WKU Basketball: Dominant Second Half Pushes Hilltoppers Past Badgers, 83–76
Western Kentucky played their best 20 minutes of the season in the second half against Wisconsin as the Hilltoppers went on a run to open…
Western Kentucky played their best 20 minutes of the season in the second half against Wisconsin as the Hilltoppers went on a run to open the frame and never looked back in an 83–76 win against the #15 Badgers.
Trailing 34–30 to start the half, the Hilltoppers got hot, going on a 9–0 lead behind a Taveion Hollingsworth jumpshot, a Jared Savage layup, a Jake Ohmer three and a Josh Anderson exclamation slam to put the Tops ahead, 43–38, and they’d never look back (though Wisconsin did tie the game on several occasions).
From there, it was just solid and opportune basketball from the Hilltoppers; the ball moved with ease, Ohmer reintroduced himself to the Hilltopper faithful, Charles Bassey was dominant on both ends of the floor and the Tops never once 1.) looked uninterested or 2.) played themselves out of the game.
The first half was a bit of a different story, but wasn’t bad by any means. The Tops matched the Badgers blow for blow, despite the visitors holding a lead for a majority of the opening 20 minutes (but never led by more than six points).
There were times where it felt like WKU could have played their way out of the game, settling for rushed or bad three point looks while the Badgers were scoring points on the other end, but it never got out of hand and WKU was always within striking distance.
We’ll talk more about specific players below, but this may have been the best performance we’ve seen from WKU. From the opening tip they looked like they knew they belonged on the same floor and the better team won today.
Final Thoughts
The Tops had everything working for them — they shot 55.2% from the floor and 40% from deep. They even won the rebounding battle (38–31) and shot more free throws (thanks mostly to a lot of late-game fouling from Wisconsin)
Taveion Hollingsworth led all Hilltopper scorers with 22 points and he was his old, dynamic, emotional self. He had that swagger that we saw last year with him tonight and you could tell he was feeling it early in the game.
Josh Anderson was also quite dynamic — he fouled out in the closing minutes but finished with 15 points (including a couple of ego-bruising dunks) and four rebounds. Especially when the Tops were running in space on quick transitions, Anderson was an absolute joy tonight.
Maybe I’m not watching closely enough, but tonight was the first time I truly noticed the difference Charles Bassey was making on defense. He finished with 19 points and six boards, although I’d have believed you if you said those numbers were reversed.
I talk about it every game but I won’t stop until he does — the growth of Dalano Banton has been a joy to watch. Not only did he finish two points shy of the third ever triple double in WKU history (eight points, 13 boards, 10 assists) but he was a force on defense as well tonight. He could do no wrong.
Welcome back Jake Ohmer. He finished with only one made three (which nearly took the roof off of Diddle) but had two rebounds, an assist and a block for crying out loud.
The crowd — simply awesome. Every time this happens I repeat myself, but I’m going to say it again — there’s no reason Diddle can’t be like that every night.
Final Stats
