WKU Basketball: Tops Drop Second-Straight in Asheville to South Carolina, 75–64
The Tops go 0-2 in the Asheville Championship despite a more balanced, albeit inconsistent, offensive attack.
Western Kentucky fell below .500 for the first time this season on the basketball floor, dropping their second-straight game in the Third Place Game of the Asheville Championship to South Carolina, 75–64, Sunday night.
Trailing 31–24 at the half, the Hilltoppers came out and started the second half with their hair on fire, opening the back 20 minutes with an 11–4 run, aided by a career stretch from Luke Frampton in which he hit his first three of the season, went up for a dunk and picked a couple of pockets, en route to the Tops tying the game at 35–35 at the half’s first media timeout.
From there, though, the Hilltoppers couldn’t overtake the Gamecocks at any point, as SC responded with a 14–4 run of their own to essentially put the game out of reach, as the Tops’ deficit ranged from seven-to-10 points at any given time.
The last gasp from the Tops came in the final five minutes of the game, when WKU rattled off an 8–0 run thanks to back-to-back Dayvion McKnight buckets and a Josh Anderson three pulled WKU to within seven at 68–61, but that’s as close as the Hilltoppers ever got, finishing their run in Asheville 0–2.
It was a bit of a slog for a majority of the first half, as neither the Tops or Gamecocks could get much going.
WKU’s shot selection left much to be desired, as the Tops shot just 31% from the floor (9-for-29) including 25% from deep (3-for-12) as WKU missed six-straight three point attempts at one point.
Neither team found much success scoring early but, once SC was able to get a couple of buckets to fall, they never lost their groove.
The Gamecocks were able to have their way inside, even with Jamorion Sharp on the floor, as the Tops were unable to match South Carolina’s size or physicality in the paint.
After nearly single-handedly willing the Tops to a win on Friday, McKnight didn’t score his first bucket until the 5:39 mark of the first half, though his presence was felt elsewhere as a facilitator, almost to a fault, to open the game.
Anderson led all Hilltoppers in scoring, with 16, while Jarius Hamilton (13), McKnight (11) and Jaylen Butz (10) all put together quiet double-digit scoring afternoons.
The Tops finished the game shooting just 38.3% from the floor (23–60) and 25% from deep (6–24).
We’re only 120 minutes into the basketball season and, as the football team has taught us, some later-season wins can give good cause to forget early season missteps, but this is a WKU team that is sorely lacking in many areas, including intensity and having a true X-Factor (or, at least, a reliable X-Factor. We all know folks like Anderson, McKnight or Hamilton can turn it on, but no one seemed to want to be the alpha in the comeback effort).
Whatever the issue has been over the first week of the season, answers need to come soon. The Tops head to the Volunteer state to take on a top-15 Memphis team on Friday that, if WKU looks the way they did on Sunday, could get even uglier quicker.