WKU Basketball: Tops Eye First Win Of Season Against Kentucky Wesleyan

The Hilltoppers are back in action following a five-point loss to Missouri State last Friday, a game that WKU somehow made competitive…

The Hilltoppers are back in action following a five-point loss to Missouri State last Friday, a game that WKU somehow made competitive after falling behind 24–6 early thanks to some abysmal shooting and some poor shot selection.

Tonight should be a bit of an easier road to hoe, as Kentucky Wesleyan comes to town.

Game Information

Time: 7 p.m. CT
Location: E.A. Diddle Arena | Bowling Green, Ky.
TV: WKU PBS, WBNA, Fox College 
Radio: The Hilltopper IMG Sports Network

We didn’t get grades out post-Missouri State (sorry about that), but there were a lot of things to like in the loss to the Bears. In his first action of the year after missing the preseason slate with a nagging injury, Lamonte Bearden exploded for 24 points and five rebounds. Darius Thompson — who would foul out of the game — finished with 19 points and three rebounds.

Justin Johnson logged a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 15 boards, but beyond those three, there wasn’t a ton of production. After drinking in the Jake Ohmer cool-aid for a few days, he was very cool, scoring just five points and shooting 2-of-5 from the floor, which included going just 25% from three-point range.

While a team like Missouri State — who is picked to win their conference — is difficult to try and get everyone acclimated to real-world college basketball, a team like Kentucky Wesleyan should be just what the doctor ordered for the Tops to get guys like Ohmer, Taveion Hollingsworth and Marek Nelson (just to name a few) back into the mix.

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Another thing that should help the Tops stay competitive throughout the game — shot selection. In the opening 10 minutes against the Bears, the shot selection was horrible. The Tops refused to try and drive the lane and instead settled for mid-range to deep jump shots that didn’t fall.

Driving inside shouldn’t be a huge problem for the Tops against the Panthers, who’s tallest guy in the starting line up is 6'9".

The two Panther names to know are Bird Cardwell, who’s averaging 13.3 points and five rebounds over five games, and Rashiede Bell who is posting 10.5 points and five boards per contest.

I doubt we’ll see any change from the Tops’ starting lineup of:

Darius Thompson
Taveion Hollingsworth
Justin Johnson
Dwight Coleby
Marek Nelson