Our #5 Cards will travel to Music City on Saturday to face a in-state rival in Western Kentucky. And it will be a game between two teams going in two very different directions. The Cards are on a tear and even with the loss of Gorgui Dieng seem to be improving every game. WKU on the other hand is a banged up team that just had one of their worst losses ever Tuesday against VCU. The Rams turned over WKU 32 times in the 76-44 romp.
This will be Ray Harper’s first full year at the helm, as Ken McDonald was let go mid-season last year after a disappointing 5-11 start. WKU returns four starters, though highly touted guard Derrick Gordon is gone after one year. Harper’s roster offers perimeter shooting, shot blocking, on-ball defense and most importantly, he’ll tell you heart. But that’s when all of the WKU troops are healthy. Right now they are experiencing what Louisville did last year as a majority of their players are out of the line-up due to injury. The Hilltoppers are currently 8-4 with a 2-0 conference record. They currently rank nationally 174th in points per game at 68.2, 35th in rebounding at 40.3 a game, 225th in assist at 12.2 a game, and 185th in field goal percentage at .432 a game. Kenpom.com currently has them ranked 144th in the country.
Coach Harper: “We’re still a young basketball team,””but I think we’ve got some talent. I’m excited about what the future holds.”
In-conference offense: 0.99 points per possession (8th)
In-conference defense: 1.01 points allowed per possession (7th)
The Hilltopper Players:
Jamal Crook SR (14.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg) 6-3 G was scheduled for surgery Wednesday and will be out four to six weeks with a right foot fracture. Will miss game Saturday.
Teeng Akol SR (7.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg) 6-11 F/C is a very good shot blocker and will be counted on to give this team valuable minutes in the low post. He has scored 92 points this season and grabbed 50 rebounds in 214 minutes of play.
Kene Anyigbo JR (2.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg) 6-5 F has scored 24 points this season, grabbed 27 rebounds in 100 min of play.
Caden Dickerson JR (3.4 ppg, 0.7 rpg) 6-5 G separated his right shoulder and is out indefinitely. Will not play Saturday.
Brandon Harris JR (6.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg) 6-1 G is a very good player who led Otero (Colo.) Junior College to a 30-4 record last season. He has scored 72 points this season, grabbed 69 rebounds, dished out 16 assist in 319 minutes in play.
O’Karo Akamune JR (3.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg) 6-7 F has scored 37 points, and grabbed 38 rebounds this season in 166 minutes of play.
Kevin Kaspar Soph (5.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg) 6-0 G is playing but has been limited by a hamstring injury. He has scored 62 points this season, grabbed 39 rebounds, dished out 23 assist in 290 minutes of play.
Spence Sheldon Soph (0.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg) 5-11 G has not played this season.
Nigel Snipes Soph (0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg) 6-6 F tore his right ACL, knocking him out for 2012-13.
Stephon Drane Soph (1.9 ppg, 0.9 rpg) 6-7 F played one game last season before redshirting with a knee injury. The 6-7 sophomore averaged 4.2 minutes in 18 games his freshman season. He has scored 23 points this season, and grabbed 11 rebounds in 68 minutes of action.
George Fant Soph (11.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg) 6-6 F has gotten a little bigger and a little stronger and is poised to have a big sophomore season. He has scored 121 points this season, and grabbed 79 rebounds in 313 minutes of play.
T.J. Price Soph (16.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg) 6-4 G shot 35.6 percent while making 52 3-pointers last season. He has missed the past three games with a right ankle sprain and will be a game-time decision on Saturday. He has scored 152 points this season, grabbed 55 rebounds and dished out 22 assist in 295 minutes this season.
Eddie Alcantara FR (1.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg) 6-5 F averaged around 21 points and nine rebounds and shot more than 40 percent from 3-point range as a senior for Chicago-Hales Franciscan. He has scored 5 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in 30 minutes of play.
Percy Blade FR (2.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg) 6-4 G is a preferred walk-on who prepped at Louisville-Eastern. He has scored 22 points this season, and grabbed 9 rebounds in 82 minutes of play.
Aleksejs Rostov FR (2.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg) 6-10 C played last year for the Canarias Basketball Academy and also played on Latvia’s bronze-medal U18 team in 2010. He has scored 25 points this season and grabbed 14 rebounds in 62 minutes of play.
Despite the loss of Gorgui Dieng our Louisville Cardinals still have the #1 ranked defense in college basketball and have 131 steals on this young season with 13 a game. They are also averaging over 20 forced turnovers a game and scoring over 20 pts on those turnovers. This is not a good thing for WKU a team that in their last game had 32 turnovers and turned the ball over on 45.7 percent of their possessions.
There is a chink in the armor of this Louisville defense without Gorgui in the middle. Teams are getting to the basket pretty easy against the Cardinals. Even FIU was able to do this with ease on Wednesday night. It is an area of concern for Coach Pitino and with this being the last tune-up before the big game against UK next weekend will be looking to see if adjustments are made to fix this issue.
With all of the injuries to this WKU team they really don’t have much of a chance against a deeper more talented Louisville team. The Cards will roll in this one.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 90 Western Kentucky 53