Western Kentucky welcomes SEC opponent Arkansas into Bowling Green on Saturday night for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff at E.A. Diddle Arena. It'll mark the first time the Hilltoppers have hosted an SEC opponent since Ole Miss in 2013.
WKU is coming off a 76-74 loss Tuesday at Wright State and has dropped two straight. Arkansas enters with a perfect 8-0 record and defeated Austin Peay 69-61 on Tuesday in its last time out.
The Razorbacks hold a 4-3 lead in the all-time series, although the Toppers won the 2018 meeting 78-77 on Dec. 8 in Fayetteville.
The game will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network with Ben Holden (play-by-play) and Michael O'Donnell (analyst) on the call.
WKU coach Rick Stansbury, junior guard Josh Anderson and graduate senior guard Camron Justice met with the media Friday afternoon to preview the matchup. Here's what they had to say:
WKU head coach Rick Stansbury:
On the opportunity that comes with playing a team like Arkansas ...
"They're all the same -- they all count as one win, they all count as one loss -- but it's very obvious we're playing an SEC team, and not just an SEC team, but a very good SEC team. No one has figured out a way to beat 'em yet. They're 8-0. They're gonna play four guards most of the night, and maybe five in there at times. Their guards are skilled players. They got great players in (sophomore guard Isaiah) Joe, who a lot of people thought would've went to the league last year, a guy who can really, really shoot the basketball. And the (junior guard Mason) Jones kid .. just a bad matchup. He's gonna play from point to the four-spot. That's what makes them difficult. They create matchup problems."
On playing better down the stretch in games ...
"You want to hope you learn from situations. It's very obvious in two of those games (Bowling Green, Wright State) -- one of those (BGSU) you were up and you get beat at the buzzer, and the other one you were up with a minute to go and then you go down 1 and you've still got two shots to either win it or tie it up at the end. Those plays get magnified, but it's those plays way before there in that stretch that hurt you."
On not being able to fully practice and correct mistakes with the long road stretch ...
"We haven't had no practice time. I'm taking about real practice time. We practice, but you can't practice at the level you want to practice. We've played six games on the road in the last two-and-a-half weeks -- whatever it's been -- with the travel. You put the travel in with those games and it's been difficult. We've gotta get through this game tomorrow so we can have a little window to do some things."
WKU junior guard Josh Anderson:
On guarding the inside and not allowing dribble penetration ...
"We came into practice and really emphasized that, 'cause we know Arkansas is a team we're playing tomorrow that's got some good guards that can dribble the ball and make plays off the bounce. That was a big emphasis in practice, on-ball defense."
On not being able to fully practice and correct mistakes with the long road stretch ...
"It's been tough with all of the traveling we've been doing, but I think we've got a long stretch coming up where we get to practice a lot more -- like eight days off, or something like that -- so we're just gonna focus on the small things and just try to get better and learn from it."
On the opportunity that comes with playing a team like Arkansas ...
"It's a big opportunity. They're an undefeated team coming in here, but it's the next game. So we're just gonna play hard and go out and try to get the win."
WKU graduate senior guard Camron Justice:
On what to improve on after the Wright State loss ...
"Just take the negatives from the game -- try to do them better. That's what we really focused on (Thursday) in practice. I don't really know if it was offensively; I think it was more defensively. I think we had some defensive lapse in the second half that really led to them making their runs, and that was that."
On not being able to fully practice and correct mistakes with the long road stretch ...
"Not being able to practice, we haven't been able to go over our bad habits. Yesterday, I think we really emphasized some of the things that we haven't been doing well -- and that's what we really focused on yesterday. It felt good to get back in there with each other and just get back to doing the basics, which (Stansbury) emphasized was communicating. He didn't think we talked enough during the stretches where we didn't play well, so we really emphasized that yesterday and we're really gonna try to emphasize that in a positive way tomorrow night."
On the opportunity that comes with playing a team like Arkansas ...
"They're an undefeated SEC team -- it's a Power Five team. It's a big opportunity for us. We've just gotta seize the moment and take it one game at a time."
