Palsgrove’s Points: What is up with Flames Basketball?

Welcome back, y’all; it’s time to talk Flames basketball. Over the last few weeks, the Flames began their first stint of conference play as members of Conference USA, and it hasn’t gone as smoothly as many expected it to. The Flames are 13-7 overall but just 2-4 against CUSA opponents, which places them in a four-way tie (with UTEP, FIU and Middle Tennessee) for last place in the conference standings.
That rough takeoff into a new conference has kind of kicked the hive that is Flames Twitter (X, Twitter, whatever, I know it’s X, but I’m going to call it Twitter out of spite), and for the first time since I arrived at Liberty, there is unrest and unease among those who follow this team closely.
So, are those people right? Did the Flames get hamstringed by the loss of Darius McGhee? Is Liberty’s approach to recruiting a flawed one? Is there a reason to question Head Coach Ritchie McKay? Are the Flames simply outmatched in their new conference?
To answer all those simply, no. But it’s not that straightforward. Let’s look into it.
If the Flames can’t hit their threes, they lose.
Live by the three, die by the three. That’s been one of the most significant themes for the Flames’ offense for the past few seasons, and while No. 2 was out there, it worked. The question is, what happens when the threes aren’t falling? And that question is one the Flames seem to be struggling with this season, especially on the road.
Here are some fun numbers. The Flames shot an average of 35.8% from three in their six conference games. That number by itself isn’t so scary; if they shot like that their whole season, they would rank 92nd in the NCAA. But the problem is that this number is heavily inflated by the Flames’ two incredible shooting performances, both of which are wins.
In their four in-conference losses, the Flames shot 29.6% from beyond the arc, which would rank them as the 328th-worst shooting team in the league per the NCAA. So, if the Flames shoot badly, they lose.
Well, the Flames also have an unfortunate tendency of struggling to hit their shots on the road. Like I said above, Liberty shoots an average of 35.8% from beyond the arc in conference games. On the road against conference opponents, the Flames are shooting 30.7% from three, just one point better than what the team shoots in a loss on average.
So, the Flames are a team that shoots 30% on the road, and on average, if they shoot 29% or lower, the odds say they will lose the game. Not the best look for the boys.
The lack of McGhee
What happens when the best player in your program’s history leaves to pursue his NBA career? Most would expect that program to take a season to regroup while they discover a new identity. So why do Flames fans seem confused by their team’s recent struggles?
I think it’s because this roster is genuinely a good one. Senior forward Kyle Rode is the type of player any coach out there would want on their team. The Flames’ starting guards, sophomore Colin Porter and juniors Kaden Metheny and Brody Peebles, are wily types of players who don’t have an ounce of quit in them. Sophomore Zach Cleveland and junior Joseph Venzant are two of the most athletic forwards the Flames have had in years, but in all honesty, it doesn’t matter.
At the beginning of this season, I wrote a column about this Flames basketball team and asked the question, “Can Kyle Rode be the new No. 1 option going forward?” Uh … no. He cannot. Rode has his moments and is a perfect No. 2, but he needs a No. 1. I hate the term, but he needs an alpha to play with. Or, you could say he needs a McGhee.
McKay was proud of how anyone on this team could go for 20 on any given night, and while that’s a noble idea, it isn’t working. The Flames, like I mentioned above, are 2-4 in their six conference games; and in each of those two wins, the Flames had four players reach double figures in scoring. So, to win a game with this offense, this entire Flames team needs to be on its A game. That might be an oversimplification, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an exaggeration.
How do you fix this “everyone needs to be incredible for the Flames to win thing?” You bring in a No. 1 option. If you’ve watched any of the Flames’ games so far this season, you’ve most likely seen moments when the offense gets stale, no one can find an opening, the defense is playing well and the Flames have no answer. Last season they did. They had McGhee. And this season they don’t have anyone like McGhee or even like him to a lesser degree.
There’s no one on this team who has the ability to single-handedly take over the game, put the team on his back and stop the bleeding of a cold stretch. There were hopes that Porter or Rode could become that, but in hindsight, the main reason for Porter’s emergence last season was the amount of gravity that McGhee attracted that the freshman could take advantage of.
So, how do you fix this? How do you fill a McGhee-sized hole that the Flames are trying to cover up with Band-Aids? Recruiting and the transfer portal. You know, on that note, let’s talk recruiting.
A foundational problem
This is an exact quote I saw on Twitter while writing this from user JDizzyCreel7, and I liked how he managed to perfectly encapsulate what Flames fans have been saying for the past while.
“Help my memory — did we not collectively bring concern about size and athleticism last year (and the year before)?” he said. “Did we not agree KSU gave us such issue because of size and athleticism? Did we not, when we played Alabama in ‘22, come to the conclusion that we needed to improve our size and athleticism to compete at the next level? … In the ASUN we could get away with being undersized and less athletic, because the competition wasn’t too crazy to begin with, and worst-case scenario we could shoot our way out of it. We knew years ago that wasn’t a long-term solution, and we just believed it would be solved by the time we got here.”
It’s been an issue for the Flames for as long as I can remember. Size and athleticism in recruiting. McKay has a type, and that type is a cerebral, gritty, team player, European-type ball player. Look at the roster and think about how many of the Flames fall into that kind of description. Peebles, Porter, McKay, Rode and Metheny all fall into that description pretty easily, and I could make the argument that Cleveland and Shiloh Robinson do as well.
Now I’m not saying that any of those guys aren’t athletes; they’re Division I basketball players, of course they’re good athletes. But if you look at those names I just mentioned, would you say that athleticism is one of their top three best attributes (ignore Cleveland; he’s the exception)? I wouldn’t.
To say the Flames don’t have freaky athletes would be a lie, but the problem is how many of the Flames’ best players and the ones who see the most time on the floor are undersized at their position or are lacking in the explosive speed you need to compete at the highest level. Every game is a battle, and the Flames, by committing to this type of basketball and this type of roster, are forcing themselves to fight their way uphill game after game after game. And that may have worked with McGhee on your team or in a weaker conference, but it’s not right now.
Palsgrove is the asst. editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X