WKU Basketball: Lackluster First Half Dooms Hilltoppers Again, Fall to Belmont,
After yet another lackluster first half performance, the Hilltoppers hit their stride about midway through the second half, but as we’ve…
After yet another lackluster first half performance, the Hilltoppers hit their stride about midway through the second half, but as we’ve seen time and time again it was too little, too late as WKU fell to Belmont, 80–74, for their second straight loss and their third loss over their last four games.
WKU is now under .500 for the first time since being 0–1 to open the year after losing to Washington.
Trailing 42–28 at halftime and looking rather lackluster on both sides of the ball, the Tops opened the half with a little more pep in their step.
WKU used a 20–15 run to open the half to pull within 57–50 and used a 13–2 run to eventually pull within five, at 60–55, but the Hilltoppers could never get the break or two they needed to over take the Bruins.
The game opened incredibly sloppily, for both teams but especially WKU, who had numerous open looks underneath the rim but, for whatever reason, were unable to finish and put it home. You take half of the Tops’ misses and turn them into makes, you’re looking at WKU opening with something close to a 13–6 kind of score.
However, that was closer to how Belmont opened, getting hot midway through the opening frame from three — like everyone knew they would — while the Tops tried to match long balls with them, forcing shots that didn’t go in but, instead, went for a defensive rebound for the Bruins.
I don’t know how many times I’ve said it in recaps this year but I’ll say it again — this game was straight forward. The Tops looked uninterested in the first half, looked like they realized they had to show up in the second half and it fell short.
I’m not sure how much longer we can go along with the “there’s just some small things this team needs to fix” narrative and face the fact that this team might have been over hyped and over promised. We’ve seen they can play with good teams, and they show it in spurts, but I cannot think of one game this year in which we’ve seen Western Kentucky show up for 60 minutes of basketball.
Final Thoughts
Your leading scorers tonight were Charles Bassey (who notched his fifth double-double; 16 points, 10 boards) and Josh Anderson, who looked like his electric self during the Tops’ big run in the second half.
Dalano Banton continues to develop in front of our very eyes and it’s beautiful to watch. Tonight, he scored 11 points and logged seven rebounds in 17 minutes. He looks more comfortable running the point and is more and more fun to watch.
This was another big development game for Tolu Smith, who again played bigger than his statline indicated (especially in the first half) — he notched six points and three boards in 11 minutes, and was lethal on the baseline, especially when on the floor with Bassey. I’d like to see that pairing down low on the floor more often.
Taveion Hollingsworth looked…not right. And he hasn’t looked right for a while. Usually, I want the offense running through him, but tonight I wanted nothing to do with him on that side of the floor. He finished with four points and four rebounds in 39 minutes.
I’ll let my tweet explain this one.
Those two wins for the Hilltoppers have come against Tennessee State and Arkansas. In those five losses, the Tops are getting outscored 77–70 (or, to be more precise, 77.2–69.8).
I saw this sentiment on Twitter and it’s actually something I was thinking during halftime — how much of this disappointing start is on Stansbury? We know the script and we even heard players talk about needing to be better prepared mentally after the Troy loss. What is it he’s telling the team?
Above all, and again this is something that isn’t new, this team needs a leader. A heartbeat on the floor. If this team had Justin Johnson, at least two of these late-game pushes would be wins. There’s no one to turn to for emotion right now. And that needs to change.
Final Stats
