WKU Basketball: WKU’s NIT Run Comes To An End Against Utah, 69–64
WKU saw their magical season that started in Costa Rica come to a premature end in Madison Square Garden as Utah prevailed in the final…
WKU saw their magical season that started in Costa Rica come to a premature end in Madison Square Garden as Utah prevailed in the final minute, 69–64, to end WKU’s season at 27–11.
The Tops came out blazing hot jumping to a lead 14–5 lead in the first five minutes. They went ice cold over the last three minutes and Utah got back in the game a little bit as the Tops held a 19–11 lead after the 1st quarter.
The second quarter went back and forth until the Utes rallied for a 9–0 run and tied the game at 25–25 with 4:29 left in the quarter as the Tops became befuddled by Utah’s zone defense. The Tops would continue to struggle over the final four minutes, but would tie it up on a Lamonte Bearden’s dunk to tie the game at 32–32 heading into the locker room.
The game continued to be even to start off the third quarter as the Tops traded baskets until Taveion Hollingsworth gave the Tops a three point lead with four minutes left. The Utes would respond and they would enter the last ten minutes tied at 51–51.
The fourth quarter continued to be nip and tuck throughout. Both teams traded one-point leads all the way down to the final minute. As the Tops clinged to a one point lead with 55 seconds left disaster struck as Justin Johnson got called for an offensive charge and then Tyler Rawson hit a dagger three to give the Utes a two point lead with 38 seconds left.
On the next possession, Lamonte Bearden was called for an offensive foul that forced Utah to the foul line where Bibbens made both and the Tops missed a few more shots to end the season with a 69–64 loss in the NIT semifinals.
Here are some thoughts on WKU’s tough season ending loss
WKU looked like the more athletic team throughout, winning the turnover battle 13–6 and 17–7 in points off turnovers. That more than helped WKU overcome a 34.8 % shooting night, keeping them in a game where they didn’t look comfortable on the offense past the first quarter
Justin Johnson put a nice bow on his memorable career finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds. He kept WKU in the game with several big hook shots and clutch jumpers. Unfortunately, the Utes made a crucial adjustment on that critical charge call at the end of the game. Johnson will probably go down as the best WKU player to never make the NCAA tournament and will hold a warm spot in all of our memories for years to come.
Lemonte Bearden started off the game 5–5 with two three pointers, he kept distributing and continued his late season surge, unfortunately he went 0–5 the rest of the way and got called for the last back breaking charge to end the game. If he keeps a strong head on his shoulders next year, he can be the difference between a NCAA tournament team and another NIT season.
Dwight Coleby was another beast on the glass this game finishing with 13 rebounds and 10 points. Unless Stansbury can find a similar grad transfer big man, I think we’ll all pine for the Coleby/Johnson front court for years to come.
Josh Anderson can be careless with the ball having two killer turnover in just one minute in the first half. But he did find a weakness in the Ute zone attacking the baseline giving the Tops six points when they had very little offense going. I’m excited to see him take the next step next season.
Darius Thomspon had one last poor performance in a WKU loss. He shot just 1–10 and finished with four points, one rebound and seven assists. He proved to be WKU’s bellwether player this season and though tonight went the wrong way, that doesn’t take away from yet another great season that he regularly put the Tops on his back.
Great job by WKU fans traveling to New York, my friend that lives up there said we had the second most fans behind Penn State who is only a few hours away and has many alums in the city
Rick Stansbury’s streak of winning games when leading at the five minute mark ended at 36 as the Tops moved to 36–1 in such games. It was a remarkable stat that was bound to end sometime but sucks that it happend in a game of this magnitude.
Utah dictated the pace after the first quarter and the slow, deliberate style limited processions and took away WKU’s strengths of the inside game and getting to the foul line. The fact that WKU was even in the game despite one of it’s worst shooting performances of the season is a testament of just how tough this team was.
Regardless of the disappointing end to the season, this year was a return to relevance and made WKU basketball fun again. We’ll all miss JJ, Dwight and Darius and remember several memorable victories throughout the season. This should provide a glimpse of WKU returning to their rightful place among college basketball’s mid-major powers.
Here are your final stats after the Tops season came to a close
