WKU Basketball: WKU Melts It Down in Historic Fashion, Blows 23 point Lead in Second Half at NMSU

WKU led virtually wire-to-wire, trailing 2-0 and in the final two minutes of play, yet lost to NMSU after holding a huge lead with 16 minutes remaining.

Unacceptable.

Can we all agree? I mean that was an absolute disaster for WKU Thursday night in Las Cruces. WKU had a 23 point lead and lost! How does that happen? And here’s the thing. I think there would be less issue if NMSU literally just didn’t miss a shot. They did! There was a lull where WKU was able to take back some control, WKU still made some baskets, and the Tops still lost!

WKU Basketball was coming into this game looking to establish itself as the real favorite or co-favorite with whoever sits at the top by the end of the week. If WKU had swept, there’s no question WKU would have the best resume with road wins and only a two point loss at Sam Houston.

Against NMSU, WKU took control right away, allowing the lead to shrink and expand some, but ultimately, WKU led by as much as 12 and led by ten at halftime 37-27 despite Brandon Newman and Don McHenry combining for exactly one point in the first half! If those guys got going at all, surely WKU would extend its lead!

Well, actually that’s what WKU did, although McHenry never really got to scoring, taking several shots in the game and still only came up with one point for the entire game. Despite being asked to be “the closer” down the stretch, McHenry never found his mark despite Steve Lutz sticking to his guy and trying to trust the best player on the floor.

At 52-29 with 16:06 remaining, WKU led by the aformentioned 23 points. They were in absolute control and just were 25 points better than WKU in the last 16 minutes. Unbelievable.

The first basket goes in for NMSU.

Oh well.

They turn it over. Then steal it back, then draw a foul. But hey! They only made 1-of-2. We good.

Nope!

Tops get their first point after a couple of minutes with no scoring, but 15 seconds later, NMSU gets a dunk. From there, WKU would maintain a 15 point lead for several possessions. So honestly, this is not that bad, right? Like sure you’ve lost eight points of your lead, but you still have 2/3 of a huge lead. Everything should be fine! WKU even makes a basket to put Western up 17 with 11:48 remaining.

Here’s where it started getting crazy. Three point bucket. Missed basket. Offensive rebound. Turnover. Made three point basket by the Aggies. Rod Howard misses a layup. Timeout, Tops. Marshall blocks a three! Aggies immediately nail another three, and now it’s within five with 9:32 remaining.

Now, here is where WKU recollects itself and establishes some control again. The Tops make a couple of buckets in a row, get a stop, and after several possessions, WKU led by nine with 7:23 remaining. Within a minute, NMSU would nail two three pointers, one of which came on a turnover. Now it’s down to three, and there is really is a ton of time left.

From there, the two teams would basically trade baskets for five more minutes. Then when things mattered, WKU went to Don McHenry, who missed a three pointer. Then NMSU gets an and-one and cuts things to a one point game with 2:11 remaining. WKU would then inexplicably just take the air out of the ball and have Lander shoot a contested three. NMSU would get fouled on the rebound, and they would make two bonus free throws. Khristian Lander got the ever loving crap blocked out of him and the ball bounced out of bounds.

On the inbounds, Kaosi Ezeagu fouled Rod Howard before the ball was even able to be rebounded. Rod missed the first one and made the second. Both teams are tied at this point, so WKU forces a turnover, runs the clock down, has Lander looking like the guy to take a run at the rim, and McHenry ends up with the ball, runs it down to three seconds on the shot clock and takes an off balance three pointer. Really? To win the game, that’s what you go with? Also, you have 47 seconds left. Why not try to have a chance at a 2-for-1 and score/attempt to score before the other team is guaranteed a shot at the last possession.

Don misses the try from deep, and NMSU takes the ball down, passes a frew times, and Femi Odukale makes a layup and-one. He does miss the FT, so it gives WKU less than four seconds to drive down and score. Don gets the ball, and I don’t believe he even actually go the ball off in time, and WKU loses 72-70 at NMSU

Again, not sure how to put this but “UNACCEPTABLE”.

What Went Right

Even though there was quite the meltdown in New Mexico, there were some things that went right. Khristian Lander and Tyrone Marshall, Jr., both produced great scoring nights, especially with Don McHenry, WKU’s leading scorer, only scoring one point. Lander was 7-of-11 shooting with 19 points while Marshall was 7-of-11 with 16. Lander hit a stick back three for a highlight, and Marshall threw down a nice dunk. Those two seemed to be fighting for every basket they could get and it was working, especially in the first half where Lander had 13 to lead the Tops at halftime.

In the first half the Tops had good interior defense. They also coupled that with great transition offense. The Tops ended the game with 20 fast break points, 13 of them being off turnovers. They also held New Mexico State to only 24 of the 72 points in the paint.

The Tops also got to the line, shooting 18 free throws. They hit 13-of-18, a 72% rate, which all in all is solid.

Tops also did a good job at the end of the first half, they had a lead on NMSU and had blown it. It was a tight ballgame. And the Tops increased their lead to 10 just before half, with a Lander jumper to beat the buzzer. They also had an immediate run out of halftime to increase the lead to 23. Starting hot out of half was definitely a positive. If you catch the theme, here, it was certainly a tale of two parts of the game: The first 24 minutes and the last 16. You figure out which ones were good and bad.

What Went Wrong

Even though a lot went right, even more seemed to go wrong for the Tops, especially in the second half.

For the first half, there wasn’t really much to talk about in the “What Went Wrong” department. The Tops did start the game with three straight turnovers. Certainly the turnover bug is still biting WKU. It looked like the long flight, and maybe the high elevation where the NMSU arena sits on (trust me, when you are trying to breathe in high elevation, it is tough if you aren’t used to it) really effected the Tops. I also did not like how many times the Tops were settling for three point shots. It was a reccurring theme not just in the first half but the second as well, where it looked like there wasn’t much offense being ran and the Tops would have to just heave up a three point ball. That would work if WKU didn’t shoot it at a 30% rate for the game. That is worse than any other conference game.

The Tops squandered a 23 point lead in the second half. It was a disaster. There were multiple stretches of the second half where the Tops didn’t score for minutes on end, one of those stretches lasting almost five minutes. A lot of three pointers were going down for NMSU. WKU just couldn’t seem to defend the three. One guy even hit three 3 pointers back to back to back, and WKU still didn’t defend him, as he kept hitting more down the stretch. NMSU shot 12-of-27 from three (44.4%), including nine of those coming in the second half. The Hilltoppers had no answer on defense from the three point onslaught, and it was one of three big contributors to the blown lead and loss.

Turnovers really affected WKU. The Tops had 18 turnovers, including the three straight to start the game. That is way too many, especially when you are trying to put a team away in the second half on the road and you keep giving them more chances by turning the ball over. NMSU had only 11 turnovers. The team that protects the ball more usually wins, and tonight, that was on full display.

The last point that I wanted to touch on was bench points. Western’s bench was outscored 52 to 11. That’s paltry, especially if you consider Howard had eight points and eight rebounds off the bench. His contribution just wasn’t enough to make an impact and keep the game in Big Red’s +favor. Maybe the lack of a bench to rely on in this game is why the Tops seemed gassed down the stretch. Well, that and the high elevation taking a toll on their lungs. It seemed like the entire run back by NMSU, was all threes and dunks. The Tops gave up too many easy ones, that’s for sure.

Topper Tidbits

• Don McHenry and Brandon Newman combined for one point in the first half. In both conference losses, WKU has had several players in each game with terrible first halves. WKU had four key contributors (Howard, Faye, Lander, and Marshall) with zero points at SHSU.

• WKU drops to fifth in the standings, while NMSU moves up to a tie for second.

• Saturday’s opponent, UTEP, would jump WKU in the standings with a win.

• WKU could climb as high as sole possession of third with a win at UTEP. Western will be no worse than fourth with a win, but could drop as low as eighth with a loss. With a loss, the Tops will be no better than seventh place.

• Tyrone Marshall continues to be WKU’s only real shot blocking threat (24 blocks). Marshall is also team leader in steals, third in field goal percentage, third in three point percentage, fourth in rebounds, and fourth in points. He’s even got a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, and heck, upon further looking, he’s even fourth in assists. A stat stuffer, “WOO” is a really valuable Topper, even if he’s not dropping in 20 every night.

• Despite giving up 44% three point shooting against NMSU, WKU is still 16th in the country defending the three pointer.

Looking Ahead

WKU takes on UTEP in El Paso late Saturday night (That travel schedule will suck!). A tough place to play, UTEP has a dominant record at home, while they haven’t had much success on the road. Playing at altitude can really mess with opponents. With WKU somewhat acclimated to the rarified air from being in Las Cruces, perhaps the Tops won’t have much trouble adjusting. Regardless, just that can play a factor.

WKU really needs to split the road trip. Getting swept on the road is not what a conference favorite would do. Western must win this one, or they could easily drop to eighth place and be three games behind first place. With a win, WKU could be in sole possession of third and only two games out, a much more manageable standing.

UTEP is well-coached, and they will bring some toughness. WKU better be ready to play at 8 PM CST on ESPN+. If you can’t make it to El Paso, you can also tune into @thetowelrackwku on Twitter/X for build-up, live tweets, and reactions. While you’re at it, go ahead and check out the RedOut Podcast on Twitter/X and on YouTube. As always, we are your #1 source for unfiltered and honest WKU content!