WKU Basketball: What Went Right and What Went Wrong in WKU’s 71-61 Loss to Wichita State
The Hilltoppers saw a historic streak come to an end in the first loss of the Steve Lutz era. But, it’s not all bad.
Western Kentucky dropped their first game of the season Thursday night in a 10-point loss, 71-61, at Wichita State.
It was a historic loss for WKU, who went 0-for-21 from three-point range, marking the first time in over 1,300 games that the Hilltoppers did not make a three, ending one of the longest streaks in the country.
Despite the loss, and streak coming to an end, there were a lot of positives to take away from Thursday night’s performance.
Big Picture - by Fletcher Keel
Is it fun to lose? No. But, this was the most fun I’ve had watching WKU basketball in a long time.
I missed Monday’s game against Kentucky Wesleyan but saw a lot of the conversation on Twitter and was excited to see what a Lutz WKU team looked like, and they lived up to the billing. Especially on defense - my goodness, the defense! (Jared is going to cover that more in depth a bit later.)
But the biggest thing to take away from a game like this, especially as we are still on the cusp of one era having ended and another one beginning, is to consider how drastically different things would have been under Rick Stansbury.
While it may have felt worse at times, Wichita never led by more than 12 points, the first time building that lead just over halfway through the second half. A Stansbury team would have folded and let the Shockers run away with it, growing that 12 point lead into a 24 point lead. What we saw out of Lutz’s team, though, was one that never gave up on defense and continued to force looks on offense.
The whole night may have been tough offensively for the Hilltoppers, who shot 29.6% from the floor for the game, but they made the game more interesting than teams of the past would have, pulling as close as six points with just over a minute to play.
If two games are any indication, this is a team that will not go down without a fight, night in and night out, and that mentality is going to pay untold dividends come the start of conference play and, maybe more importantly, conference tournament time.
What Went Right - by Jared Rosdeutscher
Despite a not great shooting night for WKU, the defense played with intensity all night. After the last few seasons, seeing the Tops play as hard as they have on defense so far has been a breath of fresh air. They were super disruptive and contested just about everything the Shockers did on offense and held them to only 71 points.
It’s concerning to think about how bad the shooting was, especially from deep, but the positive is that the looks were definitely there, they just weren’t dropping. Rodney Howard had 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting. He had SO many looks around the rim with some hook shots and close shots that rolled around the rim or were a little flat. If he can learn to clean that up and make those close shots in the paint, look for him to double his amount of points.
Also with the three point shooting, it’s not like the Tops were taking horribly contested shots all game. A lot of them were good looks that just didn’t drop. It was a terrible night for everyone to be off from deep but if WKU can get some guys like Khristian Lander or Dionte Allen to get more consistent and back in rhythm then hopefully we will never see this type of shooting performance again.
What Went Wrong - by Fletcher Keel
Would it be a cop out to say “the entire second half?”
Okay, entire might be a stretch, but while the Tops showed some fight until the clock hit quadruple zero, there were long stretches of the back 20 minutes where WKU didn’t get done what needed to be done in order to escape Wichita with a 2-0 record.
WKU ended the first half on a 12-6 run, before the Shockers got a layup at the buzzer to pull within the Tops’ lead, 29-27, at halftime.
That basket set the tone for the second half, in which WSU scored the first seven points of the frame and held WKU without a field goal from the floor until 15:49 remained, with the Tops being outscored 11-2 in that timespan (both WKU points coming from Don McHenry free throws).
While it isn’t quite as simple as “this run cost them the game,” if the Tops could have traded just a couple of baskets with the Shockers, it could have been a much more reachable game down the stretch and that six-point deficit with 1:14 to play could have been a two or three-point deficit.
WKU didn’t shoot well in the second half to help their case, but it wasn’t for a lack of good looks, they had them early, they just weren’t falling. There was a stretch after the halfway point of the half where Shockers big man Quincy Ballard swatted away every drive attempt, but outside of that a shot clock violation, a lot of WKU’s looks at the basket were truly quality.
Red Threads - by Fletcher Keel
Some final stray thoughts on WKU’s first loss of the season
As I stated before, I didn’t watch Monday and this was my first time watching the Lutz version of WKU and I really liked what I saw. The defense was unlike anything I’ve seen out of the Hilltoppers, as was the ball movement. I think we’re going to be in for a really fun season.
The biggest thing that stuck out to me, especially as the Shockers were en route to putting the game away in the second half: This team doesn’t have a “dude” yet. The guy who you can look to to be the guy to put the game squarely on his shoulders and take over. Having said that, I think we have a few candidates who could be that: There was a time where Lander nearly did that, while Don McHenry and Rodney Howard both had plenty of quality chances to do so as well. It felt like McHenry wanted to so bad that he over thought his play, while Rodney fell victim to “good looks aren’t falling.”
It’s easy to say after the game, especially a loss, but I really liked how the WKU offense ran in the first half. It felt methodical and the Tops were using a lot of the shot clock. Maybe in games they build bigger leads, they can keep that same style up in the second half.
I’m already ready for what’s next out of this group. Bring on the Racers.