WKU Basketball: WKU Blows 16 Point Second Half Lead In 77–76 Loss to FIU
After two excruciating road losses, the Hilltoppers returned to the friendly confines of E.A. Diddle Arena for their first home game of…
After two excruciating road losses, the Hilltoppers returned to the friendly confines of E.A. Diddle Arena for their first home game of the Conference USA schedule. What looked to be a comfortable win turned into a humiliating defeat as FIU stormed back from a 16 point lead and beat WKU, 77–76, in front of 5,102 fans.
FIU started off hot, making the game’s first three buckets as they jumped to an 8–0 lead. The Tops calmed down and cut that lead to four at the first television time out. The Tops eventually took their first lead at 15–13 on a Tolu Smith dunk with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.
From there, WKU went go cold and go scoreless for over three minutes, trailing 22–18 at the eight-minute timeout. Jared Savage tied the game at 24–24 on his second three-pointer of the game and then Matthew Horton Savage extend their lead to lead to four after back-to-back dunks.
Savage continued his first half tear, hitting another three and an alley-oop dunk as he finished with 16 first-half points. The Tops finished the half on a 23–10 run, taking a 43–34 lead into the locker room.
The second half was the Josh Anderson show, as he scored six of the Tops first seven points of the break. The Tops extended the lead to 14 points at the 15-minute mark on a Taveion Hollingsworth layup.
From there, the lead hovered between 10 and 16 points as familiar spells of sloppy play and turnovers let the Panthers hang around.
Missed free throws and fouls then let the Panthers cut the lead all the way down to six with eight minutes left on a dunk from Devon Andrews. Familiar thoughts of recent collapses began to run through everyone’s mind.
The Panthers run continued as they cut it as close as three points as the game entered the final stages. The Tops offensive slump stopped as Anderson and Dalano Banton made it a five-point game at the last media time out. WKU couldn’t put FIU away, though, as they clung to a one-point lead with two minutes left.
After a turnover from Charles Bassey, the Panthers took a one-point lead with 1:26 left. The Tops responded as Lamonte Bearden drew a foul inside the lane, hitting both free throws but FIU drew a foul of their own, putting Brian Beard at the free throw line, sinking both.
Bearden drew another foul but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. The Tops got the ball on the ensuing loose ball turnover by FIU and Josh Anderson hit a late layup to give WKU a lead with 16 seconds left.
The Panthers, though, answered quickly as Beard drove and hit an easy layup. The Tops had one last shot, but Taveion Hollinsworth’s three-pointer was off and the Tops lost their third straight game in humiliating fashion.
Here are some thoughts from yet another demoralizing defeat :
While it's too early to throw in the proverbial red towel, there is no other way to spin this season than a massive underachievement thus far. WKU has way too much talent to be blowing 15+ point leads and being under .500 well past the midway point of the season.
Jared Savage shook off the worst game of his career and played really well, especially in the first half. He finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. As he goes, so go the Tops.
Taveion Hollingsworth had an uneven game. While his scoring was okay, finishing with 14 points, it took him 17 shots to get there. He looked like he almost got hurt late, which luckily he came back but he has to play more efficient if the Tops want to live up to their potential
Charles Bassey was plagued by foul trouble the whole game and his lack of aggressiveness on the defensive end heavily contributed to FIU’s late run as the Panthers scored the majority of their points inside. Bassey regularly did everything he could not to foul out and gave FIU easy baskets in the process. He has all the talent in the world, I’m just waiting for him to play smarter and limit the freshman mistakes.
Dalano Banton did several of the things that helped him come on lately, finishing with seven rebounds and eight assists but he still committed four turnovers and was benched late for Bearden at the end of the game.
Lamonte Bearden was the first sub off the bench. He had some great assists including a transition bounce pass from midcourt to Bassey for a dunk. He ran the offense late when the lead had evaporated, in 10 minutes he had six points and two assists while turning the ball over just once. Stansbury once again needs to split the Bearden/Banton minutes close to evenly and needs to play the hot hand when one isn’t having a good game.
Marek Nelson returned from his suspension and made an immediate impact by drawing a charge, but he was quickly sent back to the bench and didn’t play the rest of the game.
Turnovers were the major story for WKU again: They committed 18 on the night and helped the Panthers get several easy transition baskets. If WKU can ever limit their turnovers to an acceptable level, then they will finally start living up to their potential.
Mainly because of foul trouble, the bench got several minutes tonight as 10 Hilltoppers played tonight. Matthew Horton even provided quality minutes as Bassey and Smith experienced foul trouble.
Free throws were a big reason the game was as close as it was early. The Tops shot just 41.7% (5-for-12) in the first half. That number greatly improved in the second half as WKU hit 8-for-12 but the nine missed free throws were yet another aspect that probably cost WKU the game.
Every time I heard the name Brian Beard on FIU, I kept thinking of the former WKU safety and assistant coach Ryan Beard. The beIn announcers didn’t do a great job of annunciating.
FIU’s big man Osaghae is the real deal. I can’t believe that he was formerly a walk-on. He finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds and outplayed Bassey tonight.
Speaking of beIN, I am very happy we won’t have to watch any more games on that garbage channel ever again as Conference USA’s deal finally expires with them after this season and WKU isn’t scheduled to play on there again.
WKU (8–9) continues their homestand on Saturday against Florida Atlantic (11–7) at 2 p.m. CT. Tonight’s loss just amplified a season that has been a massive disappointment thus far; if WKU doesn’t sweep the remaining games of this homestand then Rick Stansbury risks not only a second tier seed in the CUSA tournament but he might lose the fan base in the process.
Final Stats
