Liberty Advances to the NIT Second Round with a Win at George Mason

By: Ethan Hennessy

Fairfax Virginia

George Mason and Liberty met in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament Tuesday evening in Fairfax. George Mason entered the game after posting a fifth-place finish in the A-10 standings. This NIT appearance marked back-to-back NIT trips for the Patriots after they defeated Samford and advanced to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament last year. On the other hand, Liberty has won 19 of their last 23 games dating back to December 6^th. For the 2026 CUSA Regular Season Champion Flames they are making their third postseason appearance in the past four years. The Flames reached the NCAA Tournament last season and the NIT in 2023.

A Colin Porter three-pointer put the Flames up 10 and Tony Skinn called a timeout for George Mason with 9:53 in the first half. Liberty looked like the team that had more fire and wanted to be here. In postseason tournaments other than the NCAA Tournament sometimes that is the difference between a win and a loss. In 2017, I witnessed a 20-win George Mason team come out very flat against Loyola Maryland in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational in this building and lose. In general, as an overall trend it is not uncommon to see sometimes upwards of nearly half of the one or two seeds in the NIT fall in the first round at home. The NIT has changed the seeding format in recent years, so teams are no longer seeded one through eight in each region. Only the top four teams are seeded in each quadrant of the bracket. However, this year George Mason is the #3 team in their region which awarded them the home game and they hail from a more prestigious basketball conference the A-10. In the first half none of that seemed to matter though as Liberty controlled the defensive glass, moved the ball, and shot efficiently from the field. Liberty entered the night fourth in the country in field goal percentage shooting a very impressive 51.4% from the floor. The Flames held to their average as they shot 52% from the field which aided them in putting up a 34-24 lead at the intermission.

In the second half, George Mason momentarily cut the Liberty lead to seven after a Jahari Long three-pointer at the 14:19 mark. Liberty countered though and pushed the lead back out to double digits. The George Mason crowd began to show life for the first time all night when the Patriots got the lead down to six points. By the time the under-eight media timeout rolled around the Liberty lead had been trimmed to just five points. Liberty looked flustered on the offensive end as George Mason kept chipping away at the margin. The Patriots eventually tied it at 65 and a Flames timeout took the game into the final media break.

Liberty secured the game down the stretch by forcing empty possessions and turnovers for Geoge Mason and then converting from the free throw line when George Mason fouled to extend the game. With the 77-71 victory the Flames advanced to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. They will play the winner of #2 Nevada and Murray State.