After a week without any basketball games the Cardinals will return to the hardwood on Saturday afternoon to face in-state rival Western Kentucky. Surprisingly the Hilltoppers lead the series against the Cardinals 39-37. Like our other instate rival up the road they were a solid program during the 30’s and 40’s and beat the Cards up during those two decades. But the Cards have won 21 out of the last 24 games in this series. The Hilltoppers come into this game 5-3 and they were picked to finish 3rd in the Sun Belt Conference.
Coach Ray Harper’s roster offers perimeter shooting, shot blocking, on-ball defense and most importantly he’ll tell you heart. They return four starters from last season’s NCAA tournament team including 72 percent of their scoring and 66.1 percent of their rebounding, led by junior guard T.J. Price (15.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assist a game) and junior forward George Fant (13.9 points, 6 rebounds a game). Price leads the team in scoring, and, is the Hilltopper with the highest usage rate, he is the spearhead of the offense. Fant also is a high usage player, though less efficient. He is the team’s best rebounder and shot-blocker, and excels at getting to the line, though he sinks just 54% of his free throws. Their other starters are Aaron Adeoye (5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds a game) was a third team All-American last year at John A. Logan College, Brandon Harris (9.8 points, 5 rebounds a game) the primary ball handler on this team he was named Sun Belt conference player of the week after scoring 30 in the last game, and Payton Hulsey (5.3 points, 4.1 rebounds a game).
They are getting good bench minutes out of Center Aleksej Rostov (3.6 points, 3.1 rebounds), Kevin Kaspar (3.4 points, 1.5 rebounds), Brandon Price (2.5 points, 1 rebound), and will be getting more help as transfers Trency Jackson and Chris Harrison-Docks will become eligible before Saturday. Jackson played 11 games at Texas Tech and averaged 6.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. Harrison-Docks is a transfer from Butler and is the son of former UK player Chris Harrison. Both will be backing up the PG spot.
The Hilltoppers are scoring 63.6 points a game with a scoring margin of +1.3, grabbing 36.6 rebounds a game with a +4.1 margin, sharing the ball with 11.3 assist per game and Turning the ball over 15.6 times a game for a assist/turnover ratio of 0.6.
Western Kentucky
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
63.6
330th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
36.6
160th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
11.3
287th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.390
339th
OVERALL
Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #174
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-98.4 ranks 61st
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-98.0 ranks 281st
In my opinion this Western Kentucky team will be a NCAA Tournament team. They have the parts but just have to get them all working together. I think the versatility of their line-up will be a good challenge for the Cardinals defense and Fant down low will be another great test for our front-court. Coach Pitino has had the Cards in the gym for a week and I expect to see this team to look very sharp on Saturday. This one really shouldn’t be that close.