WKU Basketball Notebook: Toppers and Lady Toppers a Combined 3-1 Last Week, High in Early CUSA Standings

With a combined one loss in conference through six games played, the Tops and Lady Tops have established that they will be contenders for the Conference Tournament in March.

WKU Basketball is in as good of a shape as it has been in half a decade. This time, I’m talking both Topper and Lady Topper Basketball. Western’s men have frankly shocked us with the quality of their record. The quality opponent has left something to be desired, but 13-4 at WKU is historically significant, landing well inside the top 25 all-time starts in WKU history.

The Lady Tops have also been better than expected, currently standing atop the women’s standings with MTSU and FIU both unblemished thus far in conference play. Picked to finish tied for second, the Tops are not disappointing. With only three teams in Conference with a winning record (all have 12 wins, though), it really seems like a clear three horse race for the title.

FIU is the lone surprise, while MTSU is good every year under Coach Rick Insell. Despite his diminutive stature, Keebler’s most notable graduate, Rick Insell stands tall amongst all of the women in Conference USA.

On the men’s side, WKU is a surprising conference frontrunner, but the picture for the fellas is much more muddled. First, WKU’s men do have a loss and a two point win at home against a team with zero wins in CUSA. With an incredibly weak non-conference schedule, the question is completely to ask, “How good are they really?”

However, WKU does own a convincing win against Jacksonville State, a team who beat FIU and Liberty and sits tied with the Tops in second. The surprising Sam Houston State Bearkats sit atop Conference USA. The new FIU of Texas, Sam Houston State had as many people on the bench as in the stands for an absolute thriller against WKU.

When SHSU and FIU play this year, is it possible for them to record negative crowd numbers? I mean the wind chill outside is negative! Why can’t attendance numbers?

I digress as per usual.

Nonetheless, WKU and the Lady Tops had fairly productive weeks despite the Tops dropping one on the road in front of an orange graveyard.

So in case you missed this week and are curious for a quick summary, this article is tailor-made just for you. If you didn’t, well, humor us and read through most of this article so we can get our views up, please and thank you!

We’ll run through chronologically, so if you have time travel fantasies, again, this article could be for you. I mean at Towel Rack, we’re really casting a wide net, here.

Lady Tops Use Huge Second Quarter, Continue Winning Ways Against Sam Houston, 76-60

Wednesday night, WKU’s Lady Toppers (10-6, 2-0 CUSA) were able to handle a tall Sam Houston Bearkats ball club (5-9, 0-2 CUSA) in fairly easy fashion. WKU used a 26 point explosion to take a six point lead after the first quarter, and continued their hot shooting, post 50 by halftime against the Bearkats. WKU would only need 26 more points to notch a 16 point victory, as SHSU could not hang with WKU’s offense in the second quarter.

WKU went into halftime up 50-31, and the Tops completely cruised from their, maintaining their lead and winning by 16.

Destiny Salary led the way with 19 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Since being approved by the NCAA, Salary has averaged 15 points per game for the Lady Tops, bolstering a team that was already productive offensively into a team with even more size, speed, and explosiveness. Standing at 6’ and perhaps the fastest player on the court, Salary will continue to create matchup nightmares for CUSA. There are very few women standing at a legit six feet tall still able to do exactly what she does on a basketball court.

Odeth Betancourt, Acacia Hayes, and Teresa Faustino all finished in double figures on the night, all contributing in multiple ways.

Although Sam Houston is not the elite of Conference USA, the fact WKU was able to waltz through a week of conference action without sweating is a gift. Most teams will not have a week with multiple double digit victories, and that lack of pressure could pay dividends down the stretch.

WKU Basketball Plays One of its Worst First Halves of the Year, Can’t Overcome Sam Houston in Huntsville, 78-74

An absolute thriller down the stretch with both teams cranking cold-blooded baskets back-and-forth, this game started out looking like a game that could put 1940s Princeton to sleep in terms of offensive production. At 19-14 WKU after the first 11:24, both teams were struggling.

However, Sam Houston eventually took over, both teams got some measure of offense going, and Sam Houston went into halftime up 36-30, largely thanks to an 18-4 run by the Bearkats to take solid control at 32-23 with 3:58 remaining. From there, WKU would chip at the halftime lead, getting it down to as few as four with 30 seconds left and landing on a six point deficit to head into the break.

Despite WKU playing perhaps its worst, the Tops were still in it. Western could have easily been down 15 or more in the first half. Babacar Faye, Rodney Howard, Khristian Lander, and Tyrone Marshall, Jr., would all go scoreless in the first half.

Coming out in the second half, Sam Houston got a defensive stop and made a layup in the first minute, and in hindsight, that was just enough to hold off a charging WKU down the stretch. WKU would actually take a few leads from 3:12 on a Tyrone Marshall, Jr., three down to 1:17 when Don McHenry stepped up and nailed a three with 1:17 remaining to put WKU up 72-71.

However, SHSU was game, and they finally won the battle of wills down the stretch when Don McHenry couldn’t tie up the game from the elbow extended to tie the game with five seconds remaining.

Perhaps the Tops showed just how high their potential is in this one, though. Despite a nightmare of a first half, WKU was able to fight back on the road and give themselves a chance against the (now) conference leader. Fighting inconsistency, foul trouble, and (some would say) the refs, the Tops needed SHSU to miss one shot in the final several minutes, and they just didn’t miss.

Lady Tops Struggle Offensively at Jacksonville State, Still Win Easily, 62-52

With Acacia Hayes out due to illness, the Lady Tops really had to grind out a defensive victory on the road in northeastern Alabama Saturday afternoon. Western led for a majority of the game, but no quarter was won by more than six. In the second quarter, neither team scored ten (both had eight). It was ugly, frankly.

But sometimes and ugly win in the best kind of win, right? Alexis Mead didn’t get the memo, though. She was WKU’s best player Saturday, scoring 18 on 13 shots, shooting 7-of-13, adding four rebounds, five assists, and only committing two fouls and three turnovers.

On a night when starter Karris Allen scored zero and WKU’s bench only put up seven shots and scored six points, WKU had just enough to pull away in the fourth quarter. Odeth Betancourt, who only averages 6.3 points per game after a recent surge of double digit performances, has absolutely turned a corner and now looks like an All-Conference center with defensive presence. Destiny Salary continues her impressive play and drops in 17. Other than that, WKU had 15 points, all of which came from Teresa Faustino’s nine and the aforementioned bench.

WKU Topples Jacksonville State in a Seesaw Affair, Sends Harper Home Empty Handed, 80-69

Maybe WKU likes to play with its food, or maybe the Tops are just riddled by a recent turnover bug, but Western Kentucky Men’s Basketball really has had some significant swings in momentum despite a dominant 13-4 overall record.

In this one, WKU started up 8-0 and led 17-8 with 12:44 remaining in the first half. Despite that start, which felt like WKU couldn’t play much better, Kyky Tandy and Ray Harper’s underestimated Jax State Gamecocks were to completely flip the first half script, heading into the locker room with a 43-35 lead. Despite the deficit, WKU shot over 45 percent for the half, but Jax State was well over 60 percent from the field.

Kyky Tandy was running roughshod over the Tops, something had to happen or Tandy could have singlehandedly stolen the game for his team.

Khristian Lander drew the large majority of the assignment on Tandy in the second half, and despite his own offensive struggles trying to run point in the second half, Lander acquitted himself quite well, holding the electric Tandy to “just” 11 points in the second. Tandy was made to take tough shots, and most of his shots came contested from the outside instead of him getting inside and drawing fouls. Perhaps the points weren’t significantly different, but Tandy was not as effective down the stretch compared to his first half heroics.

WKU was able to come back from double digits after Tandy made a jumper to start the second half to set the score at 45-35 JSU. WKU would respond back immediately with a 12-1 run. From there, the teams traded baskets for a bit, and then Dontaie Allen nailed a three pointer to make it 55-51 with 11:34 remaining. WKU would allow the Gamecocks to hang within a possession or two for a couple more minutes, but from 9:19 on, WKU held no less than a four point lead, eventually expanding it out and keeping it at a double digit margin, 80-69.

Up Next

With mirror scheduling in Conference USA, both teams face NMSU Thursday and UTEP Saturday. The Toppers go on a huge road trip against two teams they should likely beat, although NMSU has been tougher than expected and UTEP has a winning record. However, if WKU is to truly contend for the CUSA regular season title, the Tops need to sweep out west.

The Lady Toppers will enjoy the friendly confines of Diddle Arena, and again, WKU should easily move forward. That’s not to say these teams are incapable, but WKU has 12 wins, and UTEP and NMSU both sit at 6-9 overall on the season thus far. Arch rival and stiffest competition MTSU draws both of these teams this week, as well, and the Lady Toppers almost certainly must sweep to maintain first place. More importantly, if they do, they will own a minimum of a half game lead on both FIU and Middle.

As conference positioning continues, rely on the Towel Rack to continue to provide you with the most comprehensive coverage on WKU anywhere.