WKU Basketball: Tops Open CUSA Tournament Against UAB
The road to a title begins tonight for the Hilltoppers, who will open their C-USA tourney run against UAB tonight in Frisco.
The road to a title begins tonight for the Hilltoppers, who will open their C-USA tourney run against UAB tonight in Frisco.
Game Info
Time: 9 p.m. CT
Location: The Star | Frisco, Texas
TV: Facebook Live
Radio: The Hilltopper IMG Sports Network
The Blazers rolled in their first-round game against FAU, 83–72, and rolled the Tops to close the regular season and just in an abysmal 101–73 performance.
WKU has faced UAB in two conference tournaments since joining Conference USA, falling in 2015 53–52 (the infamous five-second game) and upsetting the Blazers, 88–77, the next year. Overall, this is the sixth meeting in a conference title between the Tops and the Blazers, with UAB holding a 1–4 advantage in the first five games.
Last night, UAB used a 25-point performance from Zack Bryant and an 20-point night from William Lee to help lead the blazers to shooting 55% on the night. Those two each contributed 17 and 18 points, respectively, to the triple-digit output in the regular season finale.
In that brutal season-ending stretch for WKU, they combined to shoot 43.6% (51-for-117) from the floor, which admittedly isn’t terrible, but when your opponents combine to shoot 58.3% from the floor (70-for-120), it’s going to feel like you’re getting absolutely pummeled.
I have a theory about post-season play, and I don’t have data to back it up, but I’m going to dish it here anyway; I’d rather enter post-season play cold than hot. And, luckily for WKU, I don’t think they could have entered play in Frisco any colder.
In the post-practice talks with media on Tuesday, Rick Stansbury, Marek Nelson and Dwight Coleby all said everyone is locked in, so we’ll see how true to their word they are. At least they’ll be rested (hopefully).
Lets get this show on the road.