By Russ Brown
Special to NKyTribune
LOUISVILLE — Representing a significant, though not necessarily formidable, step up in competition, Western Kentucky (6-4) appears to be a welcome weekend guest for University of Louisville basketball fans weary of blowouts and players in need of an opponent who might provide at least a small degree of competition unseen so far in the KFC Yum! Center.
As No. 19/16 UofL (8-1) prepares to host the Hilltoppers at noon Saturday, even UofL coach Rick Pitino has finally acknowledged the poor quality of his club’s non-conference schedule on its homecourt, where the Cards have won seven games by an average of 36.6 points, with the “closest” being a 31-point rout of Samford in the opener.
“You look at the statistics in the ACC and we’re on top in almost every category,” Pitino says. “But that’s because of the competition we’re playing, because we’re bigger and longer.”
WKU was picked to finish middle of the pack in Conference USA, is just as young and inexperienced as UofL, has lost to Drake and Duquesne on neutral courts and was pummeled by No. 10 Xavier 95-64 in Cincinnati two weeks ago (UofL Athletics Photo)
He could have also mentioned more talented, deeper and a host of other superior traits.
“We are in need of some good competition and we are going to get it on Saturday,” Pitino said after UofL’s 94-57 romp past Kennesaw State. “Western Kentucky is a very deep team and we are going to have to play a lot better defensively against them. They are going to give us all we can handle. We have watched a lot of film on them and are very impressed, so it will be a much different game.
“We know we are going to get great competition. It’s not any fun for you to watch and it’s not any fun, these lopsided victories.”
Which makes one wonder why Pitino littered the schedule with the Grand Canyons, Samfords, Kennesaw States and other helpless victims, with the outcomes being entirely predictable.
While definitely an upgrade and not likely to be another 30-point-plus loser, Western certainly isn’t close to the caliber of teams Louisville will face later and just how much competition the Toppers will provide is open to debate.
After all, WKU was picked to finish middle of the pack in Conference USA, is just as young and inexperienced as UofL, has lost to Drake and Duquesne on neutral courts and was pummeled by No. 10 Xavier 95-64 in Cincinnati two weeks ago.
Since then, the Toppers have notched Diddle Arena victories over indiana State 75-62 and Alabama A&M 79-70. So there is nothing on their resume’ to suggest they’re an upset threat Saturday.
WKU coach Ray Harper thinks his team has long-range potential, but short-term it may be another story with a roster consisting of seven freshmen or sophomores and just two seniors that is feeling its way.
“We haven’t even put the car in drive yet; it’s still idling at the bottom of the hill,” Harper says. “So it’s not a bad thing. It takes time and us to figure out rotations, takes time to jell. But I do see us making some progress. I see us getting better.”
As for Louisville, Harper says, “We know we’re going to get their best shot, no question about it. They are going to come at us in waves, so we’ve got to try to prepare for it. That’s the fun part of college basketball, you’ve got to go out and compete.”
As Pitino noted, WKU’s rotation is deep, consisting of nine players who average 11 minutes or more per game, with five averaging in double figures.
The Toppers’ leading scorer and rebounder is 6-7 sophomore forward Justin Johnson, who is averaging 17.2 points and 8.4 rebounds. But the player who makes WKU go is 6-0 freshman point guard Chris McNeal, who is averaging 4.8 assists per game with only 14 turnovers, including zero in his last two outings.
“That’s pretty good for a freshman point guard,” Harper says. “He has the unique ability to make everyone around him better. He just does, because he can get them the basketball in areas where they’re comfortable.”
Of course, McNeal and his teammates, will face their biggest challenge of the season against a UofL man-to-man and matchup zone defense that has limited opponents to 55.6 ppg — second in Division I — and 34.4 field goal percentage (third).
“We’ve got to put up a fight, man, just got to go,” WKU senior forward Nigel Snipes says. “Not much to it — I mean, they’re a good team and I feel like we’re going to play our best.”
The question is, whether that will be good enough to beat UofL for the first time in seven years. Since being upset 68-54 in 2008 in Nashville, the Cards have rolled to six consecutive victories over the Toppers by an average margin of 18.8 ppg, all but one of them by double digits.
ADEL, MAHMOUD OUT — Injured UofL players Den Adel (sprained knee) and Ana Mahmoud (sprained ankle) will dress for the WKU game, but won’t play. Pitino said he hopes both will be ready for Tuesday’s game against Missouri Kansas City.
Pitino said that leading scorer Damion Lee, who aggravated a nagging heel injury against Kennesaw State Wednesday, should be able to play Saturday after two days of rest.
“Truthfully, I couldn’t even tell you — I don’t even know what it is,” said Lee, who is averaging 18.7 ppg and shooting 53.7 percent. “But I’m a basketball player who plays for this team, and whatever I can do to be out there, extra treatment and all that stuff, I’ll do it.”
CARDS BEHIND 2015 TEAM — Trying to head off any budding talk about his current Louisville team being better than last year’s 27-9 group that advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Michigan State 76-70 in overtime, Pitino wrote in his blog this week, “At this time, absolutely not! They’re not even tapping their potential right now.”
“That (2015) team would confuse people (defensively),” he added. “They had a lot of toughness to them. It is defensive habits we lack, little things that last year’s team did by second nature.”
Through nine games last season, the Cards were 9-0 and had already played Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio State. They were 11-0 before suffering their first loss — to No. 1 Kentucky, 58-50, on Dec. 27 in the KFC Yum! Center.
