ASUN Sets Conference Basketball Schedule Ahead of 2020-21 Season

After losing its swing at a second-straight March Madness appearance to COVID-19 in March, Flames basketball has its season schedule set and ready for another tilt at the ASUN championship in the 2020-21 season.  

The ASUN announced its complete conference schedule Oct. 27, with Liberty playing a total of 16 conference games (plus any potential nonconference matchups) against the eight other ASUN teams when the season starts New Year’s Eve. 

Each team in the conference will play its opponents twice, but as a precautionary measure to avoid unnecessary travel, each matchup will essentially take place as a double-header, with both games happening the same weekend on Thursday and Saturday. 

Liberty’s nonconference schedule was officially confirmed on social media Nov. 10, but the challenges of COVID-19 made the game-scheduling process difficult, Athletic Director Ian McCaw said. 

“I was highly stressed when we went from 12 football games to eight and trying to build that back because you’re normally doing football scheduling six to eight years in advance,” McCaw said in a press conference Oct. 28. “Instead we were kind of doing it … day-to-day and week-to-week. … I think men’s basketball scheduling has been that (challenge) on steroids.”

Liberty announced Nov. 9 it would take part in the Space Coast Challenge, a multiteam event that would include Purdue, Mississippi State and Clemson and would take place Nov. 25 and 26. Liberty will begin the tournament and its season against Purdue Nov. 25, a game which will take place on CBS Sports Network. 

Additionally, Liberty will play a total of 9 other nonconference games, including a home game against St. Francis (PA) Dec. 3, its first home game in the new Liberty Arena. The Flames schedule includes games against Missouri, Regent and Carolina University.

The Flames begin their conference schedule away at Lipscomb Dec. 31 and Jan. 2, starting the season with a potentially crucial stand against the team they have beaten in the ASUN final the past two years. However, the Bisons were chosen by both the ASUN preseason coaches and media polls to finish No. 1 this year after Liberty graduated the majority of its starters from last year, including stalwarts Scottie James and Caleb Homesley. 

Senior Elijah Cuffee (chosen as ASUN preseason defensive player of the year) will be a crucial cog in Liberty’s system as Coach Ritchie McKay aims to rebuild after Liberty’s outstanding first two ASUN seasons.  

The ASUN will also have some new faces this year, however. The NJIT Highlanders have exited the ASUN, with Bellarmine University replacing them in the conference schedule in Knights basketball’s first year at the DI level. The Flames will face the Knights in their last matchup of the conference schedule starting Feb. 25. 

Additionally, the brand-new Liberty Arena will be dedicated Nov. 23, McCaw said, with the women’s basketball team opening the stadium officially with a home game Dec. 1 against Norfolk State. The men’s basketball team will play its first conference game in the new arena Jan. 7 against FGCU.  

John Nekrasov is the Sports Editor. Follow him on Twitter at @john_nekrasov.