2021-03-05 Old Dominion @ Western Kentucky

conference usa basketball here tonight in bowling green kentucky and a big one at the top of the east division as the regular season winds down the monarchs of old dominion and the hilltoppers of western kentucky take a look at the standings here in the east with two games left these two teams will play back-to-backs tonight and tomorrow night here in bowling green western kentucky ten and two in the conference old dominion one game back at 10 and four with a win tonight the hilltoppers can wrap up the east division [Music] everybody glad you're along with us brent stover alongside tim doyle and our cbs sports college basketball insider john rosting this obviously is a big one as we get into march and wind down the regular season tim before next week's conference usa tournament western kentucky really has no margin or error and right now with a 79 net i think they have to get to the finals of the conference usa conference tournament as for old dominion jeff jones they got a style of play they want to muddy it up they want to be physical i expect a low scoring game tonight john you got some breaking news for us i do tim and good news for the hilltoppers western kentucky going to get back both luke frampton and josh anderson tonight they've been out the last couple of games due to undisclosed reasons luke frampton one of the best shooters in conference usa a big boost for rick stansberry's club no doubt about it john good point there to get those two guys back now for old dominion the leading scorer at 14.6 points per game tim is malik curry the 6-1 senior can do a little bit of everything and he is dynamic especially in the open four chord he leads this team in scoring he's averaging nearly four assists the game and you're going to see him end of the shot clock it's going to be malik curry having the ball making decisions for old dominion last out they swept middle tennessee held middle tennessee 61 points and then 60 points defense is their motto for odu and then on the flip side there's two types of people in this world brent stover those that like charles bassey and those that love charles bassey i happen to love charles bassey why because he's a double double machine leads college basketball and dunks blocking shots and now stepping out and burying threes shooting over 32 percent from deep this is a guy who's really expanded his offensive game and when you talk about first round picks in next year's nba draft rick stansberry has one of them no doubt about it 18 points 12 rebounds per game on the wooden late season top 20 list and the 611 junior from nigeria has been phenomenal fifth season for rick stansberry here in western kentucky with 99 wins at this spot 392 overall you talked about curry tim green oliver reese and ezek pay for old dominion and for the hilltoppers it's raw hollingsworth mcknight carson williams and charles bassey jones 8th year head coach of the monarchs 167 and 92 is his record overall 524 career wins for jeff jones set to do it here at ea arena in bowling green final weekend of the regular season back-to-back nights these two teams will play tomorrow night will be senior night for the hilltoppers but an opportunity to wrap up the east division of conference usa with a win tonight with the win plus a north texas loss tonight they would wrap up the entire conference uh john what's the realistic opportunity for western kentucky to get an at-large bid right now a 79 net yeah tim i mean i think we look at the net and we dissect the net and i think the net has a lot of flaws when you look at it right now as a tool not that the rpi that preceded it didn't have flaws but i look at the three things i think that are most important who did you play where'd you play them did you win and western kentucky has a big chip to play with they have a win at alabama who's going to be a top eight seed in the ncaa tournament i look at western kentucky right now as long as they don't collapse this weekend in the conference usa tournament they will be in the ncaa tournament regardless of what happens next week in the c-u-s-a tournament good start here as tayden hollingsworth takes it to the rim gets a three-point play it's a three-nothing start and old dominion has it for the first time yeah for old dominion they want to make this game played in the 60s and both these teams do not shoot the three well brent west of kentucky makes just over six a game old dominion dead last in conference usa a three at the other end and jordan rawls with the big shot it's a six-nothing start for western kentucky the sophomore from chattanooga tennessee at eight points per game jordan rawls yeah when you talk to rick stansberry it's simple make shots when his team makes outside shots they can compete with anybody they went down to houston and lost to the cougars but that game was 39-38 at half they just couldn't make a shot in that game only four of 17 from three tough shot in here off the window by zikpay from lawrenceville georgia 6-8 junior 11 points seven rebounds per game he's got 29 blocks on the year and the opening points for the monarchs exec pays gonna have his hands full today trying to keep up with the all-american charles bassey john do you think he gets any love as far as all-american first or second team you know tim i did my all american teams today i did not have charles bassey on one of the top three teams i think the one thing that's hurting charles is you know obviously the level of competition that he's going against on a nightly basis even though the numbers are staggering and there's so many other quality big men this year evan mobley hunter dickinson drew timmy obviously luca garza and he can't forget about people like kofi coburn either here's hollingsworth swinging around for davion mcknight 6-2 start for the hilltoppers rawl is going to feed the post here's passy on a face up jump shot is down and when you add that to his game john that's a nice piece yeah there's only one thing you can do at that point brent pray 8-2 start passing with a bucket coming off a 22-15 performance and a win monday afternoon over fiu 15-foot jumper at the other end left it short rebound to carson williams [Music] on the baseline draws the double the runner in the lane is too strong and here comes otu down by six [Music] lefty three just right of the circle and he drills it old dominion with a three and it's eight to five good to see malik curry get going in his last seven games just one of 13 from downtown but starts one of one tonight hollingsworth such a good mid-range game for him and that rawls rawls turn it over at the end of the shot clock odu on the move and that'll be an offensive foul on malik curry [Applause] tim what do you see early on well i think when western kentucky plays inside out it's just going to make open looks become more open when you play through bassey i think every time down he needs to have a touch and he saw the mid-range jumper brat he did not have that in his bag his freshman year oh you know i've said this before guys all season long i think if you took charles bassey out of conference usa and put him on any of the 10 teams in the big 12. he's the best big man in that conference i would take charles bassey ahead of derek culver amazing that was the first thing i was going to push back on was was colburn the kind of fantastic year that he's had yeah and i was ready for that pushback i've worked with you enough too much four minutes in jump shot won't paul pass he clears it for western kentucky you know what's amazing is he talked to john and i after one of the games where he had a monster performance and he compared his game to len bias i mean that is as old school as it gets obviously the former maryland terrapin you know never materialized at the professional level lost his life too young but watch the athleticism here going up high the catch to finish we've seen the mid-range jump shot brent we've seen it all so far in the start for western kentucky i love it so it's fun to watch massey play you know for me tim hollingsworth is well is a fun guy to watch you know there's a lot of guys that are good off the bounce and then get to the rim he's good off the bounce and then he's able to have not just uh you know good play at the rim but his mid-range game is outstanding as well tim he's done an outstanding job throughout his career getting to the free throw line right now number one all time in western kentucky in minutes played he's had some monster efforts and honestly he's been wildly consistent throughout his career he had a monster game last year 43 points against louisiana tech john is it just amazing when you start for four years it feels like you're in college for like 100 years no there's no doubt about it tim and you know we're seeing more and more that the teams this year that have been the most successful in college basketball are the teams that are the most experienced so we've seen so much i think made about obviously who added what player in the off season whether it was a transfer whether it was picking up a key freshman the most important thing in college basketball today is player retention you're seeing that with teams this season obviously like baylor and gonzaga and you also have to attribute what michigan has jawan howard has a lot of big pieces back headlined by eli brooks bronze wagner and obviously isaiah livers so in terms of what's at stake and we talked about this right off the top that tim asked you john west kentucky opportunity to clinch a one seed in the east here and the best record in conference usa overall big pictures for the big dance it is a one bid league they did schedule houston late in the season it was last week actually had a one point lead early in the second half ended up losing by double digits but for western kentucky and in our visit with rick stansberry this week you can sense the disappointment where he continues to feel like this conference yeah i mean conference usa is a difficult league to navigate obviously we have seen teams have success in the ncaa tournament out of this league remember guys it was just six years ago that jared has in uab won a game against fred hoiberg in iowa state marshall beat wichita state a couple years ago in the ncaa tournament and i can tell you this if western kentucky is in the bracket this is the double-digit seed that nobody wants to see on selection sunday because you have a guy again in charles batsey that could be on any one of the teams in the big 12 and be the best big man in the conference mcknight with a score at the other end otu paul down seven five minutes in from bowling green yeah what's interesting i'm already targeting a conference once march madness rolls around and that is the big east uh colin gillespie injured you got some turmoil right now in omaha and i've watched that conference up and down this year like if a big east team gets matched up with western kentucky in the first round oh i love the hilltoppers be incredible foul underneath and free throws coming up here is that one picked up by aj oliver the second a red shirt junior from birmingham [Music] carson williams one of those guys obviously who you know just regardless of what game he played regardless of what level he played at whether it was high school college summer league you know the guy's going to be a producer first one rattles in for williams from owenton kentucky 7.6 points five rebounds a game 38 from downtown 64 at the stripe last year he really had a massive spike in production with no charles bassey averaged over 14 points a game and then early on it was trying to fit like a round peg in a square hole as they say like he just didn't mesh with bassey they've played better together but sometimes they're actually in each other's way [Applause] otu able to knock down a jumper there and it's 13-7 for old dominion they obviously feel like they could make a run a bunch of teams next week and frisco and an opportunity someone's getting that automatic bid and it's certainly not a forecan conclusion for western kentucky though they've been the bell cow this season they've won eight straight inside the conference but we discussed it john they really played well against west virginia lost the game torment this is a huge win obviously over alabama as well well and another thing bran that we need to obviously remind everybody is that you know the missouri valley conference is having a very good year but the team that was picked to win the missouri valley conference was northern iowa and northern iowa had a guy who was a dark horse candidate to be an all-american in aj greene western kentucky beat northern iowa with aj green in the lineup in a game where the panthers made 20 three-point shots so when you take all this into account the road win at alabama the neutral court win over memphis losing to west virginia by six this is a team that again looks the part of being an ncaa tournament team bassey knocks it in 15-7 and tim you love louisiana tech in this conference eric concoll came to bowling green and he gave west to kentucky all he could handle not once but twice beat the hilltoppers in bowling green and i just think he's got a team that's really balanced extremely physical and for rick stansberry it seems to be a recurring theme outstanding regular season cannot get over that home in the conference tournament john i know that you have uh a lot of money in the bank okay i'm gonna put you on the spot here okay western kentucky gets to conference usa tournament final loses a close game are they in yes that was easy yeah we have to trade venmo's via tax right after that i don't know how to use venmo come on john it's 2021 for crying out loud i know but i just found out what netflix was in 2019 well we want to remind you that you can turn off the comments at the bottom of the screen by swiping right on your mobile device well i'll say this for john the one silver lining of what's been a very difficult year is that especially last march he was sort of forced to go back and watch all the movies that he's seen 20 times but hadn't seen for the last 20 years he finally watched sopranos as western kentucky gets a bucket inside finally two decades after the show tim uh john finally watched sopranos for the first time two episodes a night and what a two hours it was to look forward to every night there were some brownies and other baked goods in the mix too tough shot underneath and rounding out rebound by west kentucky's josh anderson you mentioned back in there undisclosed reasons he and luke frampton have not been in the lineup in recent games anderson in their senior from baton rouge and again he'll be one of the seniors recognized tomorrow night on senior night in the second matchup between these two is see malik curry going strong but unable to finish josh anderson remember another player top hundred prospect out of high school had high major interest lsu nc state opted to go to western kentucky a lot of very highly touted players on this team along with the ball right now tavion hollingsworth was a huge huge part of this team's run in the postseason nit a couple of years ago hollingsworth from lexington kentucky coming up a 20-7 game scoop shot down for the hilltoppers it's 19-8 there's davion mcknight mcknight's going to be an outstanding player in this conference as a freshman he's only averaging five and a half points a game but it's hard to get touches with holland thrift and bassey but four rebounds four assists he does a little bit of everything and when those guys depart which we expect them to depart after the season this is really going to become his team save your green and a kicked ball it'll stay with otu yeah see once in a while you got to know a little english watch this here the sweet spin that would be h if they had a brent stover out there and we were playing horse okay you throw a little spin on it from the other side that would be h [Music] tim is this uh your first game with john ross team this year you know it's actually like the 11th but i'm not counting that three is good odu you know john and i have the opportunity to work with youtube it's a dream come true first opportunity for the three of us to call it a game together ever i'm glad somebody's excited about it and a big game at the top of the east division josh anderson rattles out cleared that time by xavier green from williamsburg virginia the one thing uh john really pointed out is when bassey checks out of the game and this exactly what od you did did they got the ball down low you gotta you got a target when bassey gets out of the game get aggressive driving to the rim pounding the ball down low we come back right we're gonna have free throws for the monarchs the zigpay will be at the line 11 58 first half 1911 western kentucky red still over tim doyle our cbs sports college basketball insider john rosting let's go last four in first four out and this is what we have according to jerry paul the most recent and there you go tim what do you think i'm happy i'm happy about it yeah no doubt about it uh vcu in uh syracuse out uh all these teams still have multiple opportunities i'll say this seton hall gets in john nobody wants to see them just ask creighton just ask villanova to give those two teams excellent games this year you think at the end of the day the pirates get in you know it's gonna depend on what happens tomorrow against st john's and also in the big east term but i'll tell you this much guys i am looking right now on the last four in vcu drake and st louis will all play saturday on cbs sports network if any of those three lose in their semi-final game of their conference tournament it is going to be a very long eight days until selection sunday but i've got some other insight and information to share which i think is important because of these conference tournaments now being scheduled a week ahead of selection sunday i have learned through multiple sources in the past week that there is a strong chance that some of these non-power conference teams who could be on the bubble could look to add non-conference games this week if they are knocked out of their respective conference tournaments before selection sunday i love that don't you tim more college basketball i love it but it's almost like uh you're scrambling to find a prom date you know i didn't plan on this being a therapy session but that did happen to me and you're just like hey you want to go you want to dance and like you just need a game and you try to build your resume i mean it's pretty amazing that this is the climate that we're in and it's not just conference usa teams it's everywhere i mean you see utep playing random games you got north carolina playing random games i you know this is the world to college basketball and the tournament is going to be an amazing opportunity for teams to play in historic arenas like indiana and west lafayette obviously everyone's going to be in the bubble which is the state of indiana an outstanding basketball state but yeah i think just hold tight i've had to seat belt on all year i'm basically the ted striker gift from airplane that's what i've watched the whole college basketball season just hang on so you just compared scheduling during this season of college basketball to try to find a prom date john's been calling it wilder than a goat rodeo all season long that one stuck with you huh yeah absolutely you know john i was gonna go have you ever been to a goat rodeo no i didn't know they existed until i googled it when all the scheduling thing was happening truth be told brent is your dad watching this game no question about it never misses a tim doyle telecom nice caught anderson good health anderson you bet changed the shot underneath odu on the move down six to the rim whistle and a foul and they're going to count the bucket jeff jones obviously you know somebody guys who's obviously always excelling at getting opportunities to do things special you can see obviously the attack and the drive but jeff jones anytime you can take multiple programs to the ncaa tournament you know you're doing something right jeff jones obviously did a great job led virginia to a one seed in the 1995 ncaa tournament and in 2009 at american had a lead against villanova in philadelphia in the round of 64. that was obviously preceding the cats run to their first final four under jay wright but just a great coach that's done that multiple places and more defense creating offense brent outstanding job so first it was xavier green and now jalen hunter sophomore from manchester connecticut and it's a 1917 game here at the 11-10 mark yeah you see that run that coincided with charles bassey getting a little bit of a break he's back out there now and he's going to be heading to the free throw line great job by odu recognizing bassey checks out of the game they got to the free throw line xavier green was the one that went wire to wire there for the n1 wasn't able to convert the free throw but excellent job there by hunter he was great last out against middle tennessee 17 points in 27 minutes go along with six assists and four rebounds the 511 sophomore from connecticut you know when i watch bassey shoot i love his form of course he was going to miss that on cue but he's got really nice follow-through keeps it nice and high rotation is good that means there's potential there and that's why he's shooting 32 from three well you see the skill level the mechanics they're all obviously aligned for charles bassey and we've seen him recalibrate his face up game a lot this year making him more of a multi-dimensional threat certainly without question somebody that can play anywhere in college basketball yeah john and i thought he was more robotic early on as a freshman now last year had the leg injury missed obviously the rest of the season but his agility and mobility have improved tenfold and that's going to be important at the next level because robots can't guard in the nba and that's what everyone's worried about with luca garza at the next level and he is going to have a massive issue bassey his athleticism is supremely advanced in his freshman year now for josh anderson [Music] and i think guys as we continue to forecast for the ncaa tournament which is what we're looking at even though it's just nine days until selection sunday again not that anybody's counting i think that you know one thing we need to look at is you look at the personnel right now on the floor for western kentucky charles bassey you know as an all-conference player in any conference luke frampton is a high major shooter tavion hollingsworth and josh anderson are high major caliber perimeter players at certain programs they are not going to be intimidated looking anybody in the eye in this game that they're potentially going to have in the round of 64. look at anderson here on the break you know he's always an attack mode i mean he jumped from like the free-throw line there and is able to get the foul i was just still worried about looking people in the eye who have you ever looked in the eye that made you nervous gene katy former kansas state legend absolutely because he was a track guy at kansas state like i was he also played baseball he lettered in three sports and um and that's right when i met gene katy for the first time it was at another network that i worked for and i was nervous meeting he's a legend not just in kansas state circles but obviously obviously purdue and college basketball for me was probably his uh one-time rival bob knight but bob knight i think he warms up and keeps you on your toes pretty quickly no question yeah i was remember i was uh with coach knight once at the carnegie deli with uh the late great howard garfinkel and seton hall had won a game against usc there was just a lot of silence at the table i was like yeah i can't believe seton hall won that game with seven players on scholarship and coach knight just kind of looked at me and said you are aware they only play with five [Laughter] 24 to 19 western kentucky matter of fact i think the first time i met tim doyle was uh when i was with howard garfinkel at the brooklyn old timers dinner and uh i proceeded to rattle off some of tim's accomplishments from his decorated career at st john's in northwestern you know i didn't have a cell phone at the time that's an amazing thing that was two thousand in three and i did not go into why on the air i i did not get my first cell phone until fall of that year when i went to northwestern after i transferred so i had actually write john's phone number down on a napkin that's yeah people used to do that and two days later i had to change it luke frampton knocks it in good to see brampton back in there he's made a hundred threes brent two years you know a couple years ago at davidson 100 threes in the season amazing he's at 42 from outside this year spinning a score for old dominion they're hanging around here yeah yep you know going going back to the valley and john this was something you were on the front end of about an hour or an hour and a half ago but drake obviously it's disappointing northern iowa was pre-season favorite in the missouri valley and unable after winning the opening round last night to play in the quarterfinals because of a covet issue we assume and so drake an opportunity to get through to the semifinals without playing here now you stay fresh but you're also going through a situation if you're darren devries that you're going to play a team who may be a little bit more tired but you've had obviously an opportunity now where you didn't play before your opponent so are you going to be fresher or are you going to be a team that's a little rusty another thing as we continue to look big picture brent which we'll do all day tomorrow on cbs sports network is i think we have to look at this because drake didn't have an opportunity to play and get picked off tonight it is a situation where drake could have gotten knocked off the bubble it didn't get knocked off the bubble so bubble teams everywhere regardless of who wins tonight between valpo and missouri state will be rooting against drake tomorrow i think if you look at the scenario right now if drake doesn't at least make the finals they're going to be sweating until selection sunday and even if obviously they lose in the finals it's going to be a tough out also i want to point out too that darren devries told me a couple of days ago that tank hemkill sean their leading scorer and rebounder still not ready to play this season excuse me this weekend in arch madness so this team again lost the starting point guard and roman pen the siena transfer also not going to have hemphill this weekend classy underneath scores and it's a six point lead for the hilltoppers talk to the valley too well obviously loyal of chicago they have guys that were there on the team three years ago you know lucas williamson second team all missouri valley conference and then you got the stash of the valley cameron crutwick who in my eyes the best player he's so balanced but it comes back to a point with those two guys experience the one common theme that we've seen from i don't care if you're in the conference usa all the way up to kentucky or duke or north carolina experience if you got experienced guys you've got a major advantage because we've never seen stuff like this before and that's why kentucky has struggled so poorly this year it's just young guys not used to this and you know not having that pick-me-up not seeing your family and older guys have kind of been through the wars before i give massive edge to experience more so this year brent than any other year but i believe loyola is a final four team this year [Applause] all right time to play blind tournament resume with a break in the action here and a six-point lead uh john you see the four resumes there all right left to right yup this is our poll on facebook tennessee is one okay duke is two okay utah state is three wow and four i'm going to say is western kentucky do we want to give tim a crack at it or are we going to reveal this we're going to leave him on the pole so i want to make sure i have it right tennessee then duke tennessee duke and utah state yeah then western kentucky yeah i would put tennessee in having those five quad one wins for sure just one uh i would take tennessee and western right now in despite the 79 net because they had the alabama win i think utah state for me would be obviously ahead of duke well it's interesting to me and tim i want you to weigh in i'll start with john on this and it's the fact that a team like utah state has been phenomenal for most of the season but some losses here down the stretch and so it's so easy to come at this from a wide view and say wow what's wrong with utah state what do you mean what's wrong with you you're playing conference games against teams that know you inside and out it doesn't mean that you're just going to roll the ball out there even though you've had a great season and win every game on your score absolutely and let's go in right now and talk about how important the overall body of work is and how every game matters we argue with this with our buddy wally zerviak all the time who sometimes let's just say doesn't want to hear what the facts are in terms of the selection committee vcu okay played utah state early in the season in the battle for atlantis tournament which was moved to the dakotas obviously to the sioux falls pentagon in south dakota vcu won that game on a neutral court vcu is one of the last four in now and utah state's on the other side of the bubble had utah state won that game we might be seeing a different tune right now for the aggies but to me craig smith's team is the team to watch at the mountain west tournament they've won it the last couple of years he's obviously done a great job at utah state i believe they're 71 and 22 with him as the head coach amazing he gets free and throws it down eight point lead massey putting up huge numbers again tonight you know what he does brent does he carves out space he does a great job but before the pass comes like if we can get a replay of that i would love that because he gets such outstanding position he makes it easy for his teammate to get him to basketball old dominion with the answer 11 points he's 404 from the field eight rebounds already or charles bassey this first possession i've seen of odu going zone this is where you'd want to get a luke frampton out there because he's such a great zone buster oh man here's hollingsworth williams posting his man up and a travel on the hilltoppers yeah watch how bassy carves out this space in the lane watch he's like all right i'm gonna get right to spam he gets right to his spot i mean it's almost a better pass by mcknight and being left-handed he's able to whip it in there great hands you know john i've had a really hard time coming up with a comparison for bassey yeah that's what you can't force it tim you know sometimes obviously it's easy it's seamless it's like i watch the saint john's game and i see julian champagne i think wilson chandler sometimes it just comes to you like you know you can't force these things though i hear what you're saying he's a tough comparison we'll go we'll get one over time though hopefully we see him play for a lot of games here over the next month because this is a team again you know it's interesting they're not just i think a team that's a double-digit seed they're more like a 10 or an 11. at 10 or 11 you don't want as raw's drills the corner three he's having a nice first half and western kentucky back up by seven again they've won the game at alabama just think about what that says yeah and i think alabama is going to be playing for a one or at least a final four opportunity if you go to their home court and win this year more than any other brand eyeball tasks should matter i know metrics and nets and muhammad hamidah sos and stuff but like should be best teams in the tournament and for western kentucky it's hard to schedule no doubt great ball movement great great offense right there tavian hollingsworth from jordan rawls who had just drilled his own three and if you are a defensive minded team like oklahoma like old dominion here you cannot have this transition opportunity rolls back to williams back to rawls hollingsworth for a three western kentucky already with 36 points in 15 minutes the topper is a team you don't want to see in your bracket on selection sunday tim that's that hockey assist we talk about a little tic-tac-toe passing right there yeah and more importantly gotta make the shot you know four threes early for western kentucky they only make six threes a game i'll tell you right now any game that they go out and make nine or ten threes i really find it because of their style play their physicality the way they get to the free throw line maybe with the regard you know maybe the top tier teams but they could beat everybody else in college basketball yeah i guess the top tier teams that can be if you win in alabama so um i just what we would have missed with loyola because if loyola chicago didn't win the missouri valley three years ago they didn't win their conference tournament we would have never heard a sister gene i would have never been blessed by her like my whole life would have been worse if loyola didn't make and win that conference tournament this year that year because they would not have gotten in and that's pretty poor they had wanted florida they were a really good squad but the numbers would not have matched up well the rpi if i'm not mistaken was around 34 which you know to people around the valley they felt like that was good enough three rattles out here straight away long rebound up to old dominion fresh possession down 10. good luck chicago beating the elite eight day ouch tim why would he do that do you remember what they were were they a 10 or 11 that year loyola chicago was an 11. beat miami beat tennessee beat nevada beat kansas state kansas state had beaten kentucky in the sweet 16 one of the more memorable games ever and kansas state alone and you didn't even say anything when they won you kind of just walked with like a fist pump yeah i was trying to act like yeah we've been there we expected to be content but you have seen now in the last 11 years your alma mater twice once with frank martin once with bruce weber come to the door of the final four and be told to be told no no it was butler the last time if i'm not brad it was brad stevens and butler in overtime and they had beaten xavier in the sweet 16. yes great game jordan crawford making those threes clemente denny clemente one of the greats 36-28 here 419 in this first half bad pass deflected away here comes odu aj oliver now numbers i control that time saw it a mile away john could be calling this tim and officiated i mean he lowers the shoulder you can see good position here by frampton clearly an offensive foul you know western kentucky in the right spots at the right time and now let's see what they can get obviously as they're trying to show what they can do offensively on a pace right now for 72 with four minutes to play in the first half good zone offense principles here you can see nobody yet on the high post short corner frampton not even close odu with the ball down eight three fifty and a half face up for his sick now he wheels in the lane and flips it out for a deep three great hustle three players on the net crampton down there and picked up by carson williams here comes western kentucky brawl splitting defenders leaves it off baseline hollingsworth draws the contact and the foul on xavier green mcknight rather on the drive so bassy tim so far tonight uh he's already in double figures and already nearing a double double after 22 and 15 last time out yeah 11 points eight rebounds and this game just started every time i watch him i want to take a page from gladiator are you not entertained because he does a little bit of everything i love when he blocks shots he keeps them in bounds he's got outstanding hands and please chime in on facebook do you have a comparison for charles bassey i thought it was like a clint capela you know pick and roll throw it up at the rim but i think his offense is actually more polished than clint capela he can step out we see mid-range jumpers john we've seen him bang down threes so please chime in on facebook you guys you guys drive this conversation charles bassey do you have a good comparison it's a good question let's get people involved good job tim way to drum it up 36-28 here tim i want to talk about you know we've discussed passing obviously the fact that he's got a lot of help around it with with hollingsworth another senior and carson williams and then mcknight has had a really solid freshman season as well jordan rawls good shooter but let's talk odu for a minute here because they came in 10 and 4 in the conference a game back of western kentucky in the east division obviously odu not as flashy but they've had a really nice season well they're the type of team too that you want to avoid in a conference tournament setting because they can drag you into the mud make it a very difficult game to navigate obviously a very low possession team and you see obviously the graphic right here about what's at stake you know the top two seeds in each division going to receive a buy to the quarterfinals with a sweep pick with the number one seed in the east they go one and one there too a very good chance that these two teams could hook up again before the end of the season and you know think about the dynamic too guys you know they say it's very difficult obviously to beat a good team three times you could be looking at a scenario if you're western kentucky you could have to play old dominion twice here this weekend and then go to the conference usa tournament have to beat him for a third time within the span of a week no and that's something stansberry talks with us on the call this week is no matter who the opponent is we just saw it monday they destroyed fiu on sunday and then really struggled trailed for much of that game actually on monday afternoon before pulling away in the end over fiu yeah life on the back to back this year you know john we've never seen it before but how many random splits did we see we saw army lose by like a million colgate early on in the patriot league and the next game they went out and knocked off colgate like all year long winning back to back has been tough very tough odu has won three straight coming into tonight they've won five in last six western kentucky has won eight straight in the conference four straight conference sweeps which is no small feat only loss in there was the houston last week and again led by one early in the second half against the team that they needed to schedule they got the game just weren't able to convert it into a victory that would have been clearly huge for their resume pull up in transition is rattling out crashing the boards out of bounds to the hilltoppers big stretch right here in the next 2 42. western kentucky can push this to 13 or so with a couple of good possessions but conversely old dominion has an opportunity to really trim this thing a little bit by the half you've got to finish the half strong obviously if you're on the road you've also got to start the second half strong if you're on the road but brent you know you can't walk before you can crawl hunter leads old dominion with six as sick pay has four got balanced scoring they trail by nine two twenty six and a half hollingsworth in rhythm left it short rebound out of bounds it'll stay at this end you know bassey kept that alive just being aggressive and you're forcing almost two bodies on him a lot carson williams get his hand in there keeps his possession alive watch out bassy you got one guy watching he's fighting for it keeps that ball alive keeps the possession alive no stat there but keeps the ball for his squad pass never count they're deflected away out to williams and now rawls they are making the extra passes and converting underneath that is pretty offensive for the hilltoppers now guys for a second like pretend this is back to the future and going to a time machine who other than the top eight seeds do you think would want to see western kentucky remember they beat one of the top eight seas in alabama but other than again you know the four teams from the big ten other than west virginia other than obviously gonzaga and you could throw houston in there as well which team would western kentucky be over-matched against over-matched i have a hard time finding one i did watch the west virginia game earlier in the year now west virginia does have bigs they had two at the time another down to one and culver and their physicality bothered western kentucky and the mo with the hilltoppers is let's pack it in let's force them to make jumpers what have they done in this game today well they've made enough threes they've made four in the first half they just have to make enough to keep the defense honest if they can make eight nine threes they're gonna be a really tough out [Music] that's why frampton could be the key to this team in the ncaa tournament if they can get a three and a half out of frampton it would go a long long way for the hilltoppers well that's why in this game you know uh anderson bang down to three rawls has made two threes now you say tim that's only three threes yeah but when you only make six a game and that's why odu goes zone everyone packs it in when they lost to houston they went four of 17 from three it's just literally every loss this year it's been the same exact theme by the way that foul on aj oliver he's third so he leaves the lineup makai long back in so three for oliver he'll be done for the half 90 seconds 41-28 you mentioned this would be a pivotal final couple of minutes tim uh john actually and and right now odu is down by 13. you see right here a different type of defense by rick stansberry a little bit of a match-up zone we're going to force old dominion try and get some shots by going over the top there's one no good great defense switch your defense right now tweak things a little bit give them a different look this is something mccronin did a lot at cincinnati which he learned from rick pitino and ralph willard it's something obviously rick stansberry does too changing defenses sometimes just to throw your opponent off a little bit carson williams straight away walls off the high screen final 48 seconds of the half 13-point hilltopper advantage terrible possession blocked by long numbers two-on-one odu up top for the dunk turnovers for touchdowns that's what tom izzo calls and rick stanford wants to talk do you do so well for a number of possessions a row and then why would you leave your feet to make that decision abominable tim joe reese able to pay it off for odu at the other end yeah give odu credit they showed a little flash here throw it up to the big fella the 6a junior from st louis he's able to finish i'm always nervous to throw alley oops especially on the road because man it could go so wrong and it can kill all your momentum but john pointed out it's a big stretch here with that bucket it's an opportunity for them to get two for one so you get a stop here and you can potentially cut it to nine or eight and you have not played your best half western kentucky shout out 50 from the field they've banged down a bunch of threes and they're still within striking range so any sort of momentum right now but they've been at their best when they've gotten some offense from their defense otu had missed five straight from the field they've had a couple of droughts in his first half but town 11 here they've shot 41 western kentucky shooting 52 percent including four of 10 from downtown 11 of 16 at the stripe we'll visit with jeff jones head coach of the monarchs coming up at halftime 23 seconds to play in the half hilltoppers ball up by 11. hollingsworth feeds williams the face up and drive draws the double [Music] ten seconds in the half hollingsworth with seven deep three at the end of the shot clock two bad possessions in a row and now uh coming up limping is joel reese the junior you mentioned him from saint louis 5.7 on the clock reese's hobbled a final chance here for otu this is another opportunity again can you find something right now in your special situation package this is what coaches work on all the time jay wright went to a final four in 2009 with a special situation play to beat pitts 78-76 in boston in the elite eight so reece to the bench final five seconds odu with two seconds across the timeline at the buzzer shot short and that's how the half ends with western kentucky up by 11. quick thought on the first half tim uh west of kentucky bang down four threes when they make eight nine threes a game they're gonna be really tough to beat as for old dominion if they need to get more offense from their defense john how about you what's your take well actually we've got jeff jones with us coach uh thank you for joining us down eleven at the break what are you seeing from your team so far we just have to play a lot better we've we've had some looks down here uh you got to be able to put the ball in the basket when you're shooting it from 12 feet and you're wide open uh you know we just have to be more efficient offensively we got to compete better at the defensive end we've got all these fouls because we're we're reaching and slapping and we're not moving our feet and putting our bodies on people uh williams and and bassy are men in there and if if you try to reach and slap all that's going to happen is you're going to get fouls and they're going to get to the free-throw line so you know we just have to become a lot more physical i know that sounds weird you know to say when we got so much foul trouble but if we were more physical and doing more of a job of moving our feet putting bodies in the lane i think that would eliminate some of the actual fouls because the way we're doing it right now is as they're going by us we're just slapping so you know more efficient at the offensive end and we we just got to compete and be a lot tougher physically at the defensive end coach we appreciate the time best of luck second half all right thank you otu head coach jeff jones down by 11 mention the foul trouble three for oliver three for green as well coming up after the break it's mike o'donnell sitting down to western kentucky's carson williams as we are at the half here in bowling green on facebook [Music] 4130 halftime rick stands where a head coach of the hilltoppers joins us now rick your thoughts as you head into the second half what do you need to see from your team here with an 11 point lead well we got to keep doing what we're doing i thought we were pretty good defensively we kept kept those guards out of lane for the most part and got stops and got out in transition and we got to keep scoring transition and you know they played a lot more zone and they're used to playing and we can't let that zone slow us up and we got to keep being effective trying to attack that zone charles bassey he's always the topic how about his game so far well you know he's been he's always really good defensively offensively i'm not sure they've slowed him down a little bit in that zone but he's going to affect the game so many different ways when he's not scoring so they've got to guard him whether we're getting it to him or not he draws a lot of attention coach appreciate it thank you all right look at curry and passy tim these are the two guys we talked about at the open pass he has 11 and nine and for curry he's only got three points on one of three well curry's got to be better here in the second half came into the game averaging nearly 15 points a game averaging nearly four assists he's had a tough time finding any offensive rhythm really the only spark that old dominion showed in that first half is when bassey checked out of the game that's when they went on nine nothing run got back in the game and then rick stansberry went um hey uh number 23 can you check back into the game bassey checks back in and that's when they started opening up their lead again so for old dominion they're gonna have to make some shots here i'm talking about long range bombs five or six in the second half to get back in this game so 41 to 30 game thoughts as we head into the second half in in a league that as we mentioned you know you're talking about the opportunity where it's probably only one bid so you can't look too far ahead so you have to measure success a little bit differently because odu there's a good chance they won't end up in the big dance but when we talked to jeff jones this week it doesn't minimize the fact they've had a really nice season no no doubt about it brenton i think if you look at the second half right now you're trying to build momentum if you're old dominion you've got to be better defensively like jeff jones told us at halftime you know you've got to be in a situation where you can kind of neutralize what western kentucky is doing offensively they are not going to be in a position where they can outscore the hilltoppers whistle and a foul underneath early in the second half first 40 seconds in western kentucky leading by 11 pass has 11 points in that 10 rebounds another double double for him that's 15 on the season eight for hollingsworth seven from ignite for odu green has seven but he also has three fouls oliver playing with three fouls as well they have been a really good team when xavier greene has been on the floor that is a good player in conference usa 6-6 obviously redshirt senior to williamsburg christian academy he's a difference maker for them kentucky ball shot rattles out for williams [Applause] still looking for our first points of this second half once again the flow here in the second half bassey grabbing the rebound in his office you can see he's starting to get the break going there it is carson williams pays it off and it's a 13 point hilltopper advantage from rawls rawls another player again for this level highly recruited could have went to some high major schools wound up picking western kentucky has had pockets of brilliance more consistently curry underneath tough shot fall away the lefty too strong bounced around collected by odu and limping down the floor after scoring that one as reece [Applause] first buck into the second half of the monarchs two minutes in 11 point game tim you feel like odu has not played their best but sort of kind of hanging around you know bang down a couple threes make this a really competitive game bassy volleyball underneath collected by zikpay monarchs town 11 open three chill reese too strong tapped around controlled by jordan rawls williams never got to pass he pans up with it three on two otu lee curry scores great job there by curry using his body lefties do that james harden's famous for it just like giving you a little bit of hip maybe this gets him going a little bit and we got a single digit game curry with five 43-34 rawls out of three spins out cleared by the monarchs now you can feel the momentum starting to swing in this game to the rim again and curry doing work to start this second half for the monarchs that's a bad sign for western kentucky a great sign for jeff jones and his squad showing some fight on the road in conference this usa east division means something to the monarchs it's a 6-0 odu run after falling down by 13 and passing with the answer in his office off the glass he's got 13. and that's the guy you got to feed if you're western kentucky and as you can see there's an adjustment every time he's in the game attacking the rim becomes the priority for western kentucky [Applause] lead back to nine kai long in the game pull up from 17. curry is dealing right now for odu yeah he's got that swagger he's got that strut right now and it's amazing one bucket can get a guy like that going you can tell he's in the zone if i'm jeff jones giving him the ball get him high ball screen feed the horse davion mcknight and now rawls [Applause] yeah odu gotten hands in the passing lane in the opening four and a half minutes of this second half defense creating offense and it's a seven point game after they fell behind by 13. passing has 13 and 10 his 15th double double of the season and uh the three-point shooting has been effective as well jordan rawls leading the way there tim they made two in the first half western kentucky made four as a team now you say four or three is that a lot of threes it is for them they only averaged six a game and when they're able to make threes what does that do well that makes life easier for holland where through strength is really getting to the free-throw line and bassey operating down low rick stansberry he's got a simple model with his squad make shots and when they do they can be really tough as we take a look at my all-american team kate cunningham corey kissberg sumo actually these four guys are locks and guards is a lock now brent am i playing to the audience of course i am throw charles bassey out there yes you know first team all-american why not brent jared butler still plays basketball right just want to make sure they are going to be a one seed in the ncaa tournament you knew there would be pushback tim you know here's the deal that fifth spot john would you agree garza de sumo cunningham kisper locks yeah i think you gotta have jared butler on there tim but that's just my take no that's fine you wanna know something i don't know if they built a fancy graphic for you if they did we could just swap out bassy and put in butler last night's broadcast here's the deal i just think and you said this and and i believe you're telling the truth that if he was in the big 12 you'd be the best big man so we're going to hold it against him that he plays in conference usa um i guess we are as we take a look at our facebook poll somebody asked this great question i can't remember who during the broadcast brent tim you and it was who does charles bass you remind you most and john was very quick to point it out and he's a savvy veteran in this department that this is not something you can force but tim you assets our facebook fans out there gasol 21 horford mcdyson len bias there's the 30 percent you see len bias a little bit before my time yeah i watched the highlights of him really it was the kind of the end of the celtics legacy there because he was drafted right at the end of bird and mikhail's career would have meant a lot to those guys if he was out there you know passed away a few days after draft night and you know michael jordan said he used to look up to len bias who i look up to right now malik curry he's in the zone drills a three from straight away so he's showing a little bit of every thing in his arsenal in the opening five minutes of this second half and it's a four-point game [Applause] [Music] it was at 13 a minute into the second half step out three not this time for passion cleared by long curry feeling it step back got it back to back freeze and he is on fire to start this second half john hold the minion again right back in this basketball game and you can see they are distorting the fluidity that western kentucky had offensively in the second half the defense has picked up 45-44-10 and curry single-handedly doing it for the monarchs right now yeah he is in that zone where offensive foul on bassey so od with a chance to take the lead here and it's been a simple recipe hey jeff jones i'll dm you right now okay give that guy the ball number three get out of his way he's done it all with drive step backs and then burying the three he is entering the zone it's a 14-2 old dominion run curry with 15 on six of nine three for three from downtown [Music] and now an open look from the wing jalen hunter buries it we've got a situation developing guys we've been talking about obviously that large picture this is a game the hilltoppers cannot afford to lose they are officially right now in a situation at home it's a 17-2 run out of bounds that'll stay at this end and old dominion which moments ago was down 43-30 now the two-point edge tim oh check out trice here from behind and that play just ignites a team that right now is on fire you see the run over the last four plus minutes defensively guys are active as well [Applause] able to collect and score and tie the game at 47. and this comes more down to western kentucky they need to stop and if i was rick stansberry i would go double this ball screen get the ball out of curry's hands [Applause] curry has scored 12 straight and then they got the three from jalen hunter and a foul here on the drive as long was spotting up 47-47 and again not a game that western kentucky can afford to lose but they've got these guys back-to-back nights right now jeff jones team riding the hot hand of curry curry turns the corner to the rim couldn't convert that time good defense rebound to bassey this one deflected into the arms of carson williams corner three won't fall rebound hilltoppers and here comes odu fans wanted to call didn't cut it and a turnover at this end into the hands of hollingsworth williams calling for it mcknight looking instead hollingsworth [Applause] have foul underneath you saw that contact coming there tim with carson williams pegging for the basketball in the lane oh you could see it's starting to get a little bit chippy out there rick stansberry's fired up jeff jones has got to be fired up with the way his team has responded odu could have laid down in this game instead they've matched western kentucky's physicality here in the second half and we got a good one on a friday night in bowling green deadlocked at 47 seven minutes into this second half the first of back-to-back games to close out the regular season between these top two teams in the east division of conference usa as josh anderson checks back in for rick stansberry's guys [Applause] drive and kick for hollingsworth [Applause] fall away from 15 rattles out tip try no rebound monarchs [Applause] [Music] xavier green playing with three fouls malik curry has been on five little stop and start to the rim curry scores he's got 17 and it's 49 47 visitors well he's got the right last name and he is cooking right now malik curry no relation maybe a distant cousin but he is cooking with the basketball we're seeing enough right now to see that old dominion could not just be a pass tonight but will be a pest in the conference usa tournament remember the title game will be a week from tomorrow on cbs sports network [Applause] once again his team falls behind and passy with the answer he's got 17. that's the type of dunk that makes your hair stand up brand new that happened for you the first time in eight years [Applause] seven of nine from the view for bassey curry has got 17 of his own on seven of 11. the two stars that we talked about in the open on fire right now and a corner three for the monarchs and they go back in front west of kentucky they need to stop i mean this is just like [Applause] impossible to get the ball out of odu's hands and kind of forward that momentum pass he has the last six for wku shot won't fall from ignite one and done odu the ball on a three-point edge trailed by as many as 13 early in the second half shot blocked inside corral by the monarchs [Applause] defensively twice that time you make a good play on defense reward the big fella on offense top runner short rebound is sick and ahead deflected and stolen by [Applause] hollingsworth draws the pump in the lane as we approach the midpoint of the second half 52-49 tim curry now with 17 on seven of 12. three of three from downtown yeah i talked about him playing with that confidence playing with that swag and this is what got him going remember he threw his hip into him got the bucket and then the tough finish on bassy and then when you make some layups well now all of a sudden you get in your bag and pull up jump shots you're banging down threes did he really ignited his squad to be honest this is what you need to do and we've seen western kentucky turn to bassey time and time again to stop the bleeding malik curry can we call maybe baby chef curry he's been cooking here in the second half 14 second half points brent well john alluded to it next week cbs sports network is the home of the conference usa tournament once again the semifinals starting next friday march 12th at noon eastern and the championship game on saturday march 13th and nine only on the 24-hour home of cbs sports always a fun exciting and a wild tournament this year john should be no different should be no different brent and again you know doing this for as long as i've done it right now well into my second decade approaching a third one before you know it soon enough you know coaches have always told me that the most pressure in coaching that they have felt is being a heavy favorite in a mid major conference tournament a little bit different dynamic for western kentucky but the pressure now that we are going to see over the next week for guys who are going to be number one seeds who've had great regular seasons unlike really anything else we've seen in the sport yeah and i i feel like lower seeds uh meaning you're right a two seed versus an eight or nine brent how would you say is that the lower seed or is it the higher seed i'm never really sure that if you're a two seed are you a high seed or low seat right now our facebook poll question is should the ncaa tournament expand beyond the 68 teams tim i'll give you the first crack we want to pull all of our fans out there but tim what's your thought give me a question one more time should the ncaa tournament expand beyond 68 teams more games yes i mean can we do anything to expand the tournament i mean who doesn't love the tournament i mean i i became a student athlete i was faking illnesses the first couple days of the tournament so i could be home watching the games freddie lyson playing at st john's fran foshilla running up the sidelines like i love those teams i remember those days like more college basketball games i just don't know what what ross team would do john would you sleep do you go to bed at all in march not really just kind of close your eyes here for a couple of minutes while you're standing and just move on to the next day to be honest with you tim it's all a blur and you know what's crazy it's already march 6th too crazy just how fast it goes we're already a weekend tomorrow is the sixth yes hey john but what do you think beyond 68 teams or do you think it's just right right now i think it should go back to 64. to be honest with you i think they would really tighten up the bubble at 64. do not go past 68. i'll tell you guys like rick stansberry didn't want to hear that um you know we're discussing with him it's interesting that only about 20 of division one teams make the ncaa tournament i know um whereas in college football and it's a completely different situation it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 to 70 percent of teams make the postseason in terms of a bowl game together this year it's apples and oranges to an extent but there is an argument to be made that to have a higher percentage in college basketball to be able to make the field for the big dance i'm with you i do think that obviously we have the situation at hand with the first four but i think you know we would really tighten up the field if we went back to 64. not gonna happen enough midpoint second half 52-51 pivotal game in conference usa on the final weekend of the regular season tough shot long inside no and makai long is at the line so green oliver and his sick pay all have three fouls right now for odu and that is a big storyline a nice job by odu that was the first possession that rick stansberry played 1-3-1 zone [Music] and right now with no charles bassey right he's throwing the kitchen sink we've seen some match-up we've seen 1-3-1 and all rick stansberry is trying to do right now is tick tick tick tick tick try to get to the under eighth timeout so he could get bassey back into the game anderson just committed his third for wku long converts 53 51 104 to play [Applause] four points five boards for long off the bench tonight been pivotal with a couple of the starters in foul trouble for the monarchs josh anderson for the hilltoppers kenny cooper you possession you see the shot with no bassy out there wasn't necessarily a great possession i get rick stansberry can't play your big man for 40 minutes but uh you get a bucket here for odu don't be surprised to see bastard check in this game [Applause] [Music] 53-51 26 remaining kai long h.a oliver on the perimeter [Applause] here's oliver long feeding the post knocked away by williams you see uh western kentucky started in 1-3-1 zone and then they went man-to-man five seconds on the clock here you got to think this is going to be curry time tim mentioned shot clock at five it's into oliver oliver with three through the lane stripped away by williams [Applause] he's been effective here tonight defensively the defensive old dominion has been stolen here in the second half frampton draws the double stripped out he was the last to touch it on cue jump and now western kentucky's got 855 left and this is not obviously a conference tournament game but if western kentucky can't come back and win this game it's going to make the at-large situation a little bit more dicey feels like a conference tournament and that's coming brent heard before that this is march tomorrow on cbs sports network we will have a pair of missouri valley conference semifinals and a pair of a-10 semi-finals in prime time and you and i will be in studio for that all day long so we're kind of like college roommates here tied at the head amazing out of bounds off of his knee and back the other way western kentucky guys 41 first half points so far 10 here in the second half and there he is uh rick stansberry couldn't wait no longer i expect 23 in white to touch the ball here brent i would think he's got 17 points 13 rebounds effortless too an effortless 17 and 13. he rolls out of bed he gets 10 and 10. seven of nine from the field eight and a half to play jordan rawls kick out anderson frampton [Music] stays at this end with western kentucky second rebound we've seen where bassey's not going to get a stat but kept the ball alive and kept the possession alive this is where no no true point guard out there right now you gotta get bassy a touch i i i get it luke frampton's a good shooter but you have an all-american on your team get 23 the ball crampton [Music] [Applause] you the ball up by two pivotal next eight minutes in the grand scheme of things here shot is down malik curry coming through big time he's got 19. the lead is four couple minutes away from danger time here if you're western kentucky i think you got to start sending a double towards curry he is in absolutely locked step right now [Music] here's raw shot pocket 14. open look get rid of them kenny cooper spins off two players in the neck frampton fighting for it scrambling pulled away by odu they got the ball leading by four malik curry with 19 got shut off this time and out of control that time turnover rolls to the rim for wku good one huge momentum shift right there watch rawls excellent job of taking the contact and then kind of sneaking it through the defenders arms western kentucky was struggling making shots they've struggled burying threes here zero second half threes and guys this has been their kind of achilles heel all season long when they lost to houston they they'd only made four threes so far here in the second half zero made threes i think rick stansberry in the huddle right now john he has to say malik curry is in the zone we must get the ball out of his hands i'm from the school where you never let the other team's best player beat you john you make someone else beat you yeah and i wouldn't be surprised to see western kentucky start to double team elite curry in an effort to get the ball out of his hands it's something that arkansas does all the time with eric musselman you know get the ball out of the best players hands but you know you have to be impressed by the resiliency the fight and the integrity of this old dominion team to continue to claw back in the game looked like it was going to be a blowout in the first half not so much in the second 20 minutes all right tim let's go big picture once again we showed you you're all americans a short time ago of course john had a big push back are you expecting a push back here from your final four teams tim to answer your question of course i'm expecting a pushback from john rossdy i mean here's the deal i go to bed with him with a tweet and then i wake up with him and i'm happy and i'm humble and i'm hungry and all those things in the morning loyola chicago they have experience camp crutwick makes other guys better on the court gonzaga needs no introduction uh baylor bounced back which i was happy to see and for alabama herb jones john petty banging down a lot of threes fun to watch experience there is a theme among my final four teams john guys that have been around the block yeah you live in chicago right i just want to make sure what you try to yes i i do live in chicago you say i'm playing to my audience chicago he's been known to sometimes exactly in january was right now it's a little chicago whichever way the compass points there tim here's the deal all right loyola chicago's like a 10 minute drive from northwestern and there was an outstanding little joint there called hamilton's and their dance floor brent it might have been 70 degrees when you walked in but that dance floor was 100 degrees and i have so many fine memories there jon your thoughts is that when you were in college or that last week [Applause] 55 54 out of the timeout 708 to play odu ball curry he's got 19. cassie looking to shut him down savior green curry is sick wants it baseline drive and a score from a kylo ren a tremendous seal that time by old dominion to get bassey away from the front of the rim it created an angle for them to get to the rim they get a layup you know the great point john because exec pay posting up uh kind of thwarted bass passing at the line for two hey you called it out friend exemplary posting up now all of a sudden bassey has to pay attention to him and that way on the drive i thought basket is gonna come from behind and block this shot there's bassy i mean he catches it there's just nothing but dark shirts around he's able to get to the free-throw line they just ask him to do a lot don't they john i mean i think they have to tim it's a one-man gang right now when you look at you know charles bassey i mean he makes everything go when you look at obviously what happens with western kentucky he creates shots for luke frampton he creates driving lanes for their other guys he gets carson williams dump down opportunities he is a real real good player [Applause] it's efficient open look corner long short so makai long misfires and a three josh anderson for the hilltoppers frampton tried to fire it in a foul from behind on a sick pay here are our poor results on expanding the field of 68. 44 agree with tim and say yes but john 56 agree with you and say no yeah i think that it's fine with where it is right now in fact like i said i think we go back to 64. which wasn't really part of it i guess next time we'll have to add that third option i had never thought about that john but you the bubble has gotten a little bit soft obviously he's gonna be one of those years yeah i mean we feel like sometimes that you know there's a couple of teams over here limping into the ncaa tournament will be a lot harder to get in if you haven't 64. jordan rawls with a big three at the six minute mark 59 57 hilltoppers yeah that was western kentucky's first made three in a huge time for rawls jordan rawls has 12. three of six on threes curry looking to answer curry against mcknight left it short bassey was the last to touch it they've done a better job of double teaming and really causing more pressure with malik curry last couple of possessions for rick stansberry that's still the guy from jeff jones to have the ball in his hands oliver feels like a championship game in a conference tournament right now it really does 60 to 59 tim and back and forth it goes if i'm western kentucky i'm playing through bassey calling forward instead by anderson and he draws the foul yeah out of bounds play this is just unacceptable baseline out of bounds rawls gets caught on the screen oliver who is only two of eleven from three that's right he took eleven threes against middle tennessee last out barry's a big one back and forth we go old dominion brent's one point lead at 60 to 59 with 5 14 to play [Music] and i don't think we can overstate how big of a deal this is john the fact that western kentucky cannot take a loss here and odu is a team that has won three straight five of six they're thinking why not us for the auto bid in the conference tournament next week no question brent we've seen obviously a defense for old dominion that's really just been relentless i mean western kentucky remember at 41 points at the head 18 now in the second half for the hilltop for so a complete 180. take a look at the top 16 seats big picture here for march madness we are nine days away from selection sunday this according to jerry palm tim with uh obviously gonzaga baylor illinois and michigan the one seeds what's your takeaway here well illinois i mean was out of this world with no io to sumo in ann arbor knocking off really embarrassing michigan in that spot they bounce back in a big way ohio state john trending in the wrong direction should they be on upset alert well i think they've lost three in a row tim but i also think we gotta look at the big ten angle i know you're a big ten alum i think you see a scenario now here too where the iowa ohio state illinois tier if one of those teams can win the big ten tournament that team is gonna be the fourth number one seed in the dance because of the big wins you're going to pick up along the way my biggest takeaway there john is arkansas eric musselman in a very short time has got this as one of the preeminent programs in the country right now yeah i mean arkansas looking like definitely a second weekend team and maybe further brent and again eric musselman just in year two after coming from that successful run at nevada i i just one thing is we got to keep the shirt on you know what i mean i mean the shirt off from muscle man i mean i get it the guy looks amazing we're all going through a pandemic right now all right i've put on weight i don't want to name other names brent stover has put on weight and we got the coach arkansas with the shirt off how do you feel about that brent john i'm just curious i'm a food guy tim what do you feel like you've been eating that's put on the weight it's just the lack of exercise i'm not seeing people uh i eat because i'm unhappy i'm unhappy because i eat it's a vicious cycle right now i know but what's the menu you know i'm actually going really clean this month i'm gonna go no bread no beer no carbs jordan rolls or rather uh anderson knocks it down to 65 14 to play my pre-game meal with his cheeseburger and fries john ate a salad with salmon on it so that'll tell you i got no choice look at me pull up curry no good rebound there by mcknight the freshman tied at 60 with five left second half old dominion has outscored western kentucky 30 to 19. mcknight flips it corner hollingsworth maybe got away with an extra step ignite to the rim and he gets fouled by austin trice the kansas state transfer can't get away from kansas state can you a lot of transfers unfortunately well it's just it's interesting and you mentioned it earlier and the reason i bring it up is loyola's got loyola in the final four [Applause] he's got him in the final four they were in the final four just three years ago beat kansas state to get there things can change very quickly the next year kansas state wins the big 12 regular season along with texas tech i lost uc irvine exactly but then now here we are two years later and you know undergoing a very challenging season but regardless of what level you're at it is so challenging and that goes back to what porter mosher has been able to do in loyola is the the consistency of the last several years for them yeah you know it goes back to burn you can even go to the highest level you look at obviously a program like duke everybody wants to talk about the five national championships aside from the year where coach k was unable to coach physically with him on the sidelines this would be the first year that they missed the tournament i believe since the 82-83 campaign that's amazing [Applause] so it hasn't happened since i believe 97. yes open three good look shot airpot that time from hollingsworth out of bounds odu ball at the under four with western kentucky leading by two the two stars tim that you talked about off the bat curry and bassey curry was quiet in the first half but he has been massive here in the second half well he really got it going and he really got an outstanding rhythm he got to the hole a few times made a couple lay-ups some tough drives and then when you do that now you start you know pull back jump shots step backs and the passage just doing what he does this is every game you know with the exception of houston where he only had nine points and seven rebounds he has been a dominating force he absolutely racked up huge numbers in that win over alabama that's the one that's still resonating on their resume but curry came into the game averaging 14 and a half he's up to 19 and he has completely single-handedly brought his squad back into the game buckland western kentucky fans if the tournament started today jerry palm would have you in but right now you are sweating like ted striker and airplane i mean you are holding on with 357 left in a two-point lead to dear life brent and look at those numbers for bassey the one-man showburn 19 and 14 70 from the field 15 double-doubles on the season he has had nine 20-point games this year and four 15 or more rebound games pretty impressive he's about to get his fifth in terms of those 15 or more rebound games so the east of asian year to 1k lead for western kentucky these two will play again tomorrow night to wrap up the regular season western kentucky can win the east division obviously with a win tonight if they win the game and north texas loses their game to uab then it's their first outright conference title for western kentucky for the first time since winning the sun belt in 2009. a long time ago brent 12 years a long time ago where were you in 2009 had yet to meet john rosting i can tell you that i know where i was in 2009 brent actually lived in a building down the street from me that had a rooftop pool and i used to act like i lived in the building just so i could use the pool brent that's right old eugenie terrace used to run the streets of the windy city a little bit upgraded to living in new york city with with john rosting being my guy [Applause] you missed here friend few people could ride a bike back and forth to the local places 62-60 351 to play odu ball turning the corner and missing is xavier green stick pack is good and a big play there underneath by number 23 austin trice a great play out of a timeout you got a point-blank look and they're able to follow we're not up and bowling green trice has got four tied at 62. 329 left bassy [Applause] balls thought about it shot clock at five [Applause] mcdonald's [Music] austin twice has provided the energy in the last couple of minutes and every possession is so critical right now for both basketball teams as you can see everything's so critical down the stretch three to play tied at 62. fall away green rattles out powell on the rebound is long win in there that's going to be shots on the other end because old dominion in the bonus so early right now western kentucky gets an opportunity to get the lead back western kentucky you can see right now only four team fouls they're gonna get traced right here kind of dislodging bassy i don't know i don't know about that one trice has been strong here down the stretch look at that that's number one sign to me a guy's tired i mean he is hunched over hands on his knees i'll be shocked if he makes two here bassy look at him breathing he's five of six at the strike tonight i love it he knocks him in tim i love it because you could tell he's got his hands on his hips he is guessed right now and trice is making him work that's great concentration kids 73 foul shooter there are not many issues in any part of his game he's number four in the country and blocks number three in the country in rebounds and he averages 18 a game if this is a charles bassey timeout they even went over and said something to him rick stansberry he knows it he goes sit down right now go catch your breath that is tough to do that's big time right there when you're hunched over and you're tired to lock in and get focused and make two free throws we've talked about all night long how much this game means to western kentucky as they are squarely on that bubble our jerry palm has them in right now you need to start a step up brent went to the line bang down two key free throws he's seven of eight at the line tonight is a team western kentucky 21 of 27 and they've got the two-point lead with 256 on the clock they play again tomorrow night here on facebook live that one is at 5 p.m eastern senior night in bowling green kentucky's old dominion faces western kentucky in the regular season finale one thing i'd be aware of if i'm jeff jones is i would try to get bassey out above the free-throw line now whether that's bringing tricep high in the ball screen you got you want to try to move bass from being that rim protector we saw one possession in this game he blocked multiple shots he's so good defensively that even if you're going to use him as a decoy you want to try to draw bass away from the rim when you have a guy that's that dominant blocks three shots a game you really have to build your offense i'm moving the ball away from 23 in white zik pay stretching things out over on the sideline for odu they've got the ball down too 14-6 for the monarchs 10-4 in the conference western kentucky 17-5 10-2 in conference green short on a three rebound by hollingsworth they want to run four on two mcknight on the wing to the rim a lot of contact as he went strong and again you gotta know time and score right there why not bring it out why not work the clock why not try and get obviously a higher percentage shot you're going to the basket you're a little bit out of control it's a low percentage shot here you don't have a chance to set your offense charles bassey hadn't gotten the touch gotta know time and score there in that situation that's what rick stansberry is thinking right now [Applause] here's malik curry he leads otu with 19 green back to curry to the rim hesitation thanks at home big shot tied at 64. 21 for curry [Applause] aside from bassey curry's been the best player on the floor hasn't been close he's nine of 16 from the field 208 remaining hollingsworth going against green [Applause] [Music] [Applause] big factor right there that could open up more opportunities in the paint young man played a very very tough game i thought that that is a scene five for his sick pay so he fouls out to him here four points and seven rebounds for him tonight that was a really impressive catch by carson williams there was nothing but dark odu shirts around and he was able to grab that ball i'd have to see again if there was contact i know there was a lot of bodies around but watch the catch here yeah that ball was kind of away from him he's got three shirts around them and then able to get to the free-throw line odu doesn't like the call but williams maybe created some of that contact so fouls out with four points with a minute 54 left and john you alluded to it that could open things up more here for bassey down the stretch yeah and i mean you look at western kentucky right now you know this is a situation where this 154 could define your season because if you're western kentucky you're thinking about being an at-large team for the ncaa tournament williams just missed his first free throw the possession before he had an out of control charge and he misses two free throws looks like things are lined up for old dominion big misses there tim 64 all here's curry he's getting 21. bassey picks him up but a foul on the drive one away from the bonus right now five team fouls go to six for western kentucky momentum has not been on western kentucky's side since halftime yeah and as a player that's the stuff that i would notice good job pointing that out john like now i would get more aggressive driving in the hall put that pressure on the referee [Applause] green oh what a big time fake to get bassey off balance able to finish you're up two on the road [Applause] 66-64 with 120 remaining jordan rawls hollingsworth against green shot pocket seven raw steep three short rebound double mistake right there by williams you're gonna put him on the line in the bonus right now old dominion having a chance right here to extend the lead watch this fake here from austin trice right there and then he got bassey off balance outstanding job he's pumped odu is pumped don't love the shot selection by western kentucky and then oh that could have been ugly with williams falling fortunate for curry he's gonna be able to shoot these free throws big big free throws for the senior from delaware that possession was not won on that possession it was won during off-season workouts either with the team or by himself trice with an unbelievable footwork display and finish rick stansberry looking at the clock he knows if we don't turn this around in 107 we're gonna have to get the conference usa tournament championship this team can't suffer another loss yeah and you don't need a three regardless if this goes in are you still down two possessions get a two here get something going north and south or get bassy a touch do not settle you've only made one second half three-pointer a minute to play here in bowling green 68-64 game tough shot in the lane rims off for hollingsworth one and done odu the ball got a foul now kind of foul now 68-64 still no foul and a take away two on one to the rim no and a foul oh curry is saying he's going up and down north and south but when you're going up against josh anderson you're probably going up against the best athlete in conference usa look at anderson there almost a peanut poke fumble and then ooh yeah i mean curry did go up and down didn't he john definitely did got the hang time right there by anderson that was like brent in the kansas state track days at the line big free throws knocked in the first at anderson three-point game 37.3 to play in a timeout then you got to think too i'm going to think too if you're rick stansberry about what you're going to do on a make are you going to foul and extend the game or are you going to be in a situation where you try to play it out and get the ball with seven seconds left kentucky sorry tip 10 and two one game lead on old dominion that's what's at stake but tim continuing that conversation yeah i i i would play it out here regardless if the the shot goes in or or not yeah you play it out uh this is an outstanding number with josh anderson he shot 59 from the free-throw line as a freshman as a senior he's shooting 90 percent so you expect your senior to go to the free-throw line make this free throw here and then it comes down to one stop you get one stop timeouts to spare here stover well that's the situation 68-65 three-point game first of two to close out the regular season between these two this weekend bassey 21 and 15. and he's tired as tim mentioned anderson a second free throw knocked down the first this one to make it a two-point game so he gets one of two it's a one possession game still odu the ball 34 seconds how many free throws has western kentucky missed in the last couple minutes at least three here now 22 of 31. so they are just one for their last four to your point john and what's the spread in the game right now three points three-point game so many times well we are setting up obviously for a rematch tomorrow and if all the minion were to hang on we are going to look at conference usa as a one-bit league this is big right now for the bubble watch a lot of teams pulling for old dominion here western kentucky cannot afford to take this loss curry calmly knocks in the first and it's a two possession game with 27.7 on the clock here tim yeah and jeff jones is saying get back on defense and if you're rick stansberry if made frieza you're going to need a three got him both old dominion makes their free throws western kentucky misses their free throw 11 of 15 for old dominion at the line tonight need points in a hurry 22 seconds down five the hilltoppers tough look inside up top for bassey and a quick timeout three-point game 18.7 and they got a a a an ideal look quickly obviously with bassy but now they're gonna need a defensive stop maybe a steal and john pointed out the missed free throws but this story has really been like the fortitude of old dominion we talked to jeff jones at halftime he thought his team was being lazy basically playing defense with their hands the defense has been outstanding in the second half they gave up 41 first half points to western kentucky first 12 minutes of the second half only 10 in every key stop they've gotten in this game and jeff jones he needs like a little windshield wiper there because i i'm actually amazed at how clean his mask is my mask would be a mess wasn't it yours brent just like andy reid for the chiefs during the nfl season so 70 to 67 john and you mentioned you cannot overstate the importance of this result here tonight conference not just for western kentucky but nationally this is going to open up another spot in the ncaa tournament potentially odu inbounds up three able to get it in degree there's the foul odu with the line with 15.2 on a three-point edge and it's xavier green or rather it's going to be oliver aj oliver at the line oliver at the line and he's not shot a free throw here tonight 90 for the year well what we talk about all game long western kentucky needs to make enough threes to keep their opponent honest in the first half four made threes in the second half only one for a team that only makes six threes a game you know what you're gonna see guys you're gonna double charles bassey and they're gonna make others make shots it's gonna be their achilles heel it has been all year and in this game especially in the second half let's come back to bite them and fallon anderson his fifth so josh anderson fouls out big free throws coming up for oliver 90 for the season first trip tonight at the line [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what an outstanding unbelievable finish by hollandsworth he does such a great job of kind of you know bogarting the referees would look like he got fouled well watch him kind of look like he got hit a little bit at least in the naked eye he's still able to finish and now we get a one point game and a huge missed free throws by aj oliver went to the free throw line one and one opportunity missed the front end and now for rick stansberry maybe got a second second and a half to play good defense as we check out the last four in the last in the first four out brent yeah a lot of bubble teams here and this is the type of game or a bubble team obviously john as you've alluded to rooting for odu you got michigan state vcu drake st louis on the right side of the bubble and john three of those teams will be on cbs sports network tomorrow vcu is uh is going to be in one of the semifinals and then of course uh saint louis will be uh in the other semifinal and drake in missouri valley will be in a semi-final game there quick foul with eight seconds free throws coming up in a one-point game this is march you can't beat it 70 to 69 green going to the line with his team up one eight seconds either way the western kentucky gonna have a shot here well if there's two main free throws i'm still i know western kentucky is not a great three-point shooting team but you gotta foul you have to foul if there's two made free throws xavier green's a senior here's a guy's a sophomore average nine and a half points junior averaged 13 points this year only seven points green rattles out on the first two big misses in a row for odu no timeouts for western kentucky so you see rick stansberry saying push that pace i would expect to see hollandsworth with the ball regardless second one for green big shot got it 71-69 and i don't think they will go for the win here five seconds to play western kentucky baseline no rebound monarchs with point one on the clock there you have it guys the conference usa in 2021 will be a one bid league yeah i didn't love this shot selection here i know that mcknight is their playmaker but tavion hollingsworth has been doing it a long time and if i'm rick stansberry i want my senior shooting the ball not my freshman mcknight the fall away on the baseline wouldn't go the door was open they went for the tie didn't get it and now odu is about to pull off a big one here tonight and this will make tomorrow night's game for the east division title as they will be separated no longer and that's it 71 to 69. western kentucky falls their eight-game winning streak in the conference comes to an end they are 10-3 now and odu is 11-4 so we've got a tie at the top john with these two teams set to rematch tomorrow here on facebook watch once again at 5 p.m yeah it should be a tremendous tremendous game brand a tremendous game all around how about otu pulling this off tim uh second half jeff jones's squad came out they defended they only gave up 10 points the first 12 minutes of the second half and what an outstanding win for old dominion malik curry had 25 on nine of 16. three of three from town town 404 at the stripe malik curry congratulations before we get to your individual effort how huge is this for your team to come in here and beat western kentucky in the second to final game of the regular season um first of all you know this is the game that you know any team would want to be in this situation uh the game it wasn't easy for sure you know first half was rough especially i had two fouls they was making good shots but you know we stuck together coach coach got it to us at halftime so you know we had to lock in and you know stay focused on the game you really got into a rhythm there in the second half were you telling your teammates just get me the ball and get out of my way yes sir yes sorry definitely i was feeling good the ball was going in the basket second half and i just told the coaster you know i need the ball right now malik what's it like to be able to get this win and know that you absolutely carried your team in the second half um i would say it was a team effort for sure everybody contributed everybody made big shots when big shots was needed it was definitely a team effort what would it take to get the sweep tomorrow night and to win the east division man that would be amazing fella on the way teams court so you know hopefully we get the win tomorrow malik curry congratulations enjoy the rest of your night thank you 25 for curry in a win for old dominion here at western kentucky 71 69 25 and four for him passing a double double in the loss 23 and 15. 12 for hollingsworth 12 for rawls in the end western kentucky falls and it's a tie at the top between western kentucky and old dominion in the east division of cusa and they will be back in action tomorrow night five eastern on facebook watch tim doyle john rosstein and our entire crew on brent stover check out our next usa game facebook watch tomorrow at five between these same two teams this has been a presentation of cbs sports network on facebook watch you

Channel: Hilltopper Vault

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Id: OrKUFTSlQmk

Length: 110min 12sec (6612 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021