WKU Basketball: Hilltoppers Storm Back in Second Half during 93–84 Win over UNT
WKU Basketball rallied back from a 15 point second-half deficit and played arguably one of their most inspired performances of the year as…
WKU Basketball rallied back from a 15 point second-half deficit and played arguably one of their most inspired performances of the year as WKU handled North Texas 93–84 at E.A. Diddle Arena.
WKU played well early but fell behind by as much as 13 points in the first half as their offense went cold midway through the half. North Texas abused the Hilltoppers inside and shot 61% from the floor to take a 42–32 lead into the locker room.
WKU’s bad start got worse as Taveion Hollingsworth exited with an injury barely a minute into the half. What looked like a death knell turned into a catalyst as Jordan Rawls stepped up and turned in his best performance of the season.
WKU would fall behind 15 before going on a 16–0 run over the next 2:38 to claim a 50–49 lead at the 15:11 mark in the second half.
From there WKU wouldn’t look back and would extend that lead to as much as 12 points on an amazing Josh Anderson slam at the 8:38 mark.
The Tops played with emotion and energy that they’ve lacked for large parts of the season. The lead would vacillate between 14 and 8 the rest of the way as WKU cruised to a victory to move to 8–5 on the season
Here are some postgame thoughts on tonight’s impressive second half.
Hopefully, the second-half run is the catalyst for high-level play moving forward. WKU played with energy and poise that they’ve missed since Bassey went down. Learning what works and playing up-tempo is a must for this team moving forward.
WKU got outrebounded 29–22 on the game but actually outrebounded UNT by 2 in the second half. WKU may have figured out how to correctly play small in the second half
WKU committed just five turnovers all game. If they can secure the ball at that level on a semi-consistent basis this team should take off
WKU shot 9–13 from Three-Point range for the game. While the percentage is amazing the number of attempts is what stands out to me. That shows that WKU didn’t just throw up shots but worked the ball around for good looks.
Jared Rawls had the breakout performance that most think he’s capable of tonight. He finished with 18 points, 3 assists, and just 2 turnovers. The team rallied around him and played arguably their best half of the season. Rick Stansbury needs to live and die with the talented freshman the rest of the way and divvy out minutes at the 2–4 based on who’s playing well. Rawls moves this team's potential up substantially.
North Texas abused WKU inside especially in the first half. WKU still needs to find ways to slow down bigger teams inside or it will bite them in the butt down the road.
Josh Anderson led all scorers with 19 points and also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists to challenge Rawls for player of the game. He also made 8–9 free throws as well. I don’t see it as a coincidence that WKU’s two most talented players paced them during the best half of the season.
Jaren Savage & Cam Justice were at their best today. Both finished with great shooting percentages and let the game come to them. They also combined for 10 rebounds and just 3 turnovers. They can both be frustrating but night’s like tonight make you see why Stansbury gives them such a long leash
Carson Williams got points inside (14) but had just 2 rebounds on the day. Some of that can be attributed to the hot shooting but he’s got to give WKU more on the defensive end moving forward
The attendance was just 3,716 tonight. While that is a combination of winter break and last week's poor performance, I think it would have gotten worse had the second-half rally not occurred. The schedule is there for the Tops to roll up wins should they play to their potential over the next two months and fans will respond if/when they do that.
WKU (8–5, 1–0) returns to action on Saturday as they take on the Rice Owls (8–6, 0–1 in CUSA) at 4 PM CT at EA Diddle Arena. WKU has a great performance to build off of and a golden opportunity to start off the conference season at 2–0. Let’s hope they can show the emotion and effort that they did in the second half moving forward.
Here are your final stats from tonight’s important home win.
