WKU Basketball: Game Grades - Stop Taking Dayvion McKnight for Granted
We need to start appreciating Dayvion McKnight more, Luke Frampton is here to stay and my goodness is Jaylen Butz not only bad, but lazy.
The Hilltoppers are riding high on a four-game win streak and are staring a tough stretch in the face, with Buffalo, Ole Miss and Louisville all coming down the pipe over the next four games.
But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, lets rundown some key performances from Saturday’s five-point win over Eastern Kentucky.
Sherman Brashear - B+
While not the loudest night on the scoresheet, Brashear made every minute of his spot-start in place of Jarius Hamilton count Saturday night. It felt like he was all over the floor and had several tremendous hustle plays and was clutch from deep early (though fell a little bit too in love with his early success and kept attempting three’s from almost the exact same spot, to little avail).
This is the shortest write up of this story, but that’s okay - I just wanted to shout out Brashear who is quickly becoming a Towel Rack writing staff favorite player. I’m excited to see what kind of impact he’ll have against Buffalo on Wednesday.
Jaylen Butz - D
We’ve been saying it for a while on social media during games but it’s time we address it properly: It’s almost painful to watch Jaylen Butz plays. He shows little to no effort night in and night out and, at the rate he’s been going, it’s hard to justify him logging minutes.
The most telling moment of the game came in the second half when Butz had beaten the Colonels defense in the paint, was given the ball from the wing, and instead of driving to dunk or go for a layup, an EKU defender was able to not only recover and get in front of him, but tie up the ball and get a jump ball call.
Not a foul. Not even a block out of bounds.
Butz, who had at least a three-step advantage once the ball was in his hands, was out hustled for no other reason than he, himself, was not hustling.
That’s far from the only example, but it was the most telling one of the night.
Head coach Rick Stansbury choosing to play Butz over Isaiah Cozart (who has looked really good as of late) to spell Jamarion Sharp was not only baffling, but inexcusable.
Luke Frampton - A+
Do not let the first week of the season fool you: Luke Frampton is here and is for real.
After going 3-for-26 from deep to open the season, Frampton has made 15 of his last 28 three point attempts. However, his shooting range isn’t even what is making him so valuable.
Especially in the absence of Hamilton, Frampton was a huge factor on both ends of the floor inside, drawing a couple of huge charge fouls against the Colonels and also had a couple of strong drives to the rim himself against EKU defenders (even finishing one or two of them off).
Frampton is quickly becoming a do-it-all player for the Hilltoppers and he, much like Brashear, will be huge in WKU’s success if Hamilton misses a significant amount of time.
Dayvion McKnight - A
I would love if someone can tell me if I’m out of line for saying the following, but: I think we are already taking Dayvion McKnight for granted.
Through eight games so far this year, the Shelbyville product is averaging 14.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists and is logging over 35 minutes a night. And, outside of his Herculean second half against Minnesota, he’s doing it relatively under the radar.
That tweet was sent just past the halfway point of the second half, he had already scored 12 and was going severely unnoticed. He finished the night leading all Hilltoppers in scoring with 22 points and was a key facilitator of the offense in crunch time.
Maybe it’s because we’ve spent so many years bemoaning the point guard position, maybe it’s because he’s more productive than he is flashy, maybe it’s a myriad of other reasons. But, whatever the case, we need to stop ignoring what McKnight is doing nightly.