WKU Basketball: Talkin’ Tops vs. Runners With BirdsUp’s Stephen Whitaker

The Tops, fresh off a disappointing performance, now have a short turnover with UTSA on their hands on Saturday in what should be a very…

The Tops, fresh off a disappointing performance, now have a short turnover with UTSA on their hands on Saturday in what should be a very interesting matchup.

To help get a preview of the Roadrunners, who is one of the surprise teams of the season along with the Tops, we enlisted the help of BirdsUp.com’s Stephen Whitaker to pick his brain when it comes to the Birds.

Ed. note — these questions were asked, and answered, prior to Thursday night’s games. I don’t think it’ll make much of a difference, but in the sake of full transparency, there you go.

The Towel Rack: The ‘Runners enter this week of games with an 11–11 overall record and a 4–5 conference mark. I think it’s safe to say those are better records than a lot of people thought they’d be — what has gone into the ‘Runners success this year?

Stephen Whitaker: I think the biggest reason for the Roadrunners success is down to Coach Henson and the talented youngsters like Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace, who earlier in the season took turns trading conference freshman of the week awards.

Henson has gotten the guys believing they can compete with anyone and he has allowed his shooters like Jackson and Wallace to shoot, even if the shots aren’t falling. The non-conference schedule was a mix of powers like Oklahoma and Nebraska sprinkled with lower level opponents like Houston Baptist and East Central Oklahoma. I’d like to point out the Roadrunners hung close with Oklahoma in Norman and only lost to Nebraska by 10 points, despite the Huskers having 50 free throw attempts to the Roadrunners 10. Those games did a lot to build the confidence of the Roadrunners.

TTR: Conference play seems to have hit hard, as they’re not too far removed from that three-game losing streak (and, if UTEP wasn’t in that stretch, it might have been more). Yet, they come back and handle UAB in Birmingham? What can be attributed to UTSA’s inconsistency?

SW: The problem in the early part of conference is the Roadrunners hit stretches where the shots weren’t falling. They were fortunate that the teams they were playing didn’t have shots falling either. This team likes to run up tempo and move the ball around until the defense gets out of position.

The early part of conference was the first experience of conference play for many of the Roadrunners and it showed in the losses to North Texas and the Florida schools. Those games taught the Roadrunners that no lead is safe (led UNT most of the game) and that no deficit is insurmountable. It didn’t help their spot in the standings to lose those games but those were the type of games that the young guys needed for down the road.

TTR: This is a UTSA team that is a Top 50 offense in the entire country. Where are they most lethal when they have the ball?

SW: UTSA on offense is lethal from beyond the arc but they also like to drive the basket and make the defense decide whether to give up the layup/dunk or commit the foul and give up free throws.

The other side of that is sometimes the Roadrunners get called for offensive fouls and if you have height down low you can take away that portion of the game (FAU’s 6'10 and 6'11 forwards caused problems on UTSA’s offense). As I said earlier, this team likes to run and they are comfortable scoring in the high 70s or low 80s if the game requires it. It also helps that two of the freshmen, Jackson and Wallace, can light it up from anywhere. I would like to point out there was a third freshmen, Adrian Rodriguez, who was supposed to be as good in the low post as the other two but he tore his ACL in the season opener and was lost for the season. Had he been able to play this season the Roadrunners might be even better than they are now.

TTR: In what ways do the Runners match up well with WKU?

SW: If the Roadrunners have an advantage against WKU, it might be the guards. In addition to the freshmen phenoms, the Roadrunners have sophomore Italian maestro Giovanni De Nicolao.

De Nicolao has blossomed in his second season and has no problem driving to the basket to draw the defense in and then kick out to an open Roadrunner. UTSA also has forwards who are as comfortable shooting from long distance as they are from inside but its the guards who usually steal the show for UTSA.

TTR: In what ways does WKU matchup well with the Runners?

SW: WKU might have the advantage in experience. These Roadrunners are still mostly freshmen and sophomore laden with only three seniors on the roster. The Hilltoppers have been through more games together than the Roadrunners. They will know how to handle the hostile road crowd in San Antonio. They won’t get flustered as easily when shots aren’t falling.

TTR: Do you have a prediction for Saturday’s game?

SW: UTSA is on the rise but WKU is near the top of the mountain. UTSA will give their best to knock off the Hilltoppers but in the end they will come up just short. It will be another learning experience for the young Roadrunners. WKU 74 — UTSA 70.

I’d like to thank Stephen for taking time to answer some questions, and marvel at the fact that someone thinks the Tops have an experience advantage over anyone.

Be sure to follow him and the BirdsUp crew, as they do great work for Roadrunner fans. UTSA folks are a lucky bunch.