WKU Basketball: Tops Stay Hot, Corral the Thundering Herd 78-69 on Senior Night
Western Kentucky has won 10 of 11 heading into the Conference USA Tournament.
Western Kentucky Men’s Basketball has done it!
When WKU was sitting at the end of its January slate of games with an overall losing record and sixth place in the division, if you would have told the most optimistic person in the world that WKU would definitely be sitting as the two seed in the Conference USA East Division at season’s end, they probably would have said at best, “Anything is possible!” Or perhaps even a slightly more realistic person would have said, “Is it even mathematically possible at this point?
But WKU, after starting 2-6 in C-USA for the first time ever, reeled off 10-of-11 wins, doing just enough to overtake first FIU, then ODU, then Charlotte, and finally FAU by way of tiebreaker in order to solidify only needing three games in three days in March.
Whatever. We’ll take it.
On Senior Night Saturday, the Tops knew they likely had to beat Marshall, because FAU had throttled FIU on the road Thursday. Playing at home, it was going to take something extraordinary for the 11.5 point dog FIU to pull out a massive upset. As WKU crept along with a measly first ten or so minutes, at one point shooting 2-of-12 from the floor, it was becoming obvious that WKU was in for a closer battle than perhaps they would have hoped against the cellar dweller of the East Division.
However, WKU would overcome some brutal doldrums, shooting 43% after the hideous start. So even after that brickfest, Western was not its normal 50%+ shooting self. But the Tops kept finding ways to control the game. WKU would take an 11-10 lead with 13:24 remaining in the first half and would control from there. Only twice did Marshall come within a possession. WKU would lead by as many as 13 but never really blasted the game open despite having some opportunity to do so.
Part of that was just key pieces (McKnight and Justice, mainly) being a little off all night. But also there was some lackadaisical play, some missed box outs leading to easy putbacks by Marshall to keep the Herd in it, and some missed assignments that allowed Marshall to bang home 9-of-18 threes in the second half. Probably half of those made threes were pretty open opportunities.
What’s scary, though? WKU allowed Marshall to shoot 50% from three in the second half and Marshall only cut the lead down two points in the final 20 minutes. WKU is at that Bailey Zappe offense type of level, where there are so many ways WKU can beat its opponents. With six really good, explosive players, Western can have three of them (like they did Saturday) go cold and still be fine despite the other team making a significant push.
Western Kentucky can clearly outscore an opponent, but it has won with rebounding, shooting efficiency, the Stansbury philosophy of shooting more free throws, defense, and playmaking. The Tops can win close games, and they can control from the jump if given opportunity on anybody.
WKU features a Conference Player of the Year candidate, a sharpshooter that is constantly compared to Stephen Curry’s college numbers, an experienced veteran do-it-all shooting guard, a Sixth Man of the Year, a first or second team All C-USA stretch four with a Power Five body and skills, and a National Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Three of the six are elite defenders, and all of them can get it done. They have size, length, athleticism, and shooting skill.
The only questions for the Tops are focus and depth. Perhaps those go hand in hand. WKU seems to always allow a team they’re up big on to claw back and have a chance. It bit them once against Louisiana Tech, a team that was down 17 and came back to win at the horn.
So it’s an exciting time of the year. Once again, WKU is in the running for a Conference USA Championship. Given a bye due to the conference setting up divisions, the Tops earn their fifth straight bye in the Conference USA Tournament (2020 was canceled due to COVID) in six seasons with Rick Stansbury, the only school to do accomplish that many top four finishes in the past six years.
But WKU has not broken through despite being the second favorite once and the third favorite three consecutive years. Granted, they were never the favorite, and one of those four times, they didn’t even play. But it’s certainly part of the story. WKU will once again be one of the few with more than a 10% chance to cut down nets. Can WKU make yet another run, and can they finish it off this time?
Let’s see what happens starting Thursday in Frisco.