We got our first look at the new look Hilltoppers under first year head coach Rick Stansbury against an opponent other then themselves on Tuesday night when the Tops outlasted Campbellsville 87-79. Here are a few thoughts and observations after watching the game.
I expect a solid bounce back performance on Saturday now that a few guys have gotten the jitters out of their system and a couple others are back to being healthy.
- Have patience Hilltopper Nation. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is a winning basketball team. 7 of the 10 players to earn minutes Tuesday night where first timers in Diddle Arena. Not to mention that Lomomba and Johnson had missed approx the last week and a half of practice with nagging injuries. So some rust was to be more then expected Tuesday night.
- When you push aside the obvious rust and a few chemistry issues of players still learning their Topsnew team mates. The Tops showed some flashes of being really good.
- Athleticism is leaps and bounds ahead of what WKU has had in recent years. That is not to discredit any former players, but its a hard fact to ignore with the length, speed, and leaping ability that this team has.
- Que Johnson who was limited to just 15 minutes because of early foul trouble is going to be a guy that helps this offense go. Not only is he an excellent shooter and scorer. The ball seemed to move a lot better around the court when he was in the game even though he was never able into a rhythm because of the early foul trouble.
- WKU could have easily won by 20+ points. But exhibition games are about working on stuff. Stansbury said in his post game presser that it was about what he expected. That here were a bunch of little things to work on. He also said that he could have put the team into a zone defense and taken away a lot of the shots and mismatch problems that Campbellsville was providing with their small line-up, but that he wanted the team to be tested and become a better team because of it. Said it does a lot more for a team then a blow out win.
- Justin Johnson is going to be an absolute nightmare match-up for teams this season. JJ went 2-3 from deep ball last night finishing with 22 points to go along with 12 rebounds. He has always had good form on his shot, but now he has the confidence in his shot to take it. Add to that his improved ball handling to go along with his already dominate play around the basket and he will be a problem for opponents to guard.
- Pancake Thomas showed a lot of poise in the 2nd half. He did a good job not forcing the issue and knocking down a few big 3 point shots to finish with 17 points.
- WKU shot just 5-17 from 3 point land. I do not expect that to be the norm this season with as many shooter are on this team. Tops missed several wide open looks on Tuesday night. I expect the team to float closer around the 37-40% mark as a team this season from deep.
- The Tops had 5 players finish in double figure scoring with 22 from JJ, 17 from Pancake, 12 from Lawson, 11 from Lomomba, and 11 points and 13 boards from Willie Carmichael. Once again I expect Que Johnson to be in double figures pretty much every night as well.
- The effort was definitely there. As rusty as the Tops looked on Tuesday night they still managed to put up 87 points. I don't think there is a whole lot WKU fans need to worry about other then players staying healthy and foul trouble to 2 or 3 key guys.
I expect a solid bounce back performance on Saturday now that a few guys have gotten the jitters out of their system and a couple others are back to being healthy.
