WKU Basketball: Toppers Take On Team From (Middle) Tennessee in Packed Diddle

It’s Western vs. Middle. Need I say more?

It’s Western vs. Middle. Need I say more?

Game Info

Time: 6 p.m. CT
Location: E.A. Diddle Arena | Bowling Green, Ky.
TV: Stadium
Radio: The Hilltopper IMG Sports Network

This game got simultaneously less and more interesting on Thursday as soon as Middle’s loss to Marshall went final.

It’s less interesting for, well, obvious reasons. It’s no longer two undefeated in conference play sides playing to knock the other off and take sole possession of first place. Both teams can’t play spoiler.

But, that’s also why it makes it more interesting — not only is MT going to come out and prove their loss to Marshall was a fluke (was it though?), but they’re going to want to humiliate the Tops on their own floor and put a momentary end to their magical run through the first third of the conference schedule.

On paper, MT is built very much like WKU — averaging over 75 points per game and allowing just over 65 points per game. And, while MT’s scoring isn’t quite up to par with what the Tops are averaging (MT averages 73.7 points a night compared to the Tops’ 78.9 mark), they’re allowing about three points less than WKU is (66.7 compared to 69.5).

So, basically, a coin flip.

The Tops don’t get a break in the “dominant big” category, as Nick King will follow having to handle Chris Cokely down low. King is the only Blue Raider averaging more than 20 points per game — logging 21.4 a night — to acompany his team-best 7.9 rebounds per game.

Just as the case was on Thursday, King vs. Dwight Coleby/Justin Johnson might just be the matchup of the night.

But, let’s not shortchange Giddy Potts, a player who just might be my favorite in the conference. Potts is averaging 13.2 points and 4.3 rebounds as a guard, and might be the toughest backcourt matchup the Tops face in the C-USA slate, if not the entire season.

It should be an awesome game, Diddle is going to be sold out, and tempers are sure to flare.