Game Notes
It's crunch time for the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers, who face tough tests in their final two regular-season games.
Tonight, No. 12 KWC visits defending national champion and top-ranked Bellarmine, destined to be in a foul mood after blowing a 16-point lead and suffering a 75-72 upset at the hands of Southern Indiana on Thursday night in Evansville.
The Panthers are also coming off a sobering defeat — losing at home to No. 15 Northern Kentucky, 67-55.
KWC head coach Todd Lee said his team must regroup quickly if it expects to compete with the Knights, who defeated the Panthers 80-68 on Jan. 28 at the Sportscenter.
“It's a short turnaround,” Lee said, “and they are, obviously, an outstanding basketball team. They're the best in the country in terms of field goal percentage (55 percent) and they pass the ball as well as any team in the country. We can't just let them move the ball around at will — we need a sound defensive game.
“They're so good, though, they're going to score points on you, so we need to find a way to score the basketball ourselves. We have to be on the attack offensively, and we have to make shots.”
Wesleyan (19-5, 11-5 Great Lakes Valley Co€nference) struggled to do that against Northern, hitting only 40 percent from the field overall, 31 percent from 3-point range, and 52 percent from the foul stripe.
Anthony Young (28 points) and
Brandon Johnson (14 points) combined to make 14-of-23 floor shots, but the rest of the team was only 9-of-26; but Young and Johnson experienced their own woes from the foul line, where they combined to make only 11-of-22 attempts.
Bellarmine (22-2, 14-2) had shooting problems of its own against USI, hitting only 43 percent from the field overall (25-of-58) and 33 percent (7-of-21) from 3-point range.
Coach Scotty Davenport's Knights got 20 points from Braydon Hobbs, but All-American guard Jeremy Kendle — the reigning GLVC Player of the Year — was held to 13 points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Despite the disappointment of Wesleyan losing its fourth home game of the year on Thursday, Lee expects his team to be at its best against the Knights..
“I expect us to go up there and compete,” Lee said. “It's late in the season -- all of these games are important.”
• Kentucky Wesleyan fans can watch the both Panther basketball squads play at Bellarmine today via the Internet.
The live streamed videos at Bellarmine are available on a pay-per-view basis, approximately $7.50 per contest, according to the KWC sports information office.
Both events become “live” 10-15 minutes before the schedule start time. Fans should log in before the 10-15 minute period start to ensure the Plug-in has been completed.
The video streaming links can be found on the Panthers website www.kwcpanthers.com under the ad “Watch the Game”
