Topper Basketball Notebook: Lady Toppers Snap MTSU's 33 Game CUSA Winning Streak, Thedford Leaves Game With Knee Injury

An up and down Saturday, the Lady Tops looked completely dead in the water down double digits and came back and won. Meanwhile, the boys faded to a double digit loss after Thedford's injury.

I’m honestly not sure how to feel about the weekend. First of all, it started out awful, feeling like it was more of the tired Collins era same ole same ole where the Lady Toppers look decent and then fade in big moments. Then all of a sudden, the Lady Toppers go on a run in crucial moments of the game, and they end up beating MTSU and snapping a multi-season winning streak in spectacular fashion.

Then the fellas were in an epic battle at the Murphy Center in front a really impressive 6,500 plus at MTSU. For 25 minutes, the Tops mainly controlled, but had recently surrendered the lead and were down three but completely in it when Julius Thedford went down screaming in pain with a hideous looking knee injury. He would not return, his teammates were visibly upset (most notably Khristian Lander), and the Tops faded into a double digit loss at the hands of the Blue Raiders.

On the one hand, this is earth shattering women’s basketball news. But what do they do with this momentous occasion? That remains to be seen. Then Thedford’s potential injury…if he’s out, don’t we all agree WKU is pretty much not winning CUSA this year? I mean, it has to be said that it looks incredibly bleak if he’s not able to go sometime soon.

More on the injury disasters for the Tops below, but my goodness. Such a good start to the day would not have been completely destroyed if not but for Thedford’s possible season ending injury (more on that below, too).

I don’t know about y’all, but I DEFINITELY do not want to take away from the Lady Toppers’ victory. For the first time in a LONG TIME under Greg Collins, there is actual, tangible results to celebrate that matter.

I also think we need to talk about Thedford and what his injury means (even if it doesn’t stick) for WKU Basketball.

And I also think we need to point the fact that MTSU had nearly as many fans in Diddle as WKU for the women’s game, and then they turned around and turned out 6,512 against WKU in the Murphy Center (more on that below, as well).

Lady Toppers Shock MTSU 62-57

Folks, it Looked Absolutely Hopeless at first…

The WKU Article actually sums it up really well, but suffice it to say that the Lady Toppers came out and looked like a complete train wreck. Outrebounded 10-0 to start, down 8-0, and eventually down 28-14 to start the game, it was pure misery watching the first half. Lady Topper Basketball even tweeted “not gonna lie, they had us in the first half”, which is absolutely hilarious, referring to the famous interview of the young football player talking about an epic comeback.

It was really bad, and at halftime, personally, I was at a family gathering and we were about to eat, and I turned the video off and figured I would open up the phone to a 30 point laugher. Boy, was I wrong…

The Twitter Thing

So naturally, when you start out down huge, if you’re a fan that cares, generally you have a reaction. And so that first quarter, especially (and frankly the whole first half despite only being down nine points) really brought some latent emotions. As Towel Rack, I tweeted out some frustrations about the Greg Collins era, which in hindsight looks really stupid and untimely in the middle of an epic comeback.

On top of having a family Christmas gathering (missed because of sickness), I went silent right after blasting the Collins era, and then came back to the phone realizing they had won. Insert foot in mouth, for sure.

Of course, the blowback was intense, including former players upset and everything else. I’ll address more of the conversation below, but I also stand by the sentiment that Greg Collins is a very nice man, but he has underperformed. It is now 6.5 seasons after taking over his own head coach’s position—who moved on to “greener” pastures—and there is nothing to show for it. He took over a consistent champion, and he has not delivered. It is what it is.

Now, does he get it done this year? Maybe, and it would put most of the whole issue to bed. That would buy him at least another two years of grace. They certainly have the players to possibly do it, and beating Middle in the fashion they did is a huge first step. But I don’t shy away from the “Collins (so far) is a lesser Stansbury” conversation, either.

The Comeback

Meanwhile, WKU cut the lead to nine at halftime, a very workable margin and something that proved decisively handy for the third quarter of pure dominance by the Lady Tops.

Down 28-14 with 5:37 left, it looked like your typical MTSU thrashing of another CUSA opponent. MTSU had a double digit lead as late as 1:30 on the first half clock, when at 1:29, Caleigh Rose-West cut it to 9, and the comeback was on from there. WKU would cut into and MTSU would stretch back out the margin to 9 at halftime.

From there, WKU used an absolutely dominant third quarter to go up two points with ten minutes to play. Personally, I think seeing that lead solidified at the end of the third quarter gave WKU all the confidence in the world, and MTSU didn’t know what to do with it.

The Run

From 28-14, WKU would go on a huge run to take the lead by as much as six points at 59-53. That’s a 45-25 run from 5:37 in the first half to 3:20 left in the fourth quarter. WKU ended up -15 on the boards, much more respectable after spotting MTSU ten boards to start. The hay was made in the turnover department, where WKU forced MTSU into 14 turnovers and only committed five themselves the entire game (!!!). WKU shot six percent higher from the floor, and took nine more shots. MTSU made a lot of their hay at the free throw line, as WKU only attempted free throws in two quarters.

Somehow, Tops on Top, baby. What a performance! And I do want to publicly apologize for overreacting. That made me look really dumb. Hats off to the Lady Toppers!

The Impact

Middle’s 33 game losing streak dating back to February of 2023 is snapped. WKU’s five game losing streak to the MUTS is snapped. MTSU had not lost a single CUSA conference game in that long, but they also only faced single digit wins in CUSA twice last year (both inexplicably against La Tech).

From the WKU perspective, did not have a program altering win since beating Liberty at home last season in early January. Before that, the latest achievement had to be making the 2023 CUSA Tournament Championship and losing by a respectable 12 to (again) MTSU. This was the only championship appearance for the Tops since Michelle Clark-Heard left WKU in 2018. There were a few moments that were fairly bright in the Collins era (two WNIT runs).

This is a huge impact for the Lady Topper program, and it possibly balances the power out in Conference USA. MTSU can be beaten, and WKU laid out the formula to do it.

The Collins Conversation

It’s wonderful, but it’s also one game, and they’re 1.5 games back of first place to a team that they already lost to at home (Liberty).

Now, can they parlay this victory into something special? It could start by getting to 20 wins. WKU is 12-5 and should not fall short of 20 wins barring collapse. That would be the first time since 2019-20 that WKU even got to 20 wins. Since that time, WKU has had two losing seasons. And there are explanations for why those seasons happened, and individually, they are legitimate.

But let me ask you…when you spread out all of these issues on the table, and we’re now working on seven full seasons, isn’t is fair to ask tough questions? Why did Collins not continue momentum and find a way to a championship game before 2023? Is this Lady Topper Basketball, or are we fine with mediocrity like our other rivals? Expect more. This is a program that’s been to three Final Fours and National Championship Game.

There’s also the frustration of watching Collins’ teams play and watching him coach strategically. There’s plenty there to dissect, but suffice it to say that sometimes substitution patterns make zero sense. Sometimes certain players don’t see the court until a full quarter into the game inexplicably. Sometimes timeouts are burned in the middle of good moments where the team is humming, and then they come out from break and look flat.

There’s also the massive swings in the middle of games, where WKU looks the dominant team and somehow loses. There’s the other side of it, which we saw Saturday, when the Tops come out looking like they don’t want to be there, and then they engage and they either come back and win, or like usually happens when you dig a huge hole, they fall short.

The Collins Perspective

I understand after an epic win that that Collins narrative probably falls into some deaf ears. However, if WKU had not come back and got blasted by 30 (which easily could have happened if the circumstances played out a little differently in the middle of the game), would you not be more willing to hear it?

Here’s the point of bringing all of this up:

It’s never as bad or good as it seems. It’s always somewhere in the middle. After a huge win, we look positively on everything, and we should! But what happens from here? Does the team go on a tear, maybe lose a game or two, and give themselves a chance in every game and win (or lose) by less than ten to Middle, Liberty, or FIU in the CUSA Tournament? Could they possibly win CUSA?

Now that would be some coaching. That would be the next step taken. That would table this conversation for at least one more year, if not two. Think about it! If Collins assembles the biggest (height-wise) roster in WKU’s recent memory (and possibly the biggest total height ever) and wins with it, that is checking all of the boxes. He can pull together a roster, he can win under pressure, and he can big big games against good teams. He can position his team, and we would finally have concrete evidence of greatness.

But if they go from this moment with the most talented guards in years, the biggest frontcourt in years, and talented transfers that are getting older now and they don’t win, where does that leave us next year? If they don’t get to 20 wins after starting 12-5, isn’t that a disaster? If they don’t make at least the semis of the CUSA Tournament, doesn’t that cancel out the awe of this win?

This win will lay forgotten, for the most part…

Unless…

They do something with it.

Let’s see where they go from here. BEAT LA TECH! BEAT SAM HOUSTON! Win those two, and the Tops will be firmly in the race. Drop both, and they’re out of the top two seeds. Win one, and they’re hanging by a thread. Let’s see how they respond to some major success.

WKU Basketball In Epic Battle in Front of Full Stadium, Thedford Goes Down, and the Tops Fade to a 14 Point Loss at Middle

The Thoughts Beforehand

Coming into this game, the narrative was basically surviving and having a chance to not get run out of the CUSA race while Babacar Faye (possibly) gets healthy enough to return. WKU has definitely had its share of injuries (more below), but despite it all, the Tops have a respectable record, and even after this loss at MTSU (spoiler alert), they still sit at 11-7 and 2-3 in conference despite it all. There’s still plenty to play for, and if they can survive this road trip without completely dismantling, they will have 11 games left, seven of which will be played at home. If they can even win one of these two this coming week, they’ll be in decent shape.

Coming into this game, the other angle was that MTSU is just really good. MTSU was 12-5 heading into the game, and with the win against WKU, they will now sit in the top 100 teams in the country. If they maintain a top 100 rating, they will be considered a quality win or loss for anyone on their schedule. They are really good, and regardless of the Julius Thedford injury, they were taking control of the game before his injury. Middle was favored by at least five according to all betting sites, so they were a solid 2/3 or more favorite, anyway. Knowing the WKU situation, it felt unlikely the Tops would go to MTSU and actually win, and Middle would probably control most of the game.

The Start

Honestly, WKU controlled a slight majority of the game, and just about all of the beginning of it. MTSU made some headway at a couple of points in the first half, but they were just starting to take control when the Thedford injury happened five minutes into the second half.

WKU started out 4-0, and led 6-2 seven minutes into the game. It was a physical, intense several minutes to start the game. It did open up as the half progressed, but the first half of the first half was an absolute slog.

The Feel of the Game

This was a war. The referees absolutely let them play to the point that a fight nearly broke out late in the first half. They were definitely swallowing the whistles, and in a rivalry game, the calls could have been a little more forthcoming. In such a physical game, only 31 total fouls were called, and for 15 minutes, the action slacked and it wasn’t as intense. The first half, few fouls were called.

So the feel was frantic, but the quality was high with only 24 total turnovers committed. The Tops shot 36 percent in the first half, but dropped to a frozen 30 percent in the second half. MTSU was also at 36 percent in the first half, but shot a blistering 60 percent in the second, and there was the difference they needed to take the lead and pull away.

The Injury

With 14:39 left in the game, Julius Thedford (10 points, 9 minutes played) went up for a rebound as Blaise Keita gets fouled. He comes down flat footed in traffic, his leg buckles, and he crumples to the floor screaming. He was clearly in pain, and it’s just one of those horrifying moments. He didn’t put weight on either leg, and it seriously felt like he could’ve torn at least one of a meniscus, ACL, MCL, PCL, or broken a bone near the knee.

After talking through it, hearing feedback, his family commenting on Facebook, it seems possible that it was a knee dislocation, which creates some measure of hope that it may not be that big of a deal. We don’t currently know a status on the knee, but we know that he did not return, and it did not look. Hank Plona also made comments akin to “regardless of what happened to Julius, we have to move on”, but that was also in response to whether the team got distracted and deflated from the injury in the middle of a heated battle to one of the team’s most key players.

The Reaction

The reactions of the players on the court, especially Khristian Lander, was noticeable. This clearly shows how they have encountered significant stress with how the roster has become increasingly depleted. It was also a reaction as if Julius going down impacted them even more. And then it’s just plain disturbing to see someone you know and love crumple in a heap and scream in pain.

Clearly, Julius Thedford means more to this team than a role player and a young freshman that goes with the flow. He is a leader in that locker room, one of the two closers on the team, and someone they trust to lead them home. It’s a fascinating reaction to a young freshman going down injured. And their reaction in terms of how the rest of the game went indicates something, too. It was much more muted, much more kind of a “going through the motions” feel the rest of the game, instead of an intense battle where everyone was focused on the W.

The Fade

There’s no question the Tops were already losing a little bit of control, but at 39-36, it was within a possession of a tie game. However, from that point, MTSU outscored the Tops 35-18 and that was all she wrote.

The Thedford Factor

Without Julius Thedford, the Tops are already without an All-Conference level player in Babacar Faye, and now the second-best freshman in the conference averaging 12+ points per game could possibly be out.

Without getting too dramatic, Thedford out really takes away a massive piece for the Tops. He’s one of the two players with multiple huge plays to put the Tops in positions to win late in games. Most often, when the Tops are tied, Thedford or Don McHenry step up and make the big plays. Other players do it, but he’s one of the two “closers” on the team.

In addition to that, for a freshman, he plays really good defense, he’s one of the best athletes in the conference, and he’s only fifth on the team in turnovers despite being one of the core pieces of the offense. He can also get up a clean shot on anyone if he wants to, a powerful weapon in and of itself.

The Injury List

Western Kentucky has had massive injury issues:

• Never Played: Cade Unseld, Fallou Diagne, Terrion Murdix, Teagan Moore

• Unknown Injury Status: Julius Thedford, Babacar Faye

• Injured/Sick at least one game: Khristian Lander, Jack Edelen, Blaise Keita

That’s nine players, four of which have never seen the court. Babacar Faye is looking more and more like a medical redshirt, and Julius Thedford would be a shocking return, given how horrible his injury appeared to be.

Of these players, all of them would have been competing for playing time, six probably could have/already have been part time or full-time starters, and five at one point or another have been considered essential pieces to the program at some point.

The potential sitting injured on the sideline is staggering, but for now, the Tops have to figure out a way to field a competitive team and see if they can compete for a championship.

The Prospects

In all honesty, despite the injuries, there really is still a chance. First of all, Conference USA’s most expected success stories, with the exception of MTSU, have all disappointed this season. Everyone now has at least one loss in conference five games in, and the Tops, despite setbacks, are two games out of first place with only one team they physically can’t reach without help (MTSU). La Tech, Sam Houston, and Liberty have all disappointed, so if WKU can pull it together, even if all of the known injuries end up being as bad as possible, they still have a chance.

If anyone returns, especially if Babacar Faye returns, the prospects immediately get better. If Babacar and Thedford return at any point and are available in March, WKU is absolutely good enough to make a run of three or four games and repeat as conference champions.

First year head coach Hank Plona has proven capable of somehow getting his team to be competitive despite being massively hampered throughout the entire campaign. An 11-7 record should be considered a masterful performance at this point. Give the man some credit, and have some hope.

The Crowd

We’ve got to say it. Topper fans, MTSU, whether you want to pretend like the numbers were fudged or whatever, had 6,500+ at their game. They had nearly as many fans as WKU did at the women’s game in Bowling Green. These two teams are pouring their guts out for you, for Bowling Green, and for all of the Toppers (fans and alums) that came before them. They’re doing their part. And yet Diddle Arena can maybe pull 3,500 on a perfect night.

It’s time to feel some shame, be horrified, and then show up. The Lady Toppers just beat Middle for the first time in several years. The Hilltoppers are still a consumable product and play their guts out every game. There’s no time like the present to step it up, stop making excuses, bring a friend, and show up. There’s no more crucial of a moment than a season that can be salvaged and the fans doing their part and showing up and supporting the Tops.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Tops and Lady Tops, with their current makeups and known healthy players physically can win Conference USA. The ladies just confirmed themselves as capable of beating anyone in CUSA. They have been competitive in every game, and yes, they still have matchup issues. But they’re 12-5 and one game out from first place in the loss column.

The men have shown their ability to show up no matter who is on the court. It looked as if they would fade after Babacar Faye went down, and they haven’t. Thedford down may feel like the sky is falling, but they have enough pieces to field a team, and they have a coach that can put them in a pretty decent position to be successful. Expect them to be competitive, and don’t write them off.

Go to Conference USA Tournament!

Despite the injuries, I think it’s important to say that people still need to be making plans to show up to Conference USA Tournament. What better chance to impact your team than be one of the few hundred brave souls who trek to follow the Tops and Lady Tops on their way to a championship?

If you’re a men’s fan, fine. They have a chance, and if you’re a WKU fan, support the Lady Tops in the big moments if nothing else. A big moment would be during conference tournament. Make plans to be down there.

I assure you: You WILL have a good time, you WILL make friends, and you’ll have stupid, hilarious moments with your people that you’ll remember forever. I have zero memories of conference tournament being a miserable experience. In a few years, both teams were out by the semifinals, and we still had a great time. Don’t let the emotion of the moment take away from making a good decision.

If you’ve never been, then you seriously don’t know what you’re missing. If you’ve been, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t been multiple times, then it may not be solidified in your head how awesome it is.

It’s a few hours away, barely into the state of Alabama. You could make the drive down the morning of, and if you really had to, make it back home the same night from whatever game or games you went to. It’s all on the table. Make plans, show up, and support the Tops!

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