AGAINST EASTERN KENTUCKY’s LELAND WALKER.
HILLTOPPERS GET BACK IN THE GYM UNTIL ROAD TRIP WITH GAMES AT BUFFALO, WRIGHT STATE
Steve Lutz watched his Western Kentucky team fall behind in the first half, and the Hilltoppers’ first-year coach got his team back in the locker room for halftime.
Eastern Kentucky, the Tops’ former rival in the Ohio Valley Conference, was sporting a 43-36 lead at the break, and the Colonels were getting to the free-throw line.
EKU took one free throw, just one, in the final 20 minutes.
Western Kentucky’s athleticism, its length and most of all, its tenacity made for a different sort of narrative on Sunday evening at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Hilltoppers took the lead before the first media timeout of the second half, on Khristian Lander’s 3-point field goal from the right wing, and Lutz’s squad kicked it into another gear.
The Hilltoppers defeated Eastern Kentucky, 79-69, to earn its sixth victory against three defeats. They’ll take a break and get back in the laboratory — i.e., the gym — to look at some things before a road trip that includes games at Buffalo, on Saturday, and then Wright State on Tuesday night.
WITH 19 POINTS AND NINE REBOUNDS.
AND BRANDON NEWMAN AFTER THE GAME.
WORKS AGAINST EKU’s JOHN UKOMADU.
Lutz is quickly leaving his imprint on WKU basketball, which languished in the final two or three seasons under former coach Rick Stansbury. He’s direct, and he’s diligent, about making it work at WKU.
“Obviously, our defense and rebounding were better (in the second half),” Lutz said when it was over. “We were able to force some (EKU) turnovers … Now you have Diddle cranked up and rockin’ and obviously when Diddle is cranked up and rockin’, it’s a good home environment.”
That it is.
A paid crowd of 3,511 turned out on Sunday, and the Hilltoppers will play host to yet ANOTHER former OVC rival in their next home game, a Saturday afternoon tilt against Austin Peay State University on December 16.
HAS BEEN A SOLID ADDITION.
Lutz and his coaching staff have worked with its moving parts, and the Tops certainly have the potential to make it a memorable season. The reconfigured Conference USA bears little resemblance to the league that hit its high point last season, when Florida Atlantic University beat just about everyone in sight, on its way to a 35-4 record, a berth in the Final Four and an exit for the American Athletic Conference.
Lutz has a capable squad, with point guard Don McHenry taking charge and athletic forwards such as Babacar Faye and Tyrone Marshall hitting the boards. Senior center Rodney Howard didn’t play against EKU, because of an injury, and that certainly hurt the Tops on the boards.
But they’re quick on the perimeter.
On Sunday, they improved their shot selection when they had to.
And they shot 44 percent from 3-point range.
FOR THE HILLTOPPERS.
TO 26 POINTS IN THE SECOND HALF.
Western Kentucky left nothing to chance in the second half, and once the Hilltoppers got the lead, it was clear they knew what to do with it.
McHenry, the quick 6-foot-2 junior from Milwaukee, via Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College had 18 points in just 22 minutes on the floor. He hit three of his four 3-pointers.
WKU swingman Brandon Newman had a big night, playing more than 36 minutes and leading the Hilltoppers with 19 points and nine rebounds. He hit nine of 10 free throws and also led the team with five assists. Newman is an active player, defensively, too, and he’s one of the Tops’ imported players via the NCAA Transfer Portal from Purdue University, where Steve Lutz worked as an assistant coach from 2017 until 2021.
After walking off the floor at the game’s conclusion, Lutz and his players circulated around the Diddle Arena floor, greeting the WKU fans still hanging around, and it’s something Lutz said he’s brought to the Hilltoppers from Purdue.
“It’s good to have interaction, between the fans and the players,” Lutz said. “That’s what makes college basketball special … I stole that from Purdue.”
WKU guard Khristian Lander, one of the four holdovers from Rick Stansbury’s final Hilltopper squad, had 14 points and three assists. Babacar Faye, who hails from the Senegal, was active at both ends of the floor and had eight points and nine rebounds.
Eastern Kentucky’s Leland Walker led all scorers with 25 points, and Devontae Blanton added 22 points with seven rebounds. Backup EKU guard Turner Buttry, a sophomore from Bowling Green High School, played just over seven minutes but did not take a shot during his time on the floor.
The Colonels dropped to 3-3 with the loss.
WKU point guard Don McHenry said the game “was a step in the right direction” as the Hilltoppers continue to shape their identity before Conference USA play begins in January.
“We gave up way too many dunks and layups in that first half,” WKU coach Steve Lutz said. “We’ve shared the basketball, in these last two games. I tell (his players) to be invested in our team …
“Trust your teammates and share the basketball, that makes us a lot better. To their credit, they’ve done that the last two games.”
A FORMER BGHS STAR, AND HIS FATHER, SHANE BUTTRY.
ON THE ROAD AGAINST BUFFALO.