No celebrating: Business as usual for WKU following victory
South Regional | Edge: Gonzaga-WKU
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Don't tell me Western Kentucky won in an upset because it didn't. It won a game it deserved to win. Simple as that.
Granted, the Hilltoppers were a region's 12th seed for the second straight year, but the only surprise about their 76-72 defeat of Illinois was that the margin wasn't larger -- and you can credit Illinois for that. Down by 17 with eight minutes left, the Illini went on a 17-3 tear down the stretch to turn a would-be laugher into a close call.
But good teams survive the close calls, and don't pay attention to where Western Kentucky is seeded. The Hilltoppers are more than a good team -- they're a dangerous team.
"We're not just happy to be here," said coach Ken McDonald, sounding a warning for Gonzaga, its next opponent. "We want to be dancing as long as we can. Our team believes in itself. I was hoping we weren't picked (by experts) as much as we were picked to win the game because we do play our best basketball when people are doubting us."
Few doubted them this time around, and there's a reason. Actually, there are a couple. Let's start with Illinois. The Illini haven't been the same since losing their best defender and team leader, Chester Frazier, to a hand injury. Frazier didn't play again Thursday night, Illinois suffered its fifth loss in its last eight starts and, yes, there's a correlation.
But then there's Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers are one of the best stories of the NCAA tournament. A lot of people don't know much about them, yet all they did a year ago was make the Round of 16. This year they hope to go deeper, and if you don't believe me then you didn't see the team celebrate after last night's victory.
For that matter, neither did I. And that's precisely my point. They didn't celebrate. If they did anything, it was exhale. Then they shook hands and walked off the court. Call it relieved, call it subdued, I don't care. But their reaction after nearly blowing a game they seemed to have put away speaks to the experience and character of a team that deserves more recognition than it gets.
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| WKU coach Ken McDonald: 'We want to be dancing as long as we can.' (Getty Images) |
And so they did. The Hilltoppers dominated virtually every aspect of this game until hitting the wall late. They outrebounded Illinois. They hit four more 3-pointers. They drew twice as many fouls. And they shared the wealth -- with five guys in double figures, the fifth time this season that has happened. In short, they were deeper, sharper and better than their opponent.
If there was a glitch it was only that late-game collapse and maybe, just maybe, the free-throw shooting. Hey, nobody's perfect, right? But the Hilltoppers better work on their finish if they're going to produce another -- let's not call it an upset -- victory on Saturday.
"We were scared for a minute," said forward Sergio Kerusch. "When you have a lead of about 10 points, and it disappears in two minutes you know you're going to get nervous. And I was nervous."
Lucky for Kerusch, his head coach was not.
"Nervous isn't the word," said McDonald. "I'd say anxious. You want to finish the game the right way. To be honest, I didn't ever think we'd lose the game. We just need to finish a little better."
To be honest, finishing isn't usually a problem for this team. Not this season it isn't. Not only did Western Kentucky win its conference-record seventh league tournament last weekend, it has 16 victories in its last 18 starts, including eight straight, and 22 or more wins for the fourth straight year. That's the first time that has happened in the history of the Sun Belt Conference and the first time it's happened at Western Kentucky in 65 years. As McDonald pointed out to his listeners, "we play a little basketball at WKU, too."
Maybe the NCAA should start paying attention. The message is clear: The Hilltoppers are better than their 12th seed, and if there's an upset here that is it.
