WKU Men’s Basketball will look to get to 2-2 as they host Lipscomb Saturday afternoon at Diddle Arena in the BBN Invitational.
The Hilltoppers dominated Campbellsville 104-76 on Tuesday night to earn their first win of the season. After starting the season 0-2 with tough losses to Wichita State and Grand Canyon, WKU has the opportunity to win their second straight game and even up their record at 2-2.
The win marked the first for Head Coach Hank Plona since taking over this season.
“Not sure last Monday night that we played well enough to beat a Wichita State team that’s really good, ” Plona said.“I did think last Saturday we played well enough for most of that game to beat a Grand Canyon team that’s really good, so that left a tough taste in our mouth. It was good to get back on the floor a couple days later and get a win.”
WKU averages 86.7 points through three games, which is good for second-most amongst Conference USA teams and 64th nationally. The Hilltoppers also average 16.7 fast break points, ranking 64th nationally. They allow opponents 80.3 points per game.
Lipscomb averages 73.5 points per game while allowing 74.3 points per game. The Bison are coming off an 80-79 loss to Belmont this past Tuesday. The Bruins outrebounded Lipscomb 41-27, but the Bison won the turnover battle 15-8 with 11 steals.
Coming into this game, guard Khristian Lander had his best performance as a Hilltopper, scoring a career-high 23 points versus Campbellsville. He and fellow senior guard Don McHenry have 20 or more point performances this season. McHenry had two consecutive in the team’s first two games.
“We’re going to get right to it,” Plona said. “They are an elite level team. They’ve beat two very good teams and have had four very challenging tests so far. We respect the heck out of them and we know it’s going to be a tough game. We’ll make sure we’re as prepared as we can be and by the time we take the floor Sunday afternoon, we’ll be ready to go.”
The two teams are 1-1 versus each other, with the last matchup back in 1962. This will be the first matchup between the two in Bowling Green.
Tip-off is at 2 p.m. The game can be watched on ESPN +
