WKU Basketball: Inconsistent Toppers Look For Answers Against Belmont

The Hilltoppers are set for their final non-conference road test of the season as they head down to Nashville to take on Belmont.

Photo Credit: Joe Faraoni | ESPN Images

The Hilltoppers are set for their final non-conference road test of the season as they head down to Nashville to take on Belmont.

Game Info

Time: 6:30 p.m. CT
Location: Curb Event Center | Nashville, Tenn.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: The Hilltopper IMG Sports Network

This is a game that, rightfully, has many WKU fans feeling uneasy, especially with the inconsistency the Toppers have shown, most recently, coming off the heels of a rather embarrassing second-half showing in the loss to Troy.

Belmont, on the other hand, is on a roll — almost how many thought the Tops would start this year. The Bruins are 8–1 to open the year, with their lone loss to *squints* Green Bay (though they did still put up 92 in the loss) and are coming off a two-point win at UCLA.

The matchup that’ll make or break the game will be the Bruins’ three-point offense against the Tops’ three-point defense. Belmont is shooting 36.6% from beyond the arc this year while the Tops are allowing threes at a 34.7% clip.

WKU looked their best against Troy when they were pressing the 1–3–1 at mid-court, forcing the Trojans’ point guards to make pressured, and often times poor, passes. It also not only brought the defense out from the baseline, but extended the “three” to cover the, for lack of a better word, hot zones for Troy’s three-point attack.

I’m not sure how much the half-court press would do to rattle Belmont’s guards, but the Tops can’t play low on defense and hope to have success guarding Belmont’s perimeter game.

After Sunday’s loss, the Tops were fairly candid about how they basically entered the Troy game and thought all it took was showing up to win. I think they’re starting to enter the mindset that that isn’t the way it works, especially with St. Mary’s and Wisconsin coming up to close the non-con schedule.