WKU Basketball: Grading WKU's 93-85 Loss in 100 Miles of Hate

What went wrong against a team that supposedly can't score?

Well, I’m pretty sure as we go through this, I’m going to look stupid. I thought WKU would handle MTSU, but I sure as crap did not see Middle shooting 57% from three and 57% from the field, as well. I’m sure no one else did, either. The level of snakebitten this team is during the now five game losing streak is remarkable.

But just because Middle went wild and became Davidson with Stephen Curry doesn’t mean Western Kentucky’s defense didn’t have something to do with it. Ultimately, I can’t fathom how a team on a losing streak of four against the arch rival just phones in the defense and gives up 93 against a team that barely averages 70.

Before this game, MTSU was shooting 29% from three on the year! They shot nearly double that. There’s no excuse for losing to a team that is one year of recruiting short of being a really good team.

Nick McDivitt really has this program firing, and they are way ahead of schedule. Left with a dumpster fire, he has already rebuilt the roster and put in his style and the players are responding.

Once again, WKU’s opponent was clearly working harder than the Tops, despite all of the motivation in the world to leave everything out there. UAB played harder than WKU, although WKU put out its best pure effort level of the season besides maybe Ole Miss. MTSU was back to the normal intensity level, or maybe slightly higher than that. And guess what? You don’t snap losing streaks against good teams without playing as hard as possible.

Let’s try to dissect what happened Saturday in Diddle, because the game didn’t go how I thought it would.

Grading the Keys to Victory

Bring the Hate: D

I’m not saying WKU didn’t play hard, because I think they played pretty hard. But pretty hard doesn’t work when every team you’ve played in conference is playing on a different level of intensity than you right now. The massive efforts to stop three pointers stopped. The boxing out stopped. This was a rivalry game. What about the tone of this game said anything about two teams that weren’t going to let each other breathe? MTSU had tons of flow offensively. You could tell they made a few shots above their normal. No question. But they were also allowed to do that. Nothing told me this was a rivalry game until Middle acted like it won the Super Bowl and McDivitt clapped his hands loudly on the way to shake hands with Rick Stansbury.

This is something Rick Stansbury’s teams struggle with: Emotion. They’re robots out there. They’ll be unphased against Power Five schools, but they’ll disrespect the heck out of a “lesser” opponent. Have some awareness. You’re supposed to get up for big rivalry games. Just because they’re not great doesn’t mean you don’t channel your high school’s greatest rivalry into this one. Think of Duke/UNC or Yankees/Red Sox. There’s a ton of history riding on each one of these games and WKU just didn’t play like this game mattered anymore than any other game. In the grand scheme, it doesn’t. But you better put out your best against the arch rival.

Play Well and Be Aggressive: C-

Sure, WKU played well offensively for the most part. 46-42-70 is fine for shooting-three point-free throw numbers. And they were sometimes aggressive offensively. Then again, Cam Justice and Jamarion Sharp did not have many chances to contribute. Justice only took five shots but scored 11. Imagine if he took a few more. Sharp was 2-3 with four points and got a few blocks and rebounds but didn’t play most of the second half. He was then subbed back in late when WKU had cut the lead back to five late in the game. And defensively, or offensively either one, where were the hustle plays? Did WKU dive on the floor more than a couple of times? In the UAB game, there were several moments where the crowd got excited from a great effort. When did that happen this past game?

Play Great Team Defense and Overhelp: D-

Honestly it’s not an F simply because of the freakish anomaly of making so many threes. That’s the only reason. But WKU didn’t do any better guarding the two ball, either. And they fouled and MTSU shot 17 free throws. Sure they made 16. Again, another anomaly. Very clearly this was MTSU’s best offense, but even so, how was Josh Jefferson allowed to make 7-of-9 threes? How were they allowed to make 57% inside the three point line, as well? How were they able to draw so many foul shots against the Tops? If Western was focusing on one particular area in particular, I’m not sure what it was. My original thought was trying to cram the middle. That didn’t happen. Overhelp on the outside? That didn’t happen either. I seriously doubt Rick Stansbury would’ve told his team to overhelp and be physical and foul, since that’s directly against his fundamental philosophy.

Be Fundamentally Sound: C-

Obviously the offense wasn’t really that bad. Only 13 turnovers despite being pressed a significant amount. Western was pretty efficient in all shooting areas. Dayvion McKnight had ten assists, but Western only had 13 total. So a little ding there. Then the defense. You gave up 93 and gave up 57% to a team that shoots low to mid-40s and 29% from three. How do you give anything but absolute trash grades for that? Also the effort was tangibly less than Middle. And the Tops didn’t close out on threes and took several plays off boxing out and allowed some rebounds that maybe shouldn’t have fallen to the Blue Raiders. So average an F and an A- or so and we’ve got a C-.

Cam Justice and Luke Frampton: C-

I completely misread MTSU’s entire team. They were not really the style that I expected and that’s just from not paying attention to them for the past several years. They’ve been a non-factor, so why should I have a clue the exact makeup of their team? Middle is way more athletic and presses much more than you would think. They have some athletes, but it’s underdeveloped talent that’s working on getting there. Anyway, complete misread by me, but honestly Cam Justice did well but didn’t take many shots, and Luke Frampton took a bunch of shots and just missed. You could argue if Frampton was on fire, WKU probably could have won. So sure, they were definitely impactful to the outcome of the game. Also a combined zero assists and three turnovers. Both guys usually make a few impactful passes and/or take care of the ball.

Player Grades

Dayvion McKnight: B+

Dayvion was great on the offense end. Heck, he accounted for over half of WKU’s points. So he was absolutely massive. However, look at how the MTSU guards did against WKU’s defense. Josh Jefferson, 31 and zero turnovers. Donovan Sims, 22-6-6 with stats in every single statistical category, including his six turnovers. Check out this line by the guard position as a whole… All told, MTSU’s guards produced 77 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists, committed 15 turnovers, had 4 steals, and 4 blocks. Besides the turnovers, they were over 75% of the positive statistics for this team, with the exception of rebounds, which the big guys produced much more of, as they should. My point here is that Dayvion may have flourished on the offensive end, but defensively, he and the Tops in general left something to be desired. You can’t have two guards under 6’3” go for a combined 53 points and hope to win very many games with essentially six players.

Camron Justice: D

Sure, he got his points and he got to the line and he made the shots he was given. Other than that, he fouled out (which I didn’t realize until now), missed three crucial free throws, grabbed one rebound, zero assists, zero steals, and two turnovers. And as I mentioned in Dayvion’s grades, Middle’s guard went off. Why? Because in my opinion, Dayvion McKnight and Cam Justice are short. And Luke Frampton plays short. Middle has significant length (four blocks, all by 6’6” or taller guards) and WKU does not with the exception of the men who play any kind of significant role 6’6” or taller. None of the shorter players have length, and I think that creates issues defensively, especially when Rick Stansbury chooses to go small, like he did this game.

Luke Frampton: D

Again, sure, he scored more than his average. But he needed ten shots to get 11 points as a three point specialist! He didn’t grab his normal 4+ rebounds (3 this game). He did have three steals and only one turnover. But again, the defense. He has to take some of that blame, although he didn’t seem to be as much of a liability this game. He still gets a D simply because of the massive liability of missing so many shots. What’s killer about Luke is he will shoot a high volume at times and just go ice cold for several minutes. And with the volume, WKU is relying on his scoring during those moments to carry most of the weight. He doesn’t do it, and other teams get long rebounds and get easy shots and go on lengthy runs. I’m not sure there’s a cure for a cold shooter besides keep shooting, but he gets a tough grade because his missed threes were at absolutely crucial moments, unfortunately.

Jairus Hamilton: C+

Finally, offensively, Jairus put up enough shots and was aggressive enough to produce like he should be. And give the man credit: On a night when Middle was making everything, he cleaned up the defensive glass a crucial five times and also got on the offensive boards twice. Sure, his shooting wasn’t great, but he did step up and make two huge threes in a row in the second half that got WKU back within striking distance. Also, we talked about how great the guards were. Jairus played as the five for the majority of the second half as Rick mysteriously went small and didn’t play Jamarion Sharp (nor did he even sub at all) for more than ten minutes in a row. Jairus always plays as either the four or five, anyway. But MTSU’s bigs were not that effective. They didn’t produce that much, only scoring 18 total points. They did grab their fair share of rebounds, but ultimately the big men were not the issue for WKU. Although Jamarion Sharp did not play much of the second half, the big guys as a whole (including Josh Anderson and Isaiah Cozart) combined for 37 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 7 steals, and only 7 turnovers.

Jamarion Sharp: B-

For the amount of minutes he was given, Jamarion Sharp was productive, with the exception of being a little low in the points category. I fault him absolutely zero for not hardly playing in the second half. He should have gotten more minutes. Period. Even if he’s a matchup issue, you can’t go over half of a half without substituting. Sure, your five guys were in an offensive rhythm. Yeah and then at the end of the game, what happened? They were completely dead and you substituted one of them out (Cam Justice because he fouled out) and didn’t play anyone else the rest of the game. To re-emphasize, Jairus and Dayvion played the entire second half. Josh Anderson played all but 2:20. Luke Frampton played all but 1:33. And Cam Justice only missed 1:18 of time that he was eligible to play until he fouled out. No one else played. So I give Jamarion a pretty good passing grade because he was present and produced for the amount of minutes he was in there. He had a significant size advantage and was open a few times and no one got him the ball. That’s not on him.

Josh Anderson: B+

Once again, Josh Anderson is the best player on the team and still received the fourth most minutes. And Cam Justice was fouled out, so by “necessity”, Josh played the final 4:20 without anyone else to substitute. Otherwise, he would’ve definitely played less than Cam Justice, as well. Despite not being given the minutes or the starts, Josh Anderson scores seventeen and singlehandedly grabs five of MTSU’s 15 turnovers himself. Yes he had three turnovers. And yes, he missed some shots. But his job for much of the game was to create chaos, play big, and drive to the hole. He did that for the most part. I’d like to see more rebounds from a man who’s 6’7”, but he also plays some on the perimeter and also plays some point guard at times. So he has other responsibilities. However, he also has a nose for big plays and I think he should make some on the glass every once in a while.

Isaiah Cozart: C+

Cozart was, I think, a slight positive for the three measly minutes he was given. He did have some moments where he gave up some buckets underneath. But you know what I like? He’s a big body that produces something every time he’s out there. He boxes out. He tipped a ball to a teammate that would’ve been an MTSU offensive rebound otherwise. He actually had his first turnover of the season, god forbid! Bench him for the rest of the year for that, right? I mean seriously, it’s almost a joke at this point. Why would he randomly get playing time in important minutes in the first half of the last two games after not playing since December 18 when he suddenly lost his spot in the rotation? And, in addition to being sprinkled back in, he gets an upgrade from his two minutes last game to three minutes this game. By the end of the year, he might get to 80 minutes played all year at this pace!

Why is this man not given a chance? I don’t care that he makes some mistakes. So do your other players, but they’re not the scapegoat. You play two bigs all game and wonder why your team is wearing down. Middle played nine players Saturday. Six were guards and three were big men. Two of those “guards” were 6’6” or taller. But they also only played one person taller than 6’7” all game. You had the size on them, but guess what? They beat you with much less talent than the likes of Jaylen Butz, Isaiah Cozart, and Sherman Brashear. Maybe it’s time to learn a lesson and just play who you’ve got. Otherwise, you’re going to continue asking six players to play against ten every night. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to your bench.

Team Grades

Offense: A

We’ve talked about it already. The offense was good enough to win almost every game.

Defense: F

Middle made some shots, but there’s no reason WKU couldn’t have held Middle under 90, and frankly a team playing their guts out with this level of talent vs. that level of talent probably shouldn’t have allowed anyone to score over 80, even on their best night. Middle easily made it into the 90s. They shot 15% higher or more in every shooting category. No excuses

Team Effort: C+

I don’t believe Western’s effort was horrendous, but for the desperation mode you should be in, people should be getting in scuffles and diving all over the floor. Somebody should be bleeding. I don’t remember more than two or three hustle plays all night.

Team Fight: D

This was your arch rival. Who treated this game like it meant more than one win or one loss? Middle Tennessee. WKU played this like any other game, Middle brought the hate from 100 miles away, and WKU brought the “try”. Big difference.

Team Stamina: F

I can’t put my finger on why they might’ve been tired. There’s no telling why six players shouldn’t be able to give their best in a rivalry game after pouring their guts out 40 hours earlier with the same six guys.

Coaching: F+

Sure, Rick’s game plan made sense. Congratulations. MTSU can’t shoot. Ok, well, they kept making shots and you didn’t really adjust anything except panicking and pressing after you got down double digits. I hoped to see signs of brilliance like I did against UAB. I thought Rick did a great job against UAB overall. There were some nitpicky things, but everything he did actually made sense. This game? Middle scored 42 in the first half. That’s not good. Second half? 51. On top of making everything under the sun, WKU got called for a ton more fouls in the second half, and middle make 14-of-15 from the line in the second. There has to be some kind of adjustment made, and absolutely nothing happened.

Game Plan: C+

My idea was to run a zone and force Middle to shoot. Clearly, that was the plan for WKU. However, I still like getting up on the shooters. Don’t let them get in a rhythm. Don’t let them see it go in the bucket. Middle banks in a three to start (not anyone’s fault), and they’re off to the races. So I don’t hate this idea, but I would’ve tweaked a few things. Offensively, my only issue was not getting Jamarion Sharp involved. Other than that, I didn’t have much of an issue there, either. So this is a passing grade, but it just didn’t blow me away.

In-Game Adjustments: F-

Sure, Middle shot out of their minds. So. The Snell Hall. What?!? So Middle gets up double and your solution for coming back is to make your top five guys vomit until one of them fouls out and sub in your 7’5” beast with 4+ to play because you had to? You play Isaiah Cozart for three minutes and then he doesn’t play again when you’re “trying to go small” and Jamarion isn’t the best matchup against MTSU? Where’s Jaylen Butz? Where’s Sherman Brashear at the end of the game instead of playing Jamarion the last four minutes? And why do you think going exclusively small for ten minutes in a row with only five players is a good idea without inserting Jamarion in (or someone else) at all during the most crucial part of the game? Your players cut it to five. That’s great. Then their legs completely gave out because you’re refusing to “take a risk” and “trusting” your bench. Your bench is there for a reason. You made all of the wrong moves and played straight into Middle’s hands defensively, for sure. Your five players outscored them by eight, but the reason they didn’t outscore them by 20 during that stretch was because they couldn’t stop Middle Tennessee unless the Blue Raiders stopped themselves. Or if Josh Anderson made an amazing play or 12.

It’s extremely frustrating watching this clown show twice a week. Middle Tennessee shot 57% in the first half AND 57% in the second half. And they added taking a ton of free throws!!! So what was your adjustment, dude? Foul more? Whatever buttons you pressed didn’t work. Try something else, for Todd’s sake! Something had to be taken away: Driving lanes, open three point shots, not fouling. Playing the bench. Something to alleviate the pressure these poor six guys have to be feeling night in and night out.

Roster Management: Disaster

Speaking of pressure, imagine being Dayvion McKnight and you’re scoring 20 a night and on a five game losing streak. You’re Jairus Hamilton and you just scored 16 and it wasn’t enough. You’re Luke Frampton and Cam Justice and you’re putting up double digits at least once every two games, if not two of three. You’re Jamarion Sharp and you’re putting up your average every night. You’re Josh Anderson and you’re leading the team in almost every category. For some reason, you just can’t get over the hump. Because if you physically ask six players to carry the load that everyone else asks eight to ten players, your six players have to perform at an all-conference level every night. They have to average 13 points per game, and to beat Middle Saturday, they would have had to average 16 each. They averaged nearly 15 and lost. How many teams in the country have six players on the roster that night in and night out will score double digits? That’s what you’re asking your roster to do. It’s mathematically impossible.

Late Game Awareness: No comment

Screw it, I’ll comment. That is now three of these five games that WKU has not known when to foul. Rick didn’t know, either. They’re waiting for instructions to foul and he’s computing in his head whether they need to foul. I’m pretty sure down six with 50 seconds on the clock, you need to aggressively try to steal all the way up to halfcourt and then foul immediately once they get it in the frontcourt. And if it’s getting close to ten seconds and they’re easily going to get it up court, foul earlier than across halfcourt. Under 30 seconds down more than three: Automatic aggressive steal/foul ASAP. This is fundamental basketball philosophy. And also, why in the world would you call off the dogs down six or less with any more than ten seconds on the clock? I would never ever give up fouling until I knew we were mathematically eliminated. You’re down 12 under two minutes? Foul someone who can’t shoot. Heck, you’re down 15 in the second half, foul the guy that shoots 60% or less. Middle has two guys that play a total of about 40 minutes per game, meaning one of them is likely on the floor at any given point.

Also, offensively, if you’re down two possession with, say, 35 second left, you almost definitely will not win that game if you get the ball off much later than 15 seconds into the possession. You have to get it up. Once you get in the teens in seconds, if you’re not hoisting it down two or more possessions, you’re losing because you’re just not getting it up on the rim. You make all this effort to try to win the game, and then the coach that was on the sideline for a 12 point comeback in less than a minute at Texas A&M doesn’t believe his team can win enough to keep trying until the bitter end in the middle of a five game losing streak. I don’t understand how you don’t cover late game situations in practice and the team automatically knows what you believe in. For example, we know Rick does believe in fouling up three with under ten seconds left but not under four or five seconds. Great. Where does he stand on fouling down seven with 50 left? His players didn’t know. He’s always barking instructions trying to get guys in line. The time to get them in line in upper level basketball is going over late game situations like fouling, like trapping, like understanding possession arrows, timeouts, and how quickly you need to get up a shot and whether you need a two or a three.

Overall: F

Sorry. You lost to Middle and you never should’ve lost a game in this way. It’s one thing if you can’t hit the broad side of a barn. WKU’s women lost to Middle and UAB because they ran into good teams and couldn’t score. Western’s men lost to UAB for the same reason. They did most everything they could and just couldn’t make some shots. This game, Middle Tennessee, a team that barely averages 70, blew up for 93 against your team that averages giving up less than 70 and allowing opponent to shoot about 40% and 33% from three. Sure, Middle was incredible Saturday. If they only shot 50% for the game, or only made 75% from free throws instead of 94%, this probably would have been a different story. If they didn’t bank in two three pointers, sure, the game would have likely played out different.

So there’s some bad luck involved in this. However, what can you control? Your offense had some issues that could have been fixed. For example, only three players on the entire team had assists. Luke Frampton went cold from deep. Cam Justice didn’t get up enough shots. Neither did Jamarion Sharp. Sure, there are things to nitpick there. The offense wasn’t the problem, though.

For the life of me, I just can’t figure out why WKU allowed this game to be a shootout. This should’ve been a trudging, methodical match to see who could be efficient against great team defense. WKU would thrive in a slower-paced, more organized game against a team that was forcing them to speed up. Middle is just an aggressive team, and I believe it’s by necessity. They happened to make tons of shots, forcing WKU to be incredibly efficient amongst the mess. And the officials called it in such a way in the second half that Middle got a few more opportunities at the line, something WKU relies on doing itself to beat its opponents. Middle is not suited for a halfcourt game where the opponent’s offense dictates the pace. Middle was allowed to be in control and consequently got to play their game, in addition to shooting the lights out.

Amidst the mess, WKU was efficient enough to be competitive, but the Tops didn’t do what was best for them, despite coming out good enough statistically. Perhaps Middle doesn’t shoot 57% if they were uncomfortable the entire game.

Hopefully, WKU comes out motivated and refuses to go down without a fight. And hopefully, Rick Stansbury decides to magically change his ways. Pride comes before a fall, they say.