WKU Basketball: Tops Takes Down Southern Miss in a Back-and-Forth Track Meet, 87-77

Western used great shooting to overcome a hungry Golden Eagles squad that wouldn't go away

Western Kentucky got it done again. After five straight losses, five straight wins means the Tops are back where they were three games into the conference season: One game above .500 in conference play. Western is now back in the race, and Southern Miss is one step further down the road of needing five games in five days next month.

Much like against Saturday against UTSA, WKU got up and in control early. This time, WKU got up by as many as nine. However, WKU would allow Southern Miss to hang around, allowing its inferior opponent to hang around all of the first half, including allowing the Golden Eagles to tie it at 35 with 5:02 left in the first half. Southern Miss would never find a way to take a lead throughout the game, but the number of opportunities they had throughout was astounding.

Credit to the Tops for never allowing USM to break through, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. WKU was clearly battling a desperate team, and as the announcers said and Rick Stansbury warned, USM does have more talent than the record (6-18 overall) shows. And that team is still full engaged and frankly outworked Western for much of the game.

After USM tied it at 35, WKU finished on an 11-3 run to end the half, heading in to the break up 46-38. So the Hilltoppers go into the half with all of the momentum, finally feeling like maybe they could take control and waltz to an easy road victory.

Not so fast, my friend.

Instead, after a mess of a first minute to start the second frame, USM comes out of the pile of bodies and Deandre Pinckney drops in five points out of nowhere. Pinckney would actually score all 12 of his points in less than five minutes early in the first half, making a three with 14:18 remaining. Fortunately, those were the only USM points scored during that stretch. WKU actually scored 11 during the stretch to essentially wash away that explosive production.

At that point, WKU had weathered the one man storm and had built the lead back up to seven after he singlehandedly cut the margin to three. The lead would hover near double digits for a few minutes, and like clockwork, USM went on another run, this time sitting within three points for five possessions in a row and eight possessions in a row where the WKU lead was no greater than five points. USM would claw within one possession one more time and finally fold, with WKU slamming the door on a ten point victory.

All told, in a game where WKU completely and utterly controlled from start to finish (only two ties), USM had 29 possessions of opportunity where they were within three points (or tied) of WKU. TWENTY. NINE! Meaning USM had every opportunity in the world to make this game more interesting than it was.

If USM was more talented or perhaps got a little more lucky, or WKU wasn’t so elite and experienced offensively, wouldn’t it stand to reason that an opposing team surely would have at least taken a lead once or twice?

This game constantly felt like WKU would build a lead and then relax, build a lead and then relax. And USM was constantly clawing to stay in it. USM was the team that clearly was desperate. And WKU won because of luck and superior talent.

Without question, the Tops stepped up when they had to. But the concerning thing is this: Anyone watching that game who was being honest knows what team was playing harder. Both teams were playing hard. But who was more intense? Hands down, it was Southern Mississippi. And anyone who knows much knows that WKU is the much better team. And watching five minutes of that game should have told a remotely knowledgeable fan that USM probably didn’t match up well with WKU.

They were allowed to hang around.

Perhaps the beat writers and “brick-and-mortar” outfits won’t speak any of this truth, but it’s a stone cold fact: WKU was outhustled.

What’s that? Prove it? No problem.

Offensive Rebounds. 16-7. WKU goes 7’5”, 6’8”, 6’7”, 6’5”, 6’1” on many possessions. USM? 6’10”, 6’8”, 6’8”, 6’0”, 6’1” were the starters and no player taller than 6’6” subbed in. Isaih Moore and Tyler Stevenson played all 40 minutes, three more than any WKU player.

How about the number of layups WKU gave up? 15. A ton were missed. Imagine if Southern Miss would have just made a couple more bunnies?

Dunks? 7.

That’s 22 combined shots within a foot of the basket.

Now I understand some of those were contested. Some of those were just good plays. Some of those were because of great passes. Sure. But 20+? Come on.

USM took 66 shots in the game. 22 of them were layups or dunks, and the Golden Eagles missed eight of them. Imagine if they just shot 80% on their layups. In theory, the game goes to overtime with five more buckets for USM.

What’s the point? I’m not coming off of the top rope on the Tops or anything. This team is more than capable of doing damage in March, especially with this kind of momentum. And a ten point win is nice. Good job. Five wins in a row.

But that effort, doe…

That kind of effort will not win a championship. It just won’t. I wouldn’t be being honest if I said anything different. Topper fans were going ballistic the whole game, frustrated with keeping USM alive by just not finishing them off. Western was clearly better than USM, but the Golden Eagles nearly pulled it out by hanging around giving it their all.

But nonetheless, if we had polled everyone five games ago whether WKU was going to go 5-0 including four road wins, virtually no one would have agreed. So let’s keep it in perspective. Western now stands at 7-6 in Conference USA, sitting in third a half game ahead of Charlotte and only 1.5 games out of the all-important second seed currently occupied by FAU and two games behind MTSU. WKU sat at 2-6 tied for 5th with FIU and multiple games behind everyone else besides Marshall. Now Old Dominion, FIU, and Marshall are now over a game behind WKU. Charlotte, FAU, and Middle all looked like contenders for the East title in a watered down East a month ago. Now, looking at the standings, Middle and FAU are legit, Charlotte is in it, and WKU is coming fast.

But all that needs to happen now is for WKU to win all of its games and FAU lose two of its last six and WKU could climb into a tie for second. A much less likely possibility but something still on the table, MTSU needs to lose three of seven games (including its game at home vs. WKU) in order for Western to overtake MTSU. MTSU seems to have the most lenient schedule, while FAU has a brutal final few games, starting with West Division leader North Texas Thursday, followed up by a battle for first at home against Middle. Then they get road games on the East Coast, and then it’s two games against archrival FIU.

So the next few games should be extremely interesting. Can WKU continue to gain ground, or will they be forced to just settle for trying to win third? WKU needs serious help, but one thing is certain: They’re back in it.