WKU Basketball: Tops Topple USM, Guaranteed At Least 3 Seed In CUSA Tournament
Western Kentucky men’s basketball seemed stagnant at best up through January, but Saturday, despite it all, the Tops sealed the…
Western Kentucky men’s basketball seemed stagnant at best up through January, but Saturday, despite it all, the Tops sealed the all-important bye in the Conference USA Tournament against Southern Miss. With its past two wins, WKU is guaranteed to finish ahead of UAB and Southern Miss in the final standings. WKU faces UTSA for the second seed in C-USA Wednesday in Diddle.
After Southern Miss held a 5–2 lead in the first 2:27 of the game, WKU took early control, scoring 17 of the next 25 points to lead 19–13 with 12:37 left to play in the first half.
In a half that turned out to be all about runs, Southern Miss took back control, leading by as many as five before WKU cut it to the halftime margin, 39–37.
The number one three point shooting squad in the conference, Southern Mississippi shot 60 percent from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes. However, WKU’s balance and size allowed it to own the paint and keep Southern Miss from blowing the Tops out despite owning less gaudy statistics. WKU made its hay at the free throw line, making 8–of-10 from the charity stripe. WKU drew four more fouls than Southern Miss, as well.
Although no WKU player scored in double digits in the first half, Bassey, Hollingsworth, Bearden, and Anderson all scored at least eight points in the first 20 minutes.
WKU came out from halftime making 7-of-7, outscoring Southern Miss by ten in the first eight minutes of the second half to take an eight-point lead. Southern Miss then responded with a spurt of their own, tying the game at 61 with 7:00 on the clock.
The Tops and Golden Eagles traded buckets for a couple of minutes, including two dunks by Tolu Smith. After a few tight, nervous minutes, WKU’s small lead stood at 68–65 with 3:55 left. After a pivotal three-pointer by Hollingsworth with 2:57 left to put the Tops up six, Southern Miss called timeout after clawing back again to cut the WKU lead to 72–69 with 1:04 left.
In a possession with near disasters with every pass, Southern Miss found a wide-open layup late in the shot clock from Dominic Magee. Up one, WKU inbounded the ball with 42 seconds left. After Lamonte Bearden dribbled the shot clock down to about ten seconds, he drove to his right, flicking the ball over the defense to a wide-open Jared Savage for a dagger three to go up four with :14 on the clock.
WKU would seal the deal 76–71, and with some banged up players against a very game Southern Miss, the Tops found a way to seal at least a three seed in the Conference USA Tournament.
The story of the day for the Tops was balance and offense. WKU’s starting lineup all scored at least nine each, and no one on the entire roster shot less than 38 percent from the field. All told, Western shot 48 percent overall and was 11-of-23 from behind the arc. By comparison, WKU averages less than six made threes on the season. Western Kentucky’s Taveion Hollingsworth and Josh Anderson have officially busted their slumps, scoring 21 and 17, respectively.
News and Notes
With WKU’s win and UAB’s loss to UTSA, WKU is now going to finish no worse than a third seed.
With Southern Miss’ loss to WKU, USM must win out to hope for a seed higher than fourth.
WKU can seal the second seed in the Conference USA Tournament with a win against UTSA Wednesday in Diddle.
WKU shot 48 percent from the field Sunday, something not accomplished since Western took down Wisconsin in late December, meaning this was the first game in conference play WKU shot from the field this well.
WKU’s 11 made threes were the most on the season, and the near 48 percent clip was the highest shooting percentage from the behind the arc, as well.
WKU has only scored 76 twice in regulation in conference play (February 2 vs. UTEP), and in fact, the Hilltoppers only had one other stretch in which they scored more than 70 two games in a row in Conference USA play. WKU scored 70+ three games in a row from January 31 to February 7th.
Marek Nelson saw the court for the first time since January, seeing a total minute of action, but strangely enough, all of that time was at the end of both halves.
Charles Bassey was announced as a game-time decision but played 31 minutes. Despite not being his best offensively, Charles made his presence felt in other ways, blocking the ball four times, grabbing a steal, getting seven boards, and shooting 3-of-4 from the field despite being blanketed by double and triple teams the entire game.
Next Time Out
WKU takes on UTSA Wednesday in Diddle Arena at 6:30 PM Central on BeIn Sports. This game most likely will determine the two seed in the Conference USA Tournament. If WKU loses, they are the third seed in the tournament. If they win, they are the two seed.
For UTSA, they could drop as low as the fourth seed by dropping both of their remaining games or obviously snag the second seed by winning their last two. Splitting would likely result in a three seed. UTSA should own most tiebreaker scenarios because of their win against Old Dominion.
UTSA has lost three of four games, but broke a three game losing streak against UAB Sunday. WKU is red hot, having won all but two of its games since January 31. Western fans must be salivating at the opportunity to make a statement to the rest of the conference at home to finish the regular season. WKU’s offense is finally clicking back into place, and with some newly found defense, WKU seems to be in the right frame of mind heading into its final regular season game.
Unlike the rest of the conference (besides La Tech), WKU gets to rest for a week. The other 12 teams play one final regular season game Saturday, March 9 before heading to Frisco, Texas, March 13–16 for the Conference USA Men’s Basketball Championship.