GAMEDAY! Tops vs. Cards

Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Finally. I have no idea how we’ve gone this long without any action, but its finally here – WKU is back in competition!
Today, the boys face their biggest challenge yet, and most likely, their biggest challenge of the campaign – they head 2ish hours north to play the defending national champion Louisville Cardinals. No small task for a team that has been overwhelmingly under-performing to start the year.
If you’re a Hilltopper fan, the one stat you immediately want to point to and brag about is the overall series record: WKU actually leads the series over UofL 39-37, but the Tops have only won 18 times in Louisville. First and foremost, today marks the first time Texas Tech transfer Trency Jackson, who had a quite the showing during Hilltopper Hysteria, and Butler transfer Chris Harrison-Docks are eligible for Ray Harper and company, and it’ll be interesting to see if and how they’re used in their first game, especially with it being against UofL. Secondly, it’s the first time Brandon Harris will take the floor following his SBC Player of the Week effort against Southern Illinois, and it goes without saying (but, we will say it anyway) that WKU needs a huge game from him, in some form or fashion, to even have a chance at the Cards.
UofL also has had a long time between games, as they last saw action against ULL, and what was a close game at the half, the Cardinals proved to be too much in the long-haul and routed the Cajuns 113-74. Leading in the effort was from Montrezl Harrell, who was one of 6 Cardinals to score in double figures, and went 9-10 from the floor. Oh, he also contributed 8 rebounds. No big deal.
Not only do the Cardinals come into the game as a top 10 team in the nation, they also are in the top 15 in seven statistical categories: they lead the nation in turnover margin (+10.8), and other stats in the top 15 are scoring margin, total steals, turnovers per game, steals per game, scoring defense and turnover/assist ratio. For more on the UofL side of things, head over to Big Red Louie.
While it is Jackson and CHD’s first eligible game, I’ll be looking for them to come off the bench. I think Ray will send out Hulsey, Harris, Fant, T.J. and Rostov and the Tops will have to do something that they haven’t done in big games this year…or in recent memory, and that is to get off to a fast and hot start. The Tops also need to be sharp on the boards – offensive and defensive – and TAKE CARE OF THE BALL, something they didn’t do in Wichita and proved costly. GAMEDAY! Tops vs. Cards
When all is said and done, we will be referring back to the 2011 game, when the Tops played tough and only lost by 10, but a loss is a loss. WKU will have a good and inspired showing, especially with a healthy and lethal Harris and new energy from the bench, but UofL is a top 10 team, and WKU has a long way to go until they are up to their March caliber.
As always, our live thread will be up shortly, and we will be live tweeting over at the WTRT twitter account. Let’s have them hear us all the way in Louisville. Stand up and cheers!