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HOW IT HAPPENED
Tyrone Marshall Jr. faked out a defender and connected on a three from the right wing for the first basket of the night for either team. Jalen Jackson poked away the first steal of the game and found Marshall Jr. in transition, once again hitting from range for his second three of the night to give WKU an early 9-0 lead just over three minutes into the game.
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Babacar Faye grabbed the team's first points in the paint at the 14:41 mark, extending the lead to 11-0 in favor of the Tops. It took the Tigers 6:46 to scratch the scoring column with a pair of free throws to bring the count to 11-2. Julius Thedford tallied his first assist of the night as he fed Jack Edelen in front of the Jackson State bench for WKU's fourth three of the night. WKU led 18-4 with 11:30 left in the first half after forcing the Tigers into five turnovers.
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Faye knocked in a pair of free throws and Braxton Bayless connected on a three to push the WKU lead back to double figures, 23-11, with 9:21 to play in the first. Heading into the under-eight media timeout, WKU forced JSU into their ninth turnover, a shot-clock violation, with the Tops up 28-15 at the 6:59 mark of the first.
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Leeroy Odiahi collected a block and Thedford took the ball in transition, cashing in on the other end and pushing the WKU lead to 15. Thedford fed Jack Edelen in the right corner for another three, his second of the night, to give the Tops a 12-point lead with under-four minutes left until the half. Seven of WKU's 13 field goals were from distance at the 3:27 mark of the first period.Â
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Rebounding his own miss, Faye found Thedford for yet another three to give WKU its largest lead of the game at the time, 40-23, with 2:07 to play in the first. WKU went into the locker room up a dozen, leading 40-28.
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McHenry tipped in a miss for the first Hilltopper basket of the second frame less than a minute into the second half. Bayless connected on his second three of the game off the feed from Jackson to give WKU a 15-point lead at the 18:30 mark of the second. Faye fed Lander for a three on the right wing, pushing WKU over the 50-point mark and giving the Tops a 52-36 lead going into the first media break of the second half.
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Thedford pushed his point total into double figures with a three in front of the Hilltopper bench to push the WKU lead to 22. A JSU triple with 11:51 left in the second cut the Hilltopper lead to 58-39.
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Thedford found Blaise Keita under the basket for the easy two for his first points of the night. Keita followed that up with another bank shot from the post, pushing the WKU lead to 62-39 at the 11-minute mark. A quick 6-0 burst by the Tigers forced WKU into a timeout before Marshall Jr. found McHenry for WKU's 12th three of the night, pushing the Tops' lead out to 20 with less than nine minutes remaining in regulation.
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Jackson became the eighth Hilltopper to scratch the scoring column with a driving floater from the wing. Lander knocked down another triple from beyond the arc to give WKU its largest lead of the game, 72-49, with 5:21 left in the game.Â
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With 1:34 left in the game, Bayless found Thedford for the alley-oop dunk, pushing WKU's lead back to 20, 79-59. The Tigers hit a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left for the final points of the game, and WKU secured the 79-62 victory to improve to three wins on the year.
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NOTABLES
- The Hilltoppers are now 3-0 all-time against the Tigers with all three wins coming inside Diddle Arena. The Tigers' 62 points are the fewest they have scored against the Hilltoppers in the teams' three meetings.
- WKU used the lineup of Bayless, McHenry, Jackson, Faye and Marshall Jr. – the fifth different starting lineup variation the Tops have used so far in 2024-25
- For the second time this season, Lander led WKU in scoring with 15 points off 4-of-5 from distance. He added an assist and a steal in 20 minutes off the bench.
- McHenry scratched double figures for the fourth time this season with 12 points. He had a team-best five steals and added five boards and one assist.
- Jackson led the team in assists, dishing out five of the Tops' 19 total.Â
- Thedford continued to impress going for 12 points including a 2-of-4 mark from three. He added two steals and two assists in 21 minutes of action.
- In the first half, WKU shot the long ball at a .444-percent clip, connecting on 8-of-13 from distance.
- The Tops finished the night with 13 total steals, forcing JSU into 19 turnovers. In the first half alone WKU forced the Tigers into 12 first half turnovers, eight of those being steals.
- As a team, the Hilltoppers connected on 14-of-31 three-point attempts – good for a .452% clip from three.Â
- Last season, WKU shot .450% or better from deep on five occasions – Wednesday night's win marks the second time the Hilltoppers have already done so this season.
QUOTABLE
"I hope that we've gotten better in these last two games, but most importantly, they're two early-season wins against teams that will be pretty solid in their respective leagues," head coach Hank Plona said. "I was happy to see a lot of different guys contribute tonight, get their feet under them and build some confidence. Next Tuesday will be quite a challenge for us and we'll need everyone to be at their absolute best, so it was good that multiple guys got on the floor and got some game minutes and some game success. All in all, good night for our basketball team."
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On maintaining a high level of play, guard Khristian Lander said: "We practice every day super hard no matter what the situation is. We don't keep score or anything during practice, so we have to play hard every possession."
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UP NEXT
Hilltopper Basketball wraps the BBN Invitational next week with a road trip to Kentucky on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Tipoff from Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. is slated for 5:30 p.m. with the game set to be nationally televised on ESPNU.
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Follow the team on social media (@wkubasketball) and visit wkusports.com for the latest news and updates on all things Hilltopper Basketball as the team continues its 2024-25 campaign.
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