WKU Basketball: CUSA Tournament Round 2 Western Kentucky vs Middle Tennessee

For the third time this season, we get to experience another 100 miles of hate rivalry game! Both teams are looking to keep their title hops alive. Here's everything you need to know for WKU vs MTSU.

Overview

On Friday, March 15, The Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers face off against their rivals for the third time this season, the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders. 3-seed Western Kentucky (20-11, 8-8 CUSA) is coming off of a big win in round one over 6-seed New Mexico State, 89-69, snapping their four-game losing streak and moving the Hilltoppers to the semifinals. In perhaps its best played game and its first “full 40 minute performance” of the season, WKU has put Conference on notice.

7-seed Middle Tennessee (14-8, 7-9 CUSA) is also coming off of a huge win, knocking off the 2-seed and the favorites to win the championship in Louisiana Tech 70-67, moving the Blue Raiders to the semifinals. Middle absolutely played about as well as WKU, and the Tops better be put on notice themselves. Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee went 1-1 in their two meetings throughout the conference season with the home team winning both games.

Notable Statistics

WKU Stat Leaders (Through March 9)

PPG: Don McHenry- 15.2 points per game

RPG: Babacar Faye- 5.7 rebounds per game

APG: Don McHenry- 2.5 assists per game

MTSU Stat Leaders

PPG: Jestin Porter- 13.9 points per game

RPG: Jared Coleman-Jones- 7.6 rebounds per game

APG: Jared Coleman Jones- 2.3 assists per game

WKU Team Stats (Through March 9)

• 80.2 PPG

• 46.7% FG

• 33.7% 3PT

• 39.8 RPG

• 13.4 APG

• 7.3 SPG

• 13.8 TO

MTSU Team Stats

• 66 PPG

• 40.5% FG

• 31.3% 3PT

• 34.8 RPG

• 10 APG

• 5.4 SPG

• 13.9 TO

Keys to Victory

WKU

Western Kentucky really needs to get Don McHenry going. McHenry is a 6’2” guard and is leading the Hilltoppers in points and assists. Although he has struggled lately, he is still the Hilltoppers best source of offense. He really just needs to get back to his usual play style, which is taking the ball inside and utilizing the floater all game long. Instead of forcing contested threes, take the ball inside and either score or get fouled. If Don McHenry can’t get going, the Tops will definitely have some trouble beating the Blue Raiders. They did it without Don being great against NMSU, but at some point, Rodney Howard and Enoch Kalambay aren’t going to combine for 32 and 13, for example.

The Hilltoppers are going to have to guard the perimeter. Western Kentucky did a good job guarding the three against New Mexico State, pushing their defense far beyond the three-point line. When WKU can apply the type of pressure that they applied against the Aggies, it’s very hard for the opposing guards to get open and get a good look from three. New Mexico State has been a team all year that shoots a lot of threes. Against Western Kentucky, they were only able to get 18 threes off. When WKU is able to suffocate the perimeter, they look like a much better team and the pressure on the defensive side of the ball will be absolutely necessary against Middle Tennessee. Middle Tennessee also shoots a lot of threes, so the Hilltoppers better come prepared to do the same thing they did the night before. Middle shoots a ton of threes and generally doesn’t make a ton, either. If WKU can keep their percentage down, go ahead and crank away, Middle.

To beat Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky is going to have to win the paint battle. Jared Coleman-Jones contributes a lot for the Blue Raiders on both sides of the ball. He is leading Middle Tennessee in rebounds, assists, and blocks. Coleman-Jones is a 6’10” forward and does a lot of good things for Middle Tennessee. He can cause defenses a lot of problems with his outside shooting ability, not to mention his post scoring abilities and passing. Rodney Howard and Babacar Faye are going to have to make sure they are prepared to shut Coleman-Jones down not only when the Blue Raiders are on offense, but as well as on the glass. Rodney Howard led the way for the Hilltoppers with 20 points in their first round win over New Mexico State. Howard will need to have another great night to be able to keep up with Coleman-Jones and the Blue Raiders. More importantly, perhaps, can Faye and Howard (or others) get in the way of Coleman-Jones and All-Freshman big Chris Loofe, another quality big guy for Middle? Middle is long and athletic. Beware of their size.

MTSU

Middle Tennessee is going to have to make sure they are taking smart shots. Middle Tennessee is a team that likes to put up a lot of threes. In the first meeting between these two teams, the Blue Raiders shot a total of 42 threes. This is just way too many, and WKU’s progress basically waited until they got cold and advanced in the second half as they missed. With the talent you have on the inside with Coleman-Jones, work the ball from the inside out. Send Elias king on roving missions to see if he can get to the cup or dish the ball. The Middle Tennessee guards are more than capable of lighting it up from three as long as they are taking good shots. If they are able to penetrate the Western Kentucky defense and get some drive and kick opportunities, they could get some great looks from three and end up shooting a great percentage, which could ultimately win the Blue Raiders this game.

To have their best chance of winning over WKU, Middle Tennessee needs to get Jestin Porter going. Porter is a 6’1” guard for the Blue Raiders and he is leading the team in scoring with almost 14 points per game. He had 18 points to lead the Blue Raiders in their victory over Louisiana Tech, and all 18 of his points came in the second half. Talk about moving the needle! One could only imagine how many points Porter would’ve dropped if he was on throughout the whole game. He is a hard-nosed guard that can both light it up from three and take it inside to score or get to the foul line. He can cause a lot of problems for opposing defenses and he is more than capable of taking this game over. Porter and Coleman-Jones combined for 39 points, with Porter having 19, in the Blue Raiders victory over Western Kentucky during the conference season. If they are both on in this second round matchup, they will have a very good chance of winning and moving on to the finals.

Middle Tennessee is going to have to score inside. In the first matchup between these two teams this season, Western Kentucky outscored Middle Tennessee 46-16 in the paint, which led to the Blue Raiders losing the game by 23 points. In the second matchup, however, they kept it much closer, only having two less points in the paint than Western Kentucky, which ultimately won Middle Tennessee the game. When Middle Tennessee can work the ball from the inside out and focus on scoring in the paint rather than forcing up contested threes, they can be a very dangerous offensive team. The Blue Raiders have a lot of size and match up well with just about every team in Conference USA. I’m not really too sure why they haven’t focused on scoring the ball inside more than they have this season because when they do, they look very good. If Middle Tennessee can hang anywhere near WKU in the paint battle, Middle is right there with a chance to win. If they get starved out from the middle of the paint, their goose is cooked unless they magically find some other creative way to win.

Richards’ Expectations and Predictions

Both teams played phenomenal in the first round. Middle Tennessee ended up winning a game that I don’t think anyone thought they even had a chance to win, and Western Kentucky finally showed Conference USA what they are capable of when they play for a full 40 minutes. Not very many people thought there would be a 100 Miles of Hate matchup for the third time this season after seeing the bracket, but here we are! Both schools have great crowds in Huntsville this week and it should be a very exciting game. We firmly believe Middle’s crowd significantly helped them against La Tech. You never really know what to expect in a heated rivalry game, especially when both seasons are on the line, but I am nothing short of excited to watch it all unfold in person.

For this one, I’m going to go 82-77 WKU. WKU, in my opinion, has finally gotten away from their old ways of bad three point defense and no sense of urgency. Against New Mexico State, the Tops looked like a completely different team from what we’ve seen throughout the last few weeks of the conference season. If they are able to come out with the same energy and play with that same sense of urgency, I believe that they will have a slight edge over Middle Tennessee. Middle Tennessee has surprised everyone with their upset win over La Tech, but I don’t think they have it in them to be able to do it again. If the Hilltoppers are playing how they did against New Mexico State (in other words, the best looking team in Conference USA), they may just end up winning the whole dang thing. Middle could definitely surprise everyone and get another upset to advance them to the finals, but I can’t see that happening with the way the Tops looked in their first game in Huntsville.

Conclusion

I have made sure to speak as little as possible because I may have overdone it and lost a little bit of my voice cheering on the Tops against New Mexico State and I want to be able to do it again… Nevertheless, I will still be there standing and cheering for Big Red! WKU has a great shot at making it to the championship this year and I am so thankful that I get to be here for it. Steve Lutz has the possibility to do what he has done before, again, which is winning three games in three days to punch his ticket to the NCAA tournament. He and this Hilltopper team needs our support!

If you have nothing better to do, come to Huntsville to cheer on the Tops! This city really has blown me away and I haven’t heard any complaints from anyone, and probably won’t for my entire stay here. This could very well be the year that we have all been waiting for since 2012-13, and if you are a WKU fan, you definitely will regret it if you could’ve made it and aren’t here for it! Anyways, it’s time for some revenge on Middle Tennessee, and what better way to do it than sending them back to Murfreesboro with a big fat L and ruining their Cinderella run in the conference tournament? It should be a great game and I can’t wait to see it in person.

For anyone that is not able to make it to Huntsville, the game will be on CBS Sports Network at 2:00 pm CT. You can also tune into @thetowelrackwku on Twitter/X for build-up, live tweets, and reactions. While you’re at it, go ahead and check out the RedOut Podcast on Twitter/X and on YouTube. Also, for Lady Topper live tweeting, follow RedOut, as RedOut will have live tweets when the men play at the same time. As always, we are your #1 source for unfiltered and honest WKU content!