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The Hilltoppers enter Sunday's non-conference finale coming off a 91-71 win over Kentucky Wesleyan on Dec. 21 to earn a sixth straight victory. WKU fell short in a tightly contested home opener facing Wichita State on Nov. 4, then again off a last-second buzzer beater on the road at Grand Canyon on Nov. 9 to open the year before rattling off wins in nine of the team's last 10 outings. The Tops' current six-game winning streak dates back over a month, with the team's only other loss coming at the hands of No. 8 Kentucky on the road in Lexington on Nov. 26.
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Senior guard Don McHenry once again led the Hilltoppers' scoring effort in Saturday's win over KWC, charting 29 points to mark a third consecutive game the Milwaukee native has scored 28 or more points. The 29-point performance tied a season high for McHenry and was one-point shy of the guard's career high of 30 points. McHenry also collected a team-best four steals with three rebounds, a pair of blocks and an assist to help the Tops improve to 9-3 on the season with an 8-1 record at home.
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Braxton Bayless finished with a season-high 18 points off 7-for-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 shooting clip from range in the win over KWC. The graduate transfer from Niagara also added five rebounds, three assists and a steal. Tyrone Marshall Jr. notched a team-high seven rebounds and finished with 13 points, and Jalen Jackson led the Tops in assists with a total of five.
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Freshman guard Julius Thedford rounded out the Tops to score in double figures on Saturday, charting 17 points along with six rebounds, two assists and a block. Thedford also finished with 15 points off a 4-for-8 (.500%) shooting clip from the field with seven boards and three assists in an 86-73 win over Seattle on Dec. 17. The native of Memphis earned CUSA Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season following the effort in the team's pair of victories over the week.
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GAME INFO
WKU (9-3, 0-0 CUSA) vs. Michigan (9-3, 2-0 B1G)
Sunday, Dec. 29 | 7 p.m. CT
Crisler Center | Ann Arbor, Mich.
Watch: Big Ten Network (James Ross Jr. & Austin Johnson)
Listen: Hilltopper Sports Radio Network | 100.7-FM (WKLX)/Varsity Network (Randy Lee & Hal Schmitt)
Live Stats:Â StatBroadcast
Tickets: WKUTickets.com | SeatGeek | 1-800-5-BIG RED
Game notes:Â WKUÂ |Â MICH
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ABOUT THE TOPS
- WKU touts the top-scoring offense in CUSA with an average of 82.0 points per game, good for 54th in the nation
- WKU ranks sixth in the nation for defensive rebounding with 30.17 per game
- WKU charts second in CUSA and 37th in the nation for FG% defense, limiting opponents to just .391% shooting from the fieldÂ
- The Tops rank second in CUSA and 48th in the nation in steals with 9.00 per contest
- WKU currently ranks 11th in the nation in adjusted tempo with an average of 73.5 possessions per 40 minutes
- WKU currently charts second in CUSA with 13.83 fastbreak points per game, good for 69th most in the nation
- Don McHenry leads the Hilltoppers and ranks fourth in CUSA for scoring with 18.5 points per contest; McHenry also touts the ninth-best field-goal percentage in CUSA (min 50 FG) with a .449% mark
- McHenry's 25 steals (2.1/G) are good for fourth most in CUSA and 57th most in the nation
- Tyrone Marshall Jr. leads WKU and charts third in the league for defensive rebounding with 72 (6.0/G) on the year, good for 51st most in the nation
- Marshall Jr. leads the Hilltoppers and ranks 14th in CUSA in blocks with a total of nine on the year
- Freshman Julius Thedford is currently the team's third-leading scorer averaging 11.8 points per game and leads the team in three-point percentage (min 15 attempts) with a .423% clip from range
- Jalen Jackson leads the team and charts 14th in CUSA in assists with 28 (2.3/G) on the year
- Babacar Faye currently charts as the team's second-leading scorer and leads the Tops in rebounding, averaging 15.2 points and 7.8 boards per contest; the senior big ranks fifth in CUSA in rebounding and eighth in scoring
- Faye holds the conference's sixth-best free-throw percentage at .804% (45-of-56) off the seventh-most attempts in the leagueÂ
SERIES INFORMATION
WKU holds a 2-3 all-time record against Michigan in a series dating back to 1966. Three of the Hilltoppers' five meetings against the Wolverines have been played in neutral settings with the Tops leading 2-1 all-time. WKU has secured wins in each of its previous two matchups facing Michigan, including a 73-69 win at the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 24, 2008, in Anchorage, Alaska, and an 82-76 overtime victory in the 1995 NCAA Tournament First Round on March 16, 1995, in Dayton, Ohio. The No. 8-seeded Hilltoppers defeated the No. 9-seeded Wolverines to advance to the NCAA Round of 32 before falling to top-seeded Kansas, 75-70. The first-ever meeting between the programs came in the 1966 NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinals on March 11, 1966, in Iowa City, Iowa, with the Tops falling to the Wolverines by one point, 80-79.
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SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
- Michigan enters Sunday's game standing at 9-3 and coming off an 89-58 win over Purdue Fort Wayne to snap a two-game skid
- The Wolverines' three losses have been by a combined total of just five points while the team has won its games with a +14.8 margin of victoryÂ
- Michigan currently touts a .511% clip shooting from the field with five players charting .500% from the field or betterÂ
- Out of 360 made FG this season, Michigan has connected on 102 three-pointers
- Vladislav Goldin has posted six straight double-figure games, including three of 20+, for an average of 19.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks; the graduate big from Russia currently averages a team-high 13.7 points off a .667% shooting clip from the field with 6.0 rebounds per outing for the season
- Junior forward Danny Wolf currently averages a double-double for the Wolverines with 11.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per contestÂ
- Michigan has utilized the lineup of Goldin, Wolf, Roddy Gayle Jr., Tre Donaldson and Nimari Burnett for all 12 games this season, with Goldin, Wolf, Gayle Jr. and Donaldson all averaging double figures scoring and Burnett averaging 9.0 points per gameÂ
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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