WKU Basketball: To Achieve Consistency, Stansbury Must Trust His Bench

After having five days to stew on Saturday’s meltdown against Old Dominion, one common thought continues to cross my mind: Why doesn’t Rick Stansbury play his bench more minutes?

As the 21–0 lead started to evaporate over the last ten minutes of the first half, freshman Dalano Banton and Charles Bassey turned the ball over five times in a span of five minutes as WKU’s 21-point lead quickly turned to 10 points.

Instead of benching his freshman to help them gain composure and taking a break, Stansbury left them in as WKU’s lead eventually dwindled down to two points before the Tops rallied to take a seven-point lead to the locker room.

But the damage was done and confidence for ODU and their fans was restored; the Monarchs took that momentum into the second half and outlasted the young Hilltoppers for a three-point win.

Stansbury should have given reserves like Lamonte Bearden, Jake Ohmer, and Matthew Horton opportunities to give those freshman breaks and regain their composure. Bearden’s ball handling skills especially would have helped WKU withstand ODU’s aggressive defense pressure that dumbfounded Banton (four turnovers) and created easy baskets for the Monarchs in transition.

Past drama notwithstanding, Stansbury’s stubbornness in not playing Bearden in the first half not only contributed to the lead evaporating but also showed with Bearden’s hesitancy in the second half, when he finally got into the game but was visibly scared to make a mistake, fearing he would be pulled again.

This all contributed to a game where WKU scored their lowest point total in 10 games (Indiana State) and the bench (which tallied just 22 minutes, a season-low) scoring just two (also a season-low) of the Toppers 66 points on the night.

The limited rotation has become a recurring theme for Stansbury’s squad, especially in losses. A year after having just eight scholarship players available for most of the season, this year was supposed to be a season where Stansbury would have a full roster and could finally open up the bench and let talented players pick up the slack when starters were having poor games or needed a break.

According to the KenPom efficiency rankings, WKU’s bench ranks 326th (out of 353) in the nation in bench minutes, with reserves playing just 23.8% of the total minutes, well below the national average of 31%.

This all shows that Stansbury doesn’t trust his bench to pick up the slack when players are struggling or need a break. There have been plenty of examples of poor shooting performances (Jared Savage and Taveion Hollingsworth, especially) where Stansbury simply refuses to bench ineffective play. He should use the bench to not only give a breather but to send a message to players that aren’t playing defense or passing the ball.

I crunched the numbers on bench minutes & points in wins and losses. Surprisingly, WKU’s bench numbers only slightly improve in wins (53.71 minutes and 15.85 points per game) versus losses (52.17 minutes and 13 points per game) but some of that can be attributed to production from now-starters like Josh Anderson and Banton performing well off the bench earlier in the year.

Throughout the year, bench players like Bearden, Ohmer, Tolu Smith, Marek Nelson, and even Horton have shown they can provide quality minutes.

Bearden was a starter that averaged 11.8 points and 3.4 assists last season, co-existing with Darius Thompson, Hollingsworth, and several other dominant guards. Despite Banton’s recent superb play (ODU clunker game notwithstanding), Bearden has proven that he deserves minutes and can be a great change of pace to offset freshman moments from Banton and deliver ball handling and confidence that sometimes eludes the freshman against pressing teams.

I also think Stansbury should play both beside each other, especially when giving Savage or Hollingsworth a break. Hopefully, the drama that has come with his return starts to subside starting with this Saturday’s game against Marshall.

Ohmer proved against Wisconsin and Charlotte that he’s starting to regain confidence and he can be a great piece to provide 8–15 quality minutes a game when his shot is on.

Smith is another freshman that makes mistakes but the Tops desperately need to continue to throw him in the fire with their now thin front line rotation. He scored nine points against West Virginia and has topped the three rebound mark four times.

Other examples of bench potential include Horton’s performance against Tennessee State (in just nine minutes, he logged four points, three boards, and a block) and Nelson’s six points, three rebound and two steal performance against Arkansas (when he comes back from suspension).

Even Jeremiah Gambrell, who notched three points against Charlotte, deserves some minutes to prove he can be a contributor on this team. If he was good enough to be recruited by Baylor, he is probably good enough to deserve some minutes a game.

All of these examples show that Stansbury needs to give his bench chances to shine and give his starters a break.

If WKU wants to take off and finally live up to their potential, Stansbury needs to trust his bench to produce quality minutes, not only scoring but defensively. Doing so will not only take pressure off the starters but will also find that his bench is better than he’s let them show thus far.