WKU Basketball: Inconsistent Performance Leads To Disappointing 84–78 Defeat at Missouri State
There’s no other way to put it; Wednesday night’s 84–78 loss to Missouri State is not a good loss. The Hilltoppers could not for the life…
There’s no other way to put it; Wednesday night’s 84–78 loss to Missouri State is not a good loss. The Hilltoppers could not for the life of them find any consistency and, when they did for brief moments in the second half, they ran into one of the hottest shooting performances you’ll find as Missouri State shot 75% from the floor (21–28) and 66.7% from three (8–12) in the final 20 minutes.
Things started out well for the Tops, albeit slow, as they worked their way into a nine-point lead past the halfway point of the first half despite some shooting struggles (WKU shot just 38.5% from the floor in the front 20) and, despite seeing that nine-point lead completely erased, held a one-point advantage at halftime.
From the start of the second half, though, it was all Missouri State, who opened the half on a 16–9 run and proceeded to shoot lights out (if they put the ball in the air, it found a way to fall for points).
Despite the hot shooting from the Bears, and no matter how bad it felt like the Tops were playing (though they did trail by 15 at one point), the reality was WKU was also a quick run or two and a defensive stop away from getting right back in it.
Overall, this is a bitter game to leave. The only energy that was seen from the team came in the final rush in the final five or so minutes, which is when you want to see energy, but you could tell the inability to hold the early lead and MOST’s hot shooting had deflated the squad; there was low energy on defense and no sense of urgency on offense.
It was echoed a lot on Twitter and we won’t dive too much into it right here, but one thing is abundantly clear after eight games — there’s no go to, sparkplug leader for the Hilltoppers in 2018/19 (yet), like there was a season ago with Justin Johnson. There’s no one to look to for a spark. No emotional leader.
Some final thoughts:
Taveion, when he wants to turn it on, can turn it on. He finished leading all scorers with 24 points (shot 9-of-15 from the floor, 4-of-7 from three) and was instrumental in the comeback effort late in the game and a lot of his success came when he either was moved off point guard or was otherwise free to worry about making a play without holding the PG role at the time.
Towards the end of the game, Stansbury used a lineup of Taveion, Josh Anderson, Jared Savage, Dalano Banton and Charles Bassey, with Banton running point. Honestly, that’s when the Tops looked at their strongest and most potent, allowing Taveion and Josh to try to get free to make a play. Sure, Banton has some growing up to do as a college ballhandler, and maybe a road SEC test isn’t the ideal time to use that lineup again, but I wouldn’t complain if I saw more of it.
A lot of people were upset about the lack of Charles Bassey getting touches down low. Two points on that. 1.) He finished with 17 points (and 10 rebounds) on 6-of-9 (nice) shooting. He isn’t being miffed of any opportunities (or, rather, a great deal of opportunities). 2.) He was more involved in the offense than we have seen in recent games, he was just playing out of the lane, being something of a traffic director, usually at the top of the key — much like we saw in Myrtle Beach. He also was strong in the back half of the game, getting the ball in the paint and above the rim for a couple of easy baskets.
The development of Tolu Smith is happening right before our eyes. His statline is deceiving — he logged only two points (both from the free throw line) and didn’t finish with a rebound — but he was a strong asset in the first half for WKU, working alongside Bassey down low. He was most effective downlow with the ball, using his body to draw several fouls. I’m excited for his future.
Final Stats
