WKU Basketball: Hilltoppers Face Monarchs For Conference USA Crown
For the second consecutive season, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are one win away from securing a spot in the Big Dance. Last year, it…
For the second consecutive season, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are one win away from securing a spot in the Big Dance. Last year, it was the Marshall Thundering Herd that stood in their way and, this season, it’s the Monarchs of Old Dominion.
Game Info
Time: 7:30 p.m. CT
Location: The Star | Frisco, Texas
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: The Hilltopper IMG Sports Network
The Hilltoppers haven’t enjoyed their matchups against ODU so far this season — WKU blew their infamous 21–0 lead in Norfolk in their second conference game of the season and lost by four in bonus play, again in Norfolk.
But, this is the first time this year the two teams will not meet in Norfolk and the two squads have reached this point in very different ways.
The Hilltoppers runned and gunned their way past North Texas from opening tip to final whistle and eventually got to that pace in their win against Southern Miss on Thursday. In both games, the Tops held their opponents to under 40% shooting from the floor.
Old Dominion, on the other hand, have won their two tournament games — against Louisiana Tech and UAB — by a combined three points, having to mount comebacks inside the final 90 seconds in each game to get here.
Yesterday, I talked about how one of the things that worried me about the Tops’ matchup was that WKU was 2–0 in the regular season against Southern Miss and how the Tops were 2–0 against Marshall in the title game but lost. Well, today, it’s a hoping of a role reversal; it was ODU who held the upper hand in each of the previous two meetings this year with the Tops looking to make third time the charm.
The dancing shoes are ready to be dusted off, but a hard fought 40 minutes is ahead of us.