WKU Weekly Wrap-Up 11/17 – 11/23

Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
It was a week of mostly good things. Then came the absolute shock of the year. And that’s where we start:
Volleyball: WKU 3 – Troy 0, Sun Belt Conference Tournament WKU 0 – Troy 3
The lady Tops clinched the number 1 seed in their final SBC a couple weeks back, and made their trip to Troy short and sweet, as the home standing Trojans got their first ever volleyball win against WKU in straight sets (26-24, 27-25, 28-26). Hopefully this isn’t the last we hear of or see the volleyball team, as they hope to get an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Women’s Basketball: WKU 90 – SEMO 75, WKU 74 – Northern Kentucky 64
The Lady Tops keep rolling! With defending national runner-up (and Michelle Clark-Heard’s former coaching stomping ground) Louisville coming to town this week, the Lady Tops look ready to face up to the challenge, after taking care of the Redhawks and Norse. Alexis Govan and Chastity Gooch each notched 20 points, Govan in the former game and Gooch in the latter.
Men’s Basketball: WKU 73 – UNCW 58, WKU 67 – Samford 64
We saw a little bit of the good and the bad this past week on the mens side of the floor. Versus the Seahawks, George Fant, T.J. Price and Caden Dickerson all hit double figures in scoring, and all of the starting 5 hit 9 or more. It was a total team effort, and the first dominant performance we have seen from WKU all year. And then, a 1-4 Samford came to town, and the Tops narrowly escaped. However, several good things came out of it – 1.) T.J. had 28. He has been hitting double digits all year, and I doubt this will be the last 25+ performance we see from him this year. 2.) Fant is back. After leading the team in points vs. UNCW, he followed up the performance with 17. Very solid. 3.) Brandon Price was a big spark plug off the bench, and it looks like that’s where he will contribute. I think Hulsey has the point until Harris returns, and Brandon Price will be (one of the many) 6th men on this team. WTRT failed to get a Samford recap out, but you can read the UNCW recap here.
Football: WKU 38 – Texas St. 7
Well, good news for WKU fans – if it comes down to it, the Tops (and any other SBC team) will get a bowl bid before Texas State. Holy cow was this a game the Hilltoppers needed to get great momentum to close out the season Saturday with a W, finish 8-4 and hopefully go to a bowl game. Antonio Andrews broke 200 yards like it was nothing, and scored thrice in the process. Doughty went pick-less and threw for 152 yards. Something interesting of note – all of WKU’s touchdowns came on the ground.
All around, a solid week. But that volleyball loss sure does sting. Still.
Stand up and cheers.