GAMEDAY! WKU vs. Brescia University
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
Welcome back folks! It has been a long seven days since the Tops have hit the hardwood, however the wait is over as WKU is back in action in Diddle Arena tonight! Tonight’s foe is the Bearcats from Brescia University. Diddle Arena hasn’t been friendly to visiting foes yet this season, will the Tops and Diddle continue this trend? Or will the Bearcats overcome the adversity? Let’s see and break things down!
Brescia comes into today’s game with a record of (5-8). They are currently on a 3 game losing streak. The Bearcats faced Murray State early in November and lost to them 69-97. They have also played and lost to Eastern Kentucky University and Belmont here recently. Brescia plays in the KIAC division of the NAIA. Some of the Bearcat players to keep an eye on are Jermain Langley, as he leads the team averages in points (15 PPG), rebounds (7 RPG), and Assists (4.3 APG). A couple more players to watch are Bowling Green natives, and Warren Central graduates Troy Halcomb and Brett Jackson. Halcomb just averages around five points/game, Jackson on the other hand averages a few more points with 11.7 points/game. Brescia will have to come out to play in order to change the tide and give WKU their first loss at home this season!
Now for the Tops! WKU comes into tonight’s game (7-4) and (6-0) while playing in Diddle. Last weekend we continued to see how much the addition of Trency Jackson and Chris Harrison-Docks has helped this Topper squad. We also saw the Tops ability to find rebounds, especially offensive rebounds. Two games ago against Southern Miss, WKU had just two lone offensive boards. The Tops reversed that statistic entirely last weekend against Murray State, finding 18 offensive boards alone. That is just one rebound short of the total number of rebounds grabbed against Southern Miss. These are two huge points of info for WKU, if they continue the trend of good shooting numbers, minimizing turnovers, and crashing offensive boards, I like where this Topper team is headed.
Tonight the Tops need to continue minimizing turnovers. They had just 9 turnovers last week against Murray State, which is really good considering the amount of possessions given up by the Tops over the course of the season so far (averaging 15 turn overs/game) . Another key point is to crash the boards like I continuously emphasize. The Tops had a total of 39 boards against the Racers last game, with 18 of those being on the offensive end like I said above. My third and last point, which could be the biggest is to maintain momentum and confidence in team play heading into Monday’s game against Ole Miss, and also heading into conference play. This is a team that has loads of potential and will have a chance to prove it against the Rebels Monday. So tonight’s game i feel like is a warm-up to Monday’s game and to conference play. Maintaining confidence and momentum in tonight’s game could just allow the Tops to come out strong against Ole Miss.
Tonights line-up I predict will not differ one bit from what Coach Harper sent on the floor last game. Those players being Brandon Harris, Trency Jackson, T.J. Price, Aaron Adeoye, and George Fant.
As always the Live Thread will be up and running before Tip-Off and the WTRT twitter account will be sending out info as well! Catch the live action at Diddle, or from the comfort of your home on ESPN 3 or on WKU PBS in the Bowling Green area. The action begins at 7 PM sharp! DONT miss out as the Tops look to extend their home court domination!