WKU Basketball: Tops Cruise to 92–51 Exhibition Win
In their second exhibition contest of the season, and the first inside Diddle Arena, the Hilltoppers took it to the Campbellsville Tigers in a 92–51 victory on Wednesday.
The Tops came out firing on all cylinders, jumping out to a 19–7 lead but a quick 8–0 run from the Tigers made it a two-point game midway through the first half.
From there, the Tops took complete control, running the Tigers out of the building and looking damn impressive in the process.
WKU shot 52% from the floor and attempted 75 shots. The Tops also shot 50% from the free throw line (11-for-22) but were a measly 23% (3-for-13) from distance.
The standout performance was that of Darius Thompson, who is just a ton of fun to watch. While he didn’t boast the biggest statline (12 points, five rebounds and a team-best seven assists), he did throw down a couple of fire dunks (actually, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t do throw down some rimrockers) and was the spark of energy the Tops have lacked over the last couple of years.
Jake Ohmer also had a good day, logging 18 points, second-most to Tavieon Hollingsworth’s 20, and hitting all three of the Tops’ three-point shots. Ohmer proved he belongs on the same floor as this highly-touted recruiting class.
The biggest impression made on me tonight was that of Dwight Coleby, who’s a grown man while in the paint. He also was a menace on the glass, grabbing 10 boards (and the duo of Coleby and Justin Johnson combined for 26 total rebounds) and finished with 13 points.
If there’s one thing to be worried about with Coleby, it’s foul trouble — he had four fouls tonight (but still logged 27 minutes) but if he can’t control that, he might find himself in trouble against stiffer competition.
While it’s only an exhibition game, Chad Bishop pointed out that the Tops beat Campbellsville last year by less than 10 points, so seeing the Tops run-and-gun a team they had every business running and gunning out of Bowling Green is a good sign.
I’m not going to get used to seeing this type of performance night in and night out, but it’s a great foundation for this season and I can’t wait to see what this team does come games that actually count.
Final stats from tonight:
