WKU Basketball: Tops Fall In Season Opener, 85–80
WKU couldn’t get over a horrible start despite a tremendous effort and lost to Missouri Valley Conference preseason favorites Missouri…
WKU couldn’t get over a horrible start despite a tremendous effort and lost to Missouri Valley Conference preseason favorites Missouri State, 85–80.
Missouri State started the game on a 26–4 run and left all of us wondering what was wrong with the Tops. One of the many things that caused this was the officiating; not blaming this loss on them but there were a lot of nit-picky fouls for both teams throughout the game. Regardless, WKU’s offense struggled tremendously to start the game.
They didn’t get any good shots off, struggled to drive to the basket and seemed a little clueless at times but they were able to get it together enough to make it 45–34 at halftime.
The reason WKU had any chance in this game was because of Lamonte Bearden. Bearden hadn’t played in any of the home exhibition games due to an ankle injury and BOY did he put on a show. He dropped 24 points and shot 50% (6/12) for the game. Him and the Tops started rolling early in the second half and they were able to get the game within one point around the 15 minute mark but were never able to take the lead then or after that.
The game went down to the wire but Missouri State was able to score when they needed to. Star forward Alize Johnson had 13 points but played limited minutes due to foul trouble and Ronnie Rousseau III made several must-need baskets for the Bears in the second half to help extend their lead.
Though a loss at home to start the season isn’t something anyone would want, this will be a great learning experience for this new team. They started off horribly but still were able to fight their way back into the game against a pretty strong team. Having Bearden made a HUGE difference and once some of the freshmen start to get the hang of things; we should expect to see them win games like they had tonight. Another thing that would help is having Anderson and Diagne get cleared by the NCAA but there’s still no timetable as to when either one of them could be eligible to play which is ridiculous.
This loss hurts but it could pay dividends for later on this season if they’re able to learn from this close loss and win games like this one. No reason to panic but every reason to hold on for a wild ride that is another year of Hilltopper basketball.
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