FEATURE: PLAYER-DRIVEN

There's always a phrase that WKU Basketball head coach Rick Stansbury writes on the team's whiteboard in the locker room before tip-off.

It has nothing to do with X's and O's, nor is it scheme-related. Something like "Stay Together, Play Together" or "No Regrets" – a final rallying cry or extra motivation for the Hilltoppers to take with them onto the court for that game.

But Stansbury wasn't there on this Saturday afternoon in Murfreesboro. He was forced to step away from the team as a part of a health precaution and associate head coach Phil Cunningham was appointed man in charge as WKU was set to take on Middle Tennessee for the first of back-to-back games that weekend.

This time it was Cunningham whose handwriting would appear on the whiteboard to get the Hilltoppers' minds right. He picked up the marker, spelled out "PLAYER-DRIVEN," said a brief message to the team and they took the court.

It was after WKU Basketball had just lost to Louisiana Tech in the second game of the back-to-back series against the Bulldogs on Saturday, January 9.

Following a team meeting, the coaches left the locker room and only the players were left to talk amongst each other.

"Taveion [Hollingsworth] first spoke to the team and was like: 'Look guys, we can't keep splitting these games if we want to win this league and go to the NCAA Tournament,'" junior center Charles Bassey recalled. "A couple other players said some stuff and everybody started talking ... I just feel like it's on all of us. Everybody plays as a team so it's on all of us to take some responsibility for it."

Despite completing one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation with a 7-2 record, WKU began Conference USA play with a 2-2 mark that included splits with LA Tech and Charlotte, in which the Hilltoppers won the first game and lost the second. Tough series against rivals Marshall and Middle Tennessee in the next two weeks loomed ahead.

Before the coaches left the team meeting, Stansbury planted an idea for the players to stew on while they talked amongst themselves: Player-Driven.

"The main things about Player-Driven are being self-motivated, self-driven and led from within," senior forward Carson Williams explained. "We have to be able to get ourselves going regardless of what circumstances we're in, whether it's the second game in less than 24 hours to a team we just beat. Those back-to-back games are a challenge and you've seen that from the score differentials all across the country."

Instead of having games on Thursday and Saturday against different teams like normal seasons, C-USA schedule games in 2021 are typically on Friday and Saturday – with less than 24 hours in-between the final buzzer of game one and the tip-off for game two. Of course both teams have to deal with it, but more often than not it's going to be the team with the higher mental acuity that wins that second game.

"I just feel like Player-Driven is taking the responsibility. Just going out there and doing what you can to win games," Bassey said. "It doesn't matter how tired you are – it's all mental. Your body is going to get tired and your mind just has to stay focused with it, and we have to continue that mentality until the end of the season."

Not only was Stansbury talking about a mental edge that being Player-Driven could provide, but also a vocal one. With C-USA cracking down very heavily on coaches not pulling down their masks during the game, it was difficult for those from the bench to relay play calls and other information to those on the court during game action.

And more than the players may have originally realized, even though you may not be able to hear in a loud arena, lip-reading is just as crucial as hearing when it comes to receiving calls from the bench. So what used to be one coach yelling out the play to all five players has turned into one or a couple of the players relaying the information to the others.

"Because of [the coaches'] lack of ability to communicate, it's put more emphasis on what you want your players doing anyway," Stansbury said. "We've had to take our level of focus to another level, trying to get our guys to understand that without us coaches being able to communicate as well, it's just that much more important.

"We need to keep working on it, but it's very obvious it's better than it was. The players have taken more ownership than we were earlier in the year. We have gotten better at it, no question, and the more we can do it the better we'll get at it."

In the team's first practice after the LA Tech loss, it was immediately clear that the team had taken Player-Driven in stride. More direction, more talking, more communication echoed through the practice gym.

"The leaders of the team were starting to orchestrate the team, basically being the coaches on the floor, in a sense," senior guard Kenny Cooper said. "We have a bunch of older guys who know what it takes to win. We have two four-year guys in Josh [Anderson] and Tay, and they understand what Coach [Stansbury] wants. And even our younger guys were just being more energetic."

The next game on the Hilltoppers' schedule was Marshall – who, along with WKU, was expected to compete for the East Division title.

WKU clinched an 81-73 victory on Friday, January 15 in Diddle Arena, then had to travel up to Huntington for another matchup with the Thundering Herd on Sunday, January 17. Although the Hilltoppers trailed 35-27 at halftime, they came back to edge Marshall by a score of 69-67 and clinch the weekend sweep.

With a two-game win streak in tow, WKU's next opponent would be Middle Tennessee for games on back-to-back days on the road.

On the morning of Saturday, January 23, Stansbury woke up with a fever. Although he and the entire Hilltoppers' players and coaches had tested negative for COVID-19 three times throughout the week, he traveled back to Bowling Green out of an abundance of caution. Assistant coach Hennssy Auriantal and strength coach Duane Hall were also taken off the trip.

It was Cunningham who assumed the interim head coach role, and he had the full confidence of the players and coaching staff to be able to step into Stansbury's shoes and get the job done.

Other WKU coaches had to step up as well, with assistant coach Marcus Grant providing the scouting report for the Blue Raiders and associate director of operations Martin Cross helping Cunningham set up the offensive game plan – that normally Stansbury would choreograph. Director of operations Talvis Franklin also took on more responsibility for in-game coaching.

"Top to bottom, everybody stepped up. Coach [Cunningham] was thrown into a position to be head coach and a lot of our coaches moved up the food chain a little bit and they handled that situation very, very well," Cooper said. "A change of head coach or coaching style could definitely throw you off rhythm, but they did a great job of staying on the same page with the game plan."

To keep in that rhythm, Cunningham's main focus leading up to game time was to make sure everything stayed the same from a routine standpoint. When it was time to address the team before tip-off, he picked up that marker, wrote "PLAYER-DRIVEN" on the board, and told the team what it was going to take to come out with a win over the Blue Raiders.

"It allowed me to explain to them that Coach [Stansbury] has been harping on this for the past few weeks and now we were really in a situation where we needed this to come to full fruition," he said.

Over the next two games, WKU led for 71 out of a possible 80 minutes, sweeping MTSU with victories by the scores of 82-67 and 68-52. On Friday, the Hilltoppers shot a season-best 51% from the field, while on Saturday they put up their best defensive performance of the season with only 52 points allowed.

Cunningham was proud of how Player-Driven the team was that weekend, and pointed out two voices specifically who he thought made a big difference.

"Taveion was vocal for sure, I heard him just continuously tell the guys: 'We're not letting them back in it, we're not letting them back in it,'" Cunningham said. "When one of your best players is verbalizing those words, it really makes a difference."

He continued, "A guy who doesn't really get a lot of credit for being vocal is Charles ... I've been around enough to know, when the guy who's producing the way he's producing – when the other guys hear his voice, it's just human nature that they're going to follow him."

Stansbury, Auriantal and Hall returned to the team early the following week when they all continued to test negative for COVID-19.

But just as the Hilltoppers were ready to keep the momentum rolling into a home series against Old Dominion, the Monarchs announced that their program – which was already on pause – would not be ready to play in Bowling Green that weekend. The series was postponed.

Stansbury decided to give the players the weekend off before WKU's next games on February 5 and 6 at Florida Atlantic. Although it will be 11 days in-between games for the Hilltoppers, the team is confident they will be able to get back in the swing of things with a hard-working week of practice.

"We took a breath from this hectic season, but we're also staying ready, staying in shape and going hard in practice," Cooper said. "I think we've done a good job of just keeping that same mindset, even though we're physically off, mentally we're still engaged and locked in."

Bassey added, "The first two days of practice this week were pretty intense because we got two days off and had to get our lungs back. Going into our next game, as the game progresses we're going to be OK. We need to execute as a team and just get both wins and come back home."

Heading into the team's next two games against the Owls, WKU stands at 13-4 overall with an East Division-leading 6-2 record in league play. The Hilltoppers know that for the rest of the season, the team will need to continuously strengthen their mental fortitude in order to reach their goals of a C-USA Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.

But if the past few weeks are any indicator, they believe they're headed in the right direction with their Player-Driven mentality.

"You know how coaches are – we always convince ourselves that we're going to find an edge," Cunningham said. "But I really believe that last week was a breakthrough for us."

Players Mentioned

Charles Bassey

Kenny Cooper

Carson Williams

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