WKU Basketball: Tops Routed by #12 Houston, 81–57
Houston had won 22 games straight at home, now we can say they have won 23 straight.
Western Kentucky hadn’t played in 12 days and were without 3 point sharpshooter Luke Frampton, and it showed with an overwhelming amount of turnovers.
The first half was a promising showcase by the Hilltoppers, scoring more points on Houston than anyone else all year in the first half of a ball game. The score was 39–38 with Houston on top by 1 thanks to a 21 point 1st half from Grimes, which including a stretch between the 11 minute mark and 1:45 mark where he was the only one to score for Houston (18 straight points). But after halftime was over, so was this game.
Houston opened up the half with more points from Grimes and quickly went on a 22–7 run and ended the game on a 42–17 run. Throughout the entire game it seemed everyone on the Western Kentucky basketball team was being extremely serious about social distancing around Grimes, who was often left wide open. As the announcer said with 3:30 left to go, “it was like shooting practice for Grimes tonight”. The only thing that Western Kentucky was more committed to than letting Grimes score was passing the ball directly into the waiting arms of the opponents.
With 10 turnovers at half, and finishing with over 20 turnovers, it was baffling to watch the Hilltopper players commit awful turnover after turnover, where the pass was either late, lazy, or just flat out directly to the opposing player. Final score was 81–57.
Takeaways for Western Kentucky: Have to work on ball security. Had way too many inexcusable turnovers. There is nothing else to say. The passing was completely abysmal. 8 assists to 20 turnovers is unacceptable. If Western Kentucky wants to make the NCAA Tournament this year they are going to have to limit this turnover problem and tighten up the defense. It seems like a lot of teams shoot really well and lack of effort on defense could be an emerging problem for the Tops. Not a good look, but they haven’t played in 12 days so it could be some rust.
Takeaways for Houston: They are a good team, they hustle, play defense, and rebound. But I will say that they look a lot better than they really are when the officials call a loose game. There was a lot of bodies hitting the floor and arms flailing with no calls tonight. If every game they play results in little fouls with both teams walking away bruised, Houston will win out. If they meet a ref crew that calls things close, they are in trouble, but could be bailed out by an offensive explosion from talented players like Grimes and Sasser.
Takeaways from the game as a whole: The officiating was bad on both sides tonight. Houston fans were at one point booing the referees. Western Kentucky looked rusty after having 12 days off and turned the ball over 20 while Houston 46% from the field and 42% from three. Bassey only scored 9 points while Grimes scored a career high 33 points with 8 three pointers to his name. Hollingsworth led the Hilltoppers with 17 points and Kenny Cooper chipped in his best performance of the season with 9 points.
Full Stats
- Final: Houston 81 WKU 52
- FG%: Houston 46% WKU 41%
- 3pt%: Houston 42% WKU 23%
- Rebounds: Houston 31 WKU 31
- Assists: Houston 15 WKU 8
- Steals: Houston 13 WKU 5
- Blocks: Houston 8 WKU 2
- Turnovers: Houston 9 WKU 20
- Fouls: Houston 13 WKU 12
- Leading Scorer: Houston’s Grimes (33) WKU’s Hollingsworth (17)
