Follow up: Troy/Western Kentucky

Troy and Western Kentucky played one down to the wire tonight with Troy edging out the Hilltoppers 87-82. A few days ago we pointed out guards A.J. Slaughter (WKU) and Brandon Hazzard (Troy) as the players to keep an eye on. Neither disappointed. In the losing effort Slaughter finished with 20 pts and 8 asts. For the winning team Hazzard blew up for 35 pts on 10-14 shooting, including 6 of 8 from 3’s. That makes back to back 30 point efforts for Hazzard.

Some noteworthy stats from the game:

–WKU’s bench did not score in the game
–Troy shot 27 free throws, WKU only 9.
–WKU had more assists, rebounds and blocks than Troy.

The stats suggest a close game and that is exactly what happened. In the end Hazzard was too much, WKU’s bench was not enough, and Troy’s homecourt advantage came through. I would love to see these two battle for the conference tourney title!

Troy vs Western Kentucky–Game of the week?

While Duke and North Carolina will garner all the attention this week, a monster clash in the Sun Belt conference will take place this weekend between Troy and Western Kentucky.  Western Kentucky is flying under the radar nationally but has won 8 of 9 games and sits atop the Sun Belt at 11-2.  But you better believe WKU hears footsteps.  Those feet are the men of Troy who find themselves 1 game back of WKU at 10-3.  Oh yeah, and Troy has won 8 straight games. 

The last time we heard from Western Kentucky they upset Louisville 68-54 way back on November 30, long before the Cardinals took flight and air-raided the Big East.  It was a significant victory, obviously, and it showcased how good point guard A.J. Slaughter really is when he poured in a career-high 25 pts.  But Slaughter has been terrific and consistent all year (he has averaged 15.4 ppg during their aforementioned nine game stretch; 15.9 ppg for the year).  And on top of that he’s been clutch, going 4-4 from 3’s down the stretch in a recent comeback win over North Texas.  This kid, as they say, is a balla.  He paid his dues learning the ropes from veterans Tyrone Brazelton and Courtney Lee but in his junior year he is putting up all-conference numbers for the league’s best team. 

In Troy’s 8 game winning streak (they’ve actually won 10 of their last 11) they have sent the league a message with a road victory over 10-2 Arkansas-Little Rock.  Guard Brandon Hazzard is the team’s leading scorer at 15.2 ppg, and like Slaughter, is elevating his game as the conference winds down–he has upped his scoring average to 20 ppg, including a 30 point performance in his last outing, in the Trojans current 8 game win streak. 

Between two hot teams and two hot guards something has to give this weekend!!