BURN THE HORSE
Western Kentucky
puts a pretty impressive streak on the line tonight. Actually, they’ll have to
win tonight against Florida International and Sunday night against UALR to keep
it alive.
Going into
tonight’s 8:30 p.m. game against Florida International, Western Kentucky has
advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament seven consecutive years.
Western
Kentucky and Florida International split their regular season meetings. FIU
pulled away in the second half to win the first game in Bowling Green, Ky., in
one of the final games for former Coach Ken McDonald. Ray Harper was the coach
when the Hilltoppers returned the favor with a victory in Miami.
Western
Kentucky has lost 14 of their past 17 games away from home. But they did get a
big win at FIU in an ugly game. WKU shot 27.6 percent while FIU shot 32 percent
and made 1 of 12 three-pointers. But WKU held a five rebound advantage and
forced 20 FIU turnovers to earn the 61-51 victory.
WKU also
finished the season strong with home victories over Arkansas State and top seed
Middle Tennessee.
Florida
International has talent. They only won five games in Sun Belt play but landed
three of the 15 players on the all-conference team in Phil Taylor, Jeremy Allen
and DeJuan Wright. And on Saturday night against South Alabama, Coach Isiah
Thomas made a tactical change. He went with a four-guard lineup most of the
way, utilizing Wright, Taylor, Allen and Deric Hall. Instead of handling the
ball all the time, Taylor played off it, making him a different type of threat
to score. And Hall responded with the ball, posting 9 assists and 0 turnovers.
Western
Kentucky needs to shoot the ball well. The Tops are 1-9 when shooting less than
40 percent. But that’s only happened in 3 of the 13 games since Harper replaced
McDonald. WKU is also 3-11 when attempting fewer free throws than its opponent
and 4-13 when getting outrebounded.
One
advantage the winner of tonight’s game will have is familiarity with Summit
Arena, where they’ll meet UALR on Sunday night. In contrast, UALR players won’t
get their first look at Summit Arena until they bus from Little Rock Sunday
evening.
