WKU Basketball: Toppers Win With an Up-and-down Effort, Extend Final Margin in Crunch Time Over UTEP, 90-80

WKU held a double digit first half lead before trailing at the break, then seized back control and won by ten. The Toppers still are yet to exorcize their demons of inconsistency.

Western Kentucky Basketball has won four in a row during the most crucial stretch of its Conference USA season. Khristian Lander is back from injury (prolonged concussion protocol), and WKU avenged part 1 of 2 of its lowest point in the season when they were swept in their January trip out West.

Now just remains New Mexico State, a team Western was truly blasting out of its home gym by 23, only to completely implode and lose in regulation.

WKU looked solid coming out of the gate, but it certainly didn’t feel like the Tops were just dominating UTEP. They were just a little better. However, UTEP turned up the grit and intensity, and WKU did not match their level, allowing the Miners to dominate the second half of the first half after WKU held a double digit lead early.

By halftime, UTEP had completely turned it around and taken a lead, even having a chance to extend it to multiple possessions. Fortunately, WKU stabilized and went into halftime only down 40-39.

The Hilltoppers came out firing, once again taking control, only to allow UTEP to nearly immediately tie the game. WKU would allow UTEP one more lead by one at 53-52 with 14:39 remaining. From there, WKU go as much as +15 from there, leading by as much as 14, and winning by ten, 90-80.

What Went Right

• Khristian Lander is back! Although he didn’t drop 40 in his return, he did play pretty good defense and scored seven points off of the bench.

• Better defense than last time: WKU gave up 93 last game, although they did score 87. Western kept up the offense, but significantly improved the defensive output. WKU has somewhat found its groove defensively, although with the pace they play, the numbers may rarely be that pretty.

• Fewer turnovers than last time: A sign of improvement and awareness, WKU was certainly not making as many foolish turnovers. However, there was a stretch where the Hilltoppers committed about 1/3 of their turnovers on the night. The rest of the night was pretty decent. This is a slight win, but it’s still a win and an improvement over the trash that was the ball handling in the first game.

• Steve Lutz is playing his bench. Come tournament time, playing nine players is going to leave most of WKU’s roster so much more fresh than playing six or seven guys down the stretch. WKU has nine guys that really stand out as the best players on the team. They all deserve to play, and the player with the least amount of playing time, Jack Edelen, is possibly earning more minutes, according to Coach Lutz in postgame radio interviews.

• Freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore: Teagan Moore and Jack Edelen are contributing when they are in, and Teagan Moore has gone from an intimidating fart (silent but deadly) to a real presence in the Topper rotation. Teagan had four games where he played double digit minutes in the non-conference. Since January 20, he has played at least 11 minutes in every game. Jack Edelen is a quiet contributor, but he is so solid at just not turning the ball over that he creates a nice bridge at point guard when McHenry and/or Lander get tired. He’s not going to drop in 15 points, but he will give you several minutes of solid basketball with very few mistakes, and that trait is invaluable on a team with a propensity for turning the ball over.

• Four in a row: Even though Western clearly has work to do, the Tops are still clicking at the right time. Despite struggling in certain areas, they’re getting better at those issues for the most part, and they’re getting more healthy and building more experience heading into CUSA tournament play.

What Went Wrong

• Still losing focus: WKU has done this all season, especially in conference. Western will have a lead and slack off, either tangibly just going to sleep on the job, or not responding to the opponents’ new level.

• Free throws: Although WKU ended up shooting well overall, the first half free throws were only 8-of-13 at the halftime break, something that singlehandedly allowed UTEP to lead at half.

• Silly turnovers: It’s one thing to get trapped in the corner and turn it over on a pass, or to have the ball stolen under pressure. It’s quite another to pass it and have it stuffed in your face, or to fling it across the entire court and the other team anticipates and takes the ball away.

• Too many easy baskets down low. WKU outscored UTEP in the paint, but not by much. 40 points in the paint kept UTEP in this thing and could have allowed them to possibly win if Western had not executed its offense down the stretch. UTEP was able to shift the ball around and get some lanes and go score or get fouled or both.

• The Crowd: It wasn’t an awful crowd in terms of engagement or anything, but as an earlier tipoff, I was thinking people would show up five minutes late from supper after work and fill out the arena to the tune of maybe 4,500 to 5,000 people. Instead, 3,305 came. That’s a little sparse, to be frank. Folks, Saturday is Senior Day against a team that we need to seek revenge on. It is time to pack Diddle. NO EXCUSES! Get to Diddle.

Next Time Out

We’ll skip the “Topper Tidbits” portion for today, but one huge note is the play of Don McHenry. If he can get 20+ against NMSU, he should probably get yet another Conference USA Player of the Week and really establish himself as the frontrunner for that prestigious award after dropping in a 25-5-5 line.

That being said, next up is the New Mexico State University Aggies. Losers at MTSU Thursday, will they be deflated, or will they come in fired up and feeling on the ropes from a surprise loss? Will they be hyper focused, since they know WKU will probably be fired up about losing in embarrassing fashion at their place?

We shall see, but one thing is for sure: WKU could be in first place by the end of the night. WKU could certainly be in second. And if nothing else, if SHSU beats Liberty and the Toppers beat NMSU, the Tops will be a full (or more) two games ahead of fourth place, a crucial spot to be in heading down the stretch given the difficulty of the remaining schedule.

For anyone who is not able to make it to Diddle, the game will be on ESPN+ at 2:00 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!