WKU Basketball: Tops Cruise to 75–53 Exhibition Win over Kentucky Wesleyan
In their first game without injured star Charles Bassey, WKU Basketball shot 46.9 % from the floor and cruised to an easy win over…
In their first game without injured star Charles Bassey, WKU Basketball shot 46.9 % from the floor and cruised to an easy win over Division 2 Kentucky Wesleyan in an exhibition in front of 3012 fans at E.A. Diddle Arena.
WKU quickly jumped out to a 14–0 lead in the first five minutes. That lead would vacillate between 16 and 7 as WKU shot 51.6% from the floor. There were moments of lost focused but the Hilltoppers took a 42–29 lead into the locker room.
WKU would come out of the locker room sluggish and KWC as went on a 9–4 run in the first 4 minutes to cut the lead to 8. WKU would wake up and go on a 13–2 over the next 5 minutes to lead by 19 and put the Panthers at arm's length the rest of the game.
From there WKU would extend their lead to as much as 25 points as they held KWC to just 31% shooting in the second half. The Tops would empty the bench and cruise to a 75–53 exhibition victory.
Here are some post-game thoughts on tonight’s exhibition win:
Kentucky Wesleyan isn’t very good as they were just 3–6 heading into tonight’s game. The talent differential was apparent and when WKU was locked in the Panthers couldn’t match WKU’s firepower.
Despite not having Bassey WKU outrebounded KWC 41–32 which is an encouraging sign with the undersized lineup
WKU’s new guard-oriented showed a new level of ball movement that has been rare this season. Out of their 30 made baskets, 21 came off of assists, that stat will be crucial moving forward.
Carson Williams got the start at the five and had an impressive performance against the less skilled Panthers. He finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Getting production down low will be key to keep teams honest on the perimeter.
Matt Horton also had arguably the best performance of his career as he finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and a block. Hopefully, nights like tonight will help Stansbury continue to gain trust in the only true big man remaining.
WKU committed 10 turnovers on the night, which is a solid number by their standards. Overall they won the turnover battle 17–10 which was apparent in the final margin.
After his breakout performance against Arkansas, Taveion Hollingsworth was quite offensively tonight finishing with 2 points. He did have 6 points and 6 assists to contribute in other ways. It was good to see offense perform even when he’s not scoring.
Josh Anderson got the start but still only got 22 minutes (6 points). He didn’t need to play more tonight but hopefully, Stansbury trusts him to play 30 minutes a game moving forward.
Jeremiah Gambrell was another player that finally got a chance to show what he was made off (22 minutes) and he had his best shooting performance of the year finishing 4–7 with 3 three-pointers made. If Stansbury wants to extend the floor having another weapon in Gambrell is a huge development.
Jordan Rawls got 27 minutes and looked comfortable as well finishing with 10 points, 6 assists, and 1 rebound. Good to see the bench trio of Horton, Gambrell, and Rawls perform well and Stansbury utilize them more than usual.
Overall a solid win over a bad team. It was good to see WKU take care of business and Stans extend the bench, hopefully that carries over through the rest of the season.
WKU (7–3) returns to action on Saturday as they travel to Rhode Island (6-3) for a potential resume booster at 1 PM Central. This will prove how competent the team is without Bassey and can potentially give the Tops another quad 1 victory.
Here are your stats from tonight’s easy exhibition victory:
