Tonight's North Texas opponent Western Kentucky is in a state of turmoil. Head Coach Ken McDonald was released of his duties and replaced by Ray Harper as the interim head coach. Assistant Coach Jake Morton was accused of accepting $10,000 to secure the signature of a recruit when he was at the University of Miami. He denies the allegations. In addition #10, Caden Dickerson, G, 6-4, 200, Jr., has been injured and out of the season with surgery on his left shoulder. He may be familiar to North Texas fans since he played for Argyle High School

WKU comes into the North Texas (9-8, 2-2) game with a losing record, 5-12, 1-3, which is not acceptable for the Hilltopper program.  Last year they considered it a losing season even though they finished 16-16, 8-8 after being knocked out the Sun Belt Conference Tournament by North Texas.

Harper was hired by McDonald in the 2008-2009 season after serving as head coach at Kentucky Wesleyan College and Oklahoma City University compiling a 342-83 record.

This will be the second game under Harper’s regime and is coming into the North Texas game 0-0, 0-1. 

The Hilltoppers have lost six of their last seven games and lost to Troy for the first time in seven games.

WKU is 12-4 against North Texas, however North Texas has won the last two of three meetings. North Texas Head Basketball Coach Johnny Jones has stated when he accepted the position at North Texas he wanted his team to be as good as WKU. He admired the success of their program.

Like North Texas, WKU is young with only one senior on the team, #3 Kahlil McDonald, G, 6-3, 200 a former Blinn College transfer.  They have seven freshmen, three sophomores and four juniors.

Their tallest player is #22 Teeng Akol, F/C, 6-11, 217 RJr., is a transfer from Oklahoma State University.

One of the problems for WKU has been passing the ball. They do not pass a crisp ball at times which has been deflected by opponents. They have a problem getting the ball inside when playing against zone defenses so they have taken a lot of long distance shots. Even in their last loss the new head coach stated they still have problems getting the ball inside.

Maybe part of the problem is they do not have a lot of tall players. They have one 6-11, 6-8, 6-7, 6-6 players with three 6-5 and the rest under.

WKU is averaging 62 points a game while North Texas is averaging 70.2. They rank #294 in the nation in scoring and 332nd in field goal percentage.

Freshman #5 Derrick Gordon, G, 6-3, 185, leads WKU in scoring with 11.8 points a game. Three players #14, Jamal Crook,G, 6-3, 185, Fr., #44  George Fant, F, 6-5, 245, Fr., and #52 T.J Price, G, 6-3, 220, Fr., score a little over 8 points game. All other players score below six points and below. They share scoring with twelve of the fifteen players scoring this season.

Gordon is their top rebounder with 6.8 a game and Fant is behind him at six a game.

Out of the 318 three point attempts they have tried this season they have hit 92 for a .289 average. Opponents hit .343 %. McDonald has put the most up from the three point range with 80 attempts hitting 18 for a .300 average. Price has tried 60 hitting for 18 with Kevin Kaspar trying 53 getting 20 to fall.

Teeng Akol leads the team in block shots with 18, Fant with 16 and Vinney Zollo 12.

Crook leads the team in steal with 21 Gordon and Fant have 16 each Kaspar with 11.

They have not been totally blown out in any game this season although they have lost a couple of games by around 20 points including their loss at LSU 57-76. They lose by an average of 11 points a game.

Like North Texas they are a young team but still having problems with the starting lineup and have had seven different starting lineups.

This should be a game where North Texas can dominate the boards, shoot over the defense and get the ball inside. If they shut down the perimeter shooting of WKU they can come away with a win.