IS ONE OF WKU’s PERIMETER THREATS.
WKU GETS A WEEK OFF BEFORE TWO-GAME ROAD TRIP
They’re scufflin’ and scrappin’, and at some point, the Western Kentucky men’s basketball season will take definitive shape.
Thursday night’s home game against traditional rival Middle Tennessee State was a legitimate test as the Hilltoppers approach the Conference USA Tournament starting March 8 in Frisco, Texas.
Western passed, with flying colors. And the Blue Raiders certainly didn’t make it easy.
WKU earned its third consecutive victory with an impressive 93-89 victory over MTSU before a paid crowd of 4,019 at E.A. Diddle Arena, and now the Hilltoppers get a week on the practice floor before a two-game C-USA swing on the road, against Charlotte and Rice. Western led for nearly the entire game before some torrid 3-point shooting gave the Blue Raiders a brief lead with less than four minutes remaining.
Brief, as in 19 seconds. That’s it.
“They never caved in. I’m proud of ’em,” WKU coach Rick Stansbury said when it was over.
LED ALL SCORERS WITH 33 POINTS.
THE TOPS IN SCORING, ASSISTS AND STEALS.
Sturdy guard Dayvion McKnight led WKU with 33 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while hitting all 13 of his free throws. Western put four scorers in double figures and turned the tables on their 65-60 loss to MTSU on New Year’s Eve in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
“I felt like this time, we stayed together as a team,” McKnight said. “We took it as our game, all 40 minutes, and we came out on top.”
It’s been a challenging season for the Hilltoppers.
CONTROLS THE OPENING TIP.
THE NATION’s LEADER IN BLOCKED SHOTS.
Stansbury created an atmosphere of high expectations when he said he “loved this team” in early November, and WKU certainly didn’t lack for experience. First, McKnight and 7-foot-5 center Jamarion Sharp decided to return to the Tops, after spending some time in the NCAA’s transfer portal.
There were other pieces in place, too, and the Hilltoppers’ possibilities were encouraging when they opened the season with eight wins in their first nine games.
Then some doubts began to kick in.
Western lost, on the road, against a Louisville squad that was winless at the time. The Tops ventured to SEC country and dropped 65-58 decision to South Carolina. Back at home, at Diddle, WKU lost its Conference USA opener to Rice University, 81-78. Rick Stansbury was sidelined with an undisclosed illness that night, with WKU associate head coach Phil Cunningham stepping to the fore for nine games.
TWO WEEKS TO GO FROM TWO CRUTCHES TO ONE …
TO THE WKU SIDELINE ON JANUARY 16.
The Hilltoppers went 3-6, creating quite the challenge for Stansbury, the team’s seventh-year head coach. On January 21, in the opening moments of a C-USA home game against Charlotte, sixth-year shooting guard Luke Frampton went down with a torn ACL. The Hilltoppers would lose that one, 75-71.
They’ve had to change on the fly, and shorten their bench significantly. But Dontaie Allen, who transferred to WKU from the University of Kentucky, is finding his game after moving into the starting lineup. The Hilltoppers are still a disappointing 14-11 overall, and 5-8 in Conference USA, but they still have six games to work with before the conference tournament.
They’ve still got the nation’s leading shot blocker, WKU senior center Jamarion Sharp, and capable perimeter scorers in Emmanuel Akot and Jairus Hamilton. There’s no shortage of experience. And Dayvion McKnight has been brilliant, fighting through injuries while leading the Tops in scoring, free-throw percentage, assists and steals.
“When McKnight has that mid-range jumper going, he’s hard to contain,” Stansbury said.
LED THE HILLTOPPERS WITH 33 POINTS.
A TEAM-HIGH 17.2 POINTS PER GAME.
The Blue Raiders certainly tried.
Actually, it was their own outside shooting that made it a tense affair, with plenty of ebb and flow. MTSU hit 12 of 22 shots from 3-point range — that’s 55 percent — including an 8-for-12 showing beyond the arc after halftime.
“Middle didn’t go away … give them credit,” Stansbury said. “They took that lead … that’s why you play 40 minutes.”
Stansbury admitted the Hilltoppers might have been a little gassed in the second half, using his bench only sparingly. MTSU coach Nick McDevitt substituted frequently, with three of his bench players getting at least 24 minutes on the floor. The Blue Raiders made it a one-possession game with about five minutes to go, with 6-foot-5 guard Eli Lawrence drilling a 3 from the top of the key.
The Blue Raiders went in front 79-78 on two free throws from DeAndre Dishman at the 3:31 mark of the second half.
HIT 12 OF 22 SHOTS FROM 3-POINT RANGE.
Western quickly regained the lead and McKnight took an entry pass from teammate Jordan Rawls before scoring near the basket for an 84-79 lead with about two minutes left in the game.
From there, it came down to hitting some free throws, and the Hilltoppers certainly did that.
Western hit 27 of 29 foul shots, compared to a 9-for-14 showing for the Blue Raiders. Sixth-year WKU senior Emmanuel Akot had a critical inside basket to make it 86-82 with 1:08 left.
WKU’s Dontaie Allen hit three 3-pointers. Akot had 13 points while Allen and Jamarion Sharp added 12 and 11, respectively. Eli Lawrence led the Blue Raiders with 21 points while teammate Elias King added 20 while playing just 24-plus minutes.
SCORES LATE IN THE FIRST HALF.
Stansbury said WKU’s improved ballhandling and passing — the Tops had 17 turnovers in the first half, but only four in the second — was a significant factor, and Sharp hit all four of his shots from the field while leading the ‘Toppers with five blocked shots.
McKnight said Luke Frampton’s injury “was hard for everybody,” and Stansbury acknowledged that Akot’s role has changed.
“E-Man knew he had to step up,” Stansbury said. “This is his last year. I think he realizes that. He brings a lot of energy to the floor.”
Perhaps that’s the critical factor, as to whether the Tops can make a late run to change the narrative on their season. Western hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2013, and never as a member of Conference USA.
Rick Stansbury hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2009, when Mississippi State won four games in as many days to claim the SEC Tournament in Orlando, Florida. Since then, he’s been to the NIT four times — twice at Mississippi State (2010 and ’12) and twice at WKU (2018 and ’21).
HAD NINE POINTS AND SIX REBOUNDS.
Maybe Thursday night’s victory over MTSU — Western’s longtime rival, going back to their days in the Ohio Valley Conference — can be a starting point.
Stranger things have certainly happened.
“I’m awfully proud of our guys, the way they responded,” Stansbury said. “I thought it was real important, to win those first four minutes of the second half, after the break … We were in attack mode, playing downhill.”
The Hilltoppers resume their Conference USA schedule on the road against Charlotte next Thursday, while MTSU (15-10, 8-6 in C-USA) is on the road to tangle with UAB in Birmingham, Alabama.
Stay tuned.
AND THE HILLTOPPERS
HIT 27 OF 29 FREE THROWS.
WAS RECOGNIZED AT HALFTIME.
AND THE TOPS ARE 14-11 OVERALL.