WKU Basketball: Bearden Returning Should Provide Much Needed Offensive Boost
“Guess who’s back, back again Bearden’s back, tell a friend.”
After missing the first nine games of the 2018/19 season, redshirt senior point guard Lamonte Bearden will now be eligible to play for the Tops.
Bearden has been sitting due to being academically ineligible to play but now that the fall semester is officially over and his grades have rebounded, it’s Bearden time on the Hill and it couldn’t come at a more crucial time for WKU.
The Tops have struggled trying to find someone (sometimes multiple someones) to carry the weight at the point guard position and. to be frank about it, nothing has consistently worked.
Josh Anderson had been working to slide into the point guard role from the beginning of the year but he struggled to make the adjustment. Anderson had a few moments where he contributed big things but overall he never was able to run the offense the way it needed to be ran which hurt the team at times.
With Anderson not being the best route to go at the point, coach Stansbury then turned to Taveion Hollingsworth. His first game at the point for WKU came against Tennessee State where he didn’t look that bad but the offense was extremely stagnant in the road losses against Indiana State and Missouri State.
That led to freshman point guard Dalano Banton, who had struggled for the most part this year, getting the nod as the starting point guard against Arkansas.
Banton is a young player but is the only other true point guard that’s able to play right now. If there’s one upside to Bearden’s absence, it’s that it gave Banton a lot of playing time to help him get used to playing college ball that should naturally help with WKU’s guard depth.
Banton definitely looked more poised than he had in the past with him and Hollingsworth carrying the weight at the point at Arkansas. They had a combined 13 assists between them as the Tops got a major road win against an SEC team.
With all these past struggles and inconsistencies the last nine games, WKU should finally get more depth and experience with the return of Bearden.
With DeSean Murray leaving the program as well, that now makes Bearden the lone senior on the team.
A year ago, Bearden averaged 11.8 points and 3.4 assists meaning his return to the lineup will help (or, rather, should help) get the offense going as everyone else goes back to their normal preferred positions.
It will be interesting to see how he how in shape he is and what kind of impact he makes in his first game back. I’m hoping he makes up for lost time and comes out with a fire under him.
Bearden, in my opinion, is the biggest factor to WKU playing at their potential towards a C-USA title and NCAA Tournament berth and the fact that they’re 5–4 in his absence is pretty good for how young this team is. I’m hoping his leadership and experience (and also fresh legs) is enough to help the Tops turn the corner and win some big games as conference play approaches.
