUSA games.
- The Flames have led for 224:38 of a possible 285 minutes in conference play (78.8 percent).
- Liberty is 15-0 when outshooting its opponent and has shot 50 percent or better 12 times.
- Decker Jr. ranks No. 7 nationally in threes per game (3.50) and No. 9 in total three-pointers (63)
- Decker Jr. is the only Flame to score in double figures in all 18 games this season. He has been Liberty's leading scorer (or tied) nine times and has seven 20-plus point games. He is averaging a team-best 17.7 ppg in seven 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. 92 in the NET and No. 99 in KenPom. WKU is No. 156 in the NET and No. 165 in KenPom.
- Liberty is ranked No. 3 in the College Insider Men's Mid-Major Top 25®, up one spot from last week and behind only No. 1 Gonzaga (19-1) and No. 2 Miami (Ohio) (19-0). The Flames are the only CUSA team in the Top 25.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ 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 UTEP
Sunday, January 18
Brett Decker Jr. & Zach Cleveland Talk About The Win Over UTEP
Sunday, January 18
Coach McKay Talks About The Win Over NMSU
Friday, January 16
Zach Cleveland & JJ Harper Talk About The Win Over NMSU
Friday, January 16