WKU Basketball: Preview for Western Kentucky vs UTEP
Two similar-minded coaches prepare to battle it out as WKU heads down to El Paso, Texas to face off against the Miners. Here's everything you need to know about WKU vs UTEP on Jan 20, 2024.
Overview
On Saturday, January 20, The Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers head to El Paso, Texas to face off against the University of Texas El Paso Miners. Western Kentucky (13-5, 2-2 CUSA) is coming off of a heart-breaking loss of 72-70 at New Mexico State in Las Cruces to move the Hilltoppers to fifth in the conference. UTEP (10-8, 1-2 CUSA) is coming off of a much-needed 73-59 win over Middle Tennessee in El Paso to move the Miners to seventh in the conference. As of publication, ESPN’s BPI favors UTEP with a 57.4% chance of winning.
Notable Statistics
WKU Stat Leaders
PPG: Don McHenry- 14.5 Points per game
RPG: Brandon Newman- 6.3 Rebounds per game
APG: Khristian Lander- 2.6 Assists per game
UTEP Stat Leaders
PPG: Tae Hardy- 15 Points per game
RPG: Kevin Kalu- 5.2 Rebounds per game
APG: Zid Powell- 3.1 Assists per game
WKU Team Stats
78.8 PPG
45% FG
32.5% 3PT
41.1 RPG
13.1 APG
7.8 SPG
Utep Team Stats
74.6 PPG
46.4% FG
31.5% 3PT
32.4 RPG
13.5 APG
11.7 SPG
Keys to Victory
WKU
Western Kentucky is going to have to limit the turnovers. Since conference play has started, WKU has averaged 17.75 turnovers. It’s very hard to win, especially when you’re on the road, if you are turning the ball over as much as they are. Western is going to have to find a way to take care of the ball if they want to win this game in such a tough environment.
WKU is also going to need to make sure they keep Tae Hardy under control. He is UTEP’s leading scorer and has been with UTEP for a while. He can turn it on whenever he needs to and provide some good offense for the Miners. He’s coming off of a 20-point scoring performance against Middle Tennessee and it will be important for Western to keep him in check and not let him run away with the game. Khristian Lander did a really good job with guarding Kyky Tandy, and I would love to see the same thing Saturday with Tae Hardy.
Finally, WKU is going to need to keep their foot on the gas. If they have a lead, don’t let the other team back in the game by throwing up poorly timed alley-oops, taking bad shots, and playing soft defense. We saw this Thursday night when the Tops had a 23 point lead in the second half of their game with New Mexico State and they ended up letting the Aggies come back and win the game. We’ve seen this Hilltopper team lose big leads before, but they’ve always managed to squeak out the win. Against New Mexico State, however, WKU couldn’t hold on to the lead long enough. Play with fire and get burned, right? It would be really nice if we could see a complete, 40-minute game from the Tops, and if they’re going to want to win in a tough environment on the road then they will have to go as hard as they can, for 40-minutes, no matter what the scoreboard says. Now on the back foot in conference, losing to UTEP would really damage WKU’s hopes of having a high seed for the Conference USA Tournament in March.
UTEP
UTEP has also struggled a lot with their turnovers. They have averaged 17.7 turnovers per game in their three conference games. With WKU’s defensive pressure, they are going to have to limit those turnovers to keep WKU from getting out in transition, which Western is going to be looking to do all game.
UTEP is also going to have to make sure they’re taking good, open shots from distance. WKU is currently ranked 16th in the country at three-point defense at 28.3%. UTEP is going to need to get their shooters good looks throughout the game or else it could be a long night for the Miners.
UTEP has to crash the boards as well. WKU is also nationally ranked 18th with 41.1 rebounds per game. The Miners are all going to have to crash the boards, not just the bigs, because Western’s roster is full of players that can all rebound the ball very well, so the Miners are definitely going to have to make sure everyone finds a body and boxes out to keep the Tops off of the glass.
Richards’ Expectations and Predictions
I know that both of these coaches are defensive-minded coaches, and this game could end up being a very low scoring game. UTEP held Middle Tennessee, who was tied with Liberty for first place in the CUSA preseason poll, to only 59 points. From the Topper perspective, WKU is building a reputation for their rebounding and defense under Steve Lutz. This is definitely going to be a tough battle for both teams, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of hectic possessions and fast break points from both teams in this game.
My score prediction for WKU vs UTEP is going to be 74-68 WKU. I know Western is coming off of a really tough loss where they let New Mexico State come back from down 23 in the second half, but I believe that coach Lutz won’t ever let that happen again. I think that the Tops are going to dominate the boards and get out in transition for a lot of fast break points.
Conclusion
Overall, I’m very excited for this game. I’m excited to see how the Tops respond to such a bad loss, and I’m also very interested in seeing how this year’s UTEP team compares to last. UTEP has had a very up and down year, so far so we will see what kind of a team they are this Saturday.
For anyone that is not able to make the trip to El Paso, the game will be on ESPN+ at 8:00 pm CT. You can also tune into @thetowelrackwku on Twitter/X for build-up, live tweets, and reactions. While you’re at it, go ahead and check out the RedOut Podcast on Twitter/X and on YouTube. As always, we are your #1 source for unfiltered and honest WKU content!