Western Kentucky has major challenges this week when welcoming Louisiana-Lafayette and traveling to Georgia State. Comments from Ray Harper and seniors O’Karo Akamune and Brandon Harris.

Ray Harper

   Three seniors: “First start with Caden Dickerson, fifth-year guy, a guy that has battled injuries and there was a time last season where we thought we were going to have to shut him down for the season and possibly have surgery.

“He elected to sit out the six or eight weeks or whatever it was and try to give it a go and he was huge for us down the stretch. He’s just a winner and he’s one of those guys that plays the game the right way.

“O’Karo, a guy that’s a third-year guy, an energy-guy, plays hard. He’s not blessed with a great skill set, but he’s able to help and contribute with his effort and how hard he plays.

“Then Brandon, a guy that’s been here for two years, he’s a guy that I thought last season down the stretch really made big shots for us, especially in the conference tournament.

 Caden Dickerson: “I think a guy that wasn’t real tough could not have played with some of the injuries that he’s had. He played through pain, he played probably when he shouldn’t.

“The thing that you get out of Caden – as a coach what you want is guys that you know what you’re going to get every night and guys that you know what you’re going to get when you put them on the floor. I pretty much not what I’m going to get every night. He’s going to be solid defensively, he’s usually not one to turn the basketball over and he’ll make open shots.

“The thing we would like to see him be the last few weeks of the season is more aggressive. I thought the most-aggressive he’s been all season was in our last game and we’re going to need that from him. We’re going to need scoring from somewhere and hopefully it will come from him.”

    Akamune’s energy: “You always like to have those guys – you’d like to have about 13 of ‘em. He’s had his moments. I thought when we were winning some games there he was getting about eight or nine points a game and he hasn’t been doing that recently.

“Scoring has become a struggle for us and we need him to get back to finishing some of those easy baskets for us and getting eight or points these last few games.”

    Caden Dickerson: “He’s a competitor, he’s tough, he’s a winner. He’s everything you would want your son and one of your players to be. He’s not the most-gifted – he’s not. He doesn’t run the fastest, he doesn’t jump the highest, but if you want to win, you want guys like him on your side.

“It’s unfortunate that he had some of the injuries that he had, what happened to his shoulder, because that makes it difficult for a shooter. He’s adjusted, but the thing he is, he’s old reliable. You know what you’re going to get every night.”

 Brandon Harris’ role changing: “Some of that he created. He should’ve been the starting point guard from the beginning, but he wasn’t there and we found other guys that were better. Bottom line. I don’t know what his role is.

“Kevin Kaspar’s the one that really hurt us, when we lost him, because he was the one playing terrific. Him and Chris was a great combination there.

“Brandon, he’s got to give us something on the defensive end. That’s what we need from him – and to make open shots as we go down the stretch. That’d be the two things I think he needs to do for us.”

 Winning before the tournament: “I’d like to get some more wins, that’d be nice. I’d like to win ‘em all.

“The most-important thing is that we come out Thursday night – it’s going to be a tough game – we’re playing the two best teams, right now, in the league. There’s no question, watching tape, I watched Lafayette on Sunday against South Alabama and I think they were up 30 at the half and they ended up winning by 30 and it was an easy 30.

“This will be two great tests for us as we try and get ready for the conference tournament. I think at times we have played very well, but we haven’t been able to sustain that. For example, Texas Arlington, the first seven, eight minutes was probably about as good as we’ve been. But we couldn’t sustain it. Some of it was due to foul trouble, and then some of it was due to, I thought, quick shots, some bad shots that allowed them back in the game.”

    Georgia State vs. Arkansas State: “I’m sure I’ll take a look at the score. It’ll be a great game. One thing Arkansas State has done, they’ve won at home. I think they lost one game to Troy. Pretty much all the teams at the top have protected home court other than us. Lafayette, I think they lost two, they lost to us and Georgia State. Georgia State is currently undefeated at home – winning the league.

“I think that’s all you need to know, right there. Win your home games, I’ve said it from the beginning, that the key to win the conference championship is protect your home court. Georgia State has won the conference championship because they protected home court.”

    2013-14 season: “You always want to be better. I could see us starting to make improvements, then we’d take a step back.

“I was watching practice (Tuesday) and at one time, T.J. Price, George Fant, Alex Rostov and Kevin Kaspar were all on the sideline. Those are four good ones right there.

“Alex and Kevin, what you lost with those two, was a lot of basketball-savvy, some basketball-IQ, toughness – but it is what it is.

“I still think we can make a run at this thing, but we got to have someone other than George and T.J. It’s gotta be someone on the inside. We’ve got to get production out of Daouda, O’Karo,  Aaron or Ben – and yes I said Ben. Ben is going to play these last two games. We’ve looked at every option possible and we’ve got to find someone that can give us something. That may be six points, but we can’t have a zero in that stat column every game. We just can’t.

“We’re going to throw Ben out there Thursday night and let him go and see what happens.”

    Free throws: “We shoot a lot. It’s become mental. When some of the guys that are missing them are missing them – I don’t have the answer. As a player, the one thing that I could do was shoot free throws. I’ve been able to have teams that have shot terrific at the free throw line.

“There are certain guys on this team, they’re working at it, but they’re probably never going to be 75-80 percenters. Then we got some guys that should be 85-90 that aren’t shooting them as well. I think sometimes we get the wrong guy to the line.

“I think Nick Saban has petitioned college football for the 10-second rule. I’m going to petition – I think free throws just slow the game down. When you get seven fouls, give ‘em two points, go the other way. If he can petition for the 10-second rule in football, I’m going to try for the free-throw rule in basketball. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully we’ll have a rule back by Thursday.”

O’Karo Akamune

    Final home game: “I’m excited. I’m really just appreciative for coming this far and having the opportunity to continue playing. There’s been a lot of changes through the program and to still be here I’ve just been thankful to God that I’m graduating and I’m injury-free and to step on the court for my last game as a Hilltopper.”

    Favorite memory: “Probably just being with my teammates and just having the experiences and meeting new people. I feel like whether I meet somebody for a second or whether we’re here together for three years, a year, whatever it is, we have an influence on each other.

“Though we all love basketball, it’s more than basketball. I’m just appreciative for the connections I’ve made, for the friends I’ve made and glad to call everyone on the family my team.”

    Getting the No. 2 seed: “I feel like just because the last two years we didn’t start off well, now we have the opportunity to get the No. 2 seed, just to take advantage of it. To come out, not only to take this as a last game, but also to understand we can get a little bit more rest. Playing four games straight is tiring on the body. I’ll be glad to have a game off or so.

“We had a team meeting yesterday, without the coaches, just us, just talking, letting everybody understand that we have to dig in deep. It may not be on the offensive side, it may be on the defensive side, just coming together as one unit for the last few games.”

   Team meeting: “I just felt that it was necessary. We usually have a leader, we had Jamal Crook, we have senior leadership, and at the end of practice I asked T.J., because it’s really his team, I said, ‘Let’s have a meeting afterward.’ He agreed and we all came together.”

Brandon Harris

    Final home game: “I’m excited. Sad day but a great day. We made it through college. I wasn’t here the first year they won, but I’ve been here just enjoying the ride, being a part of a conference championship team.

“It’s going to be a great moment to, hopefully, go out there and play to the best of our abilities, make everybody happy, make everybody smile.”

    Two years at WKU: “Yeah it flew by, man. It’s crazy to think about because I remember coming here, playing Hysteria last year. I was talking about it with Brandon Price the other day, I was like, ‘Man, I remember when I first walked in here, we had Hysteria, and now I’m about to play the last game of my college career here at this gym.’

“It sounds cliche, but I blinked and I was in my senior game here. It’s been a great ride though, I enjoyed every moment along the way.”

    Caden Dickerson: “Amazing. He’s done everything coach has ever asked him to do, if that’s coming off the bench making shots or playing defense – I mean, that’s why he plays as much as he does, the guy plays great defense.

“We see it all the time in practice, his team defense is second-to-none. He’s always in the right spot, help-side defense he’s always closing out the right way. He’s done everything coach has asked him to do and that’s why we’re successful, guys like that.”

    Your role: “I feel like I’ve done a good job with it. I told you guys when I first got here, whatever coach asks me to do, that’s the kind of person that I’ve been. He asks me to come off the bench, wring a towel, ring a bell, I’m going to do the best I can do, the best job I can do doing it.

“I think it goes down to what coach Harp thinks. If he thinks I’m getting the job done, then hell, I’m getting it done. Nobody elses opinion really matters, except for that guy.”

 Akamune energy: “Since I’ve been here, that’s all you ever here about this guy. I called him, ‘Hustle Man Jones’ last year because he played like eight minutes in one game and got 14 rebounds.

“When he goes out there and and plays and he’s always smiling – when you get to play with guys like that, it’s a joy to watch because you’ll just sit there and it just snaps and you’re just like, ‘Oh my God will you chill out brah? Like calm down for a minute.’

“But you gotta have those guys on your team because they make everybody else play alive and wake up.”

    Team meeting: “It worked last year. I can tell y’all this, right before we played our first game last year at the conference tournament, we had a pregame meal, we just stayed and had a talk for about two, three hours, literally. We were just up around the table talking about basketball and life, it went deeper than that. It worked, we won, so maybe history repeats itself.”

    ULL: “Hostile environment. Fans are getting obnoxious man, I’ll tell yah. I don’t know if it was the Marcus Smart thing. Last year we heard a lot of stuff, but this year it’s getting out of hand, getting called, ‘half-breed’ and all kinds of stuff.

“I’m hoping our fans get on their players just like they did on us there, repay the favor so they can understand what it’s like, too.

“But on a serious note, I remember it was a hard-fought game. I remember I didn’t play very much that game. We gotta play hard because, I think coach said yesterday, they’re a game behind us and I think if they win that they would tie us up, or something?

“We don’t need that to happen. We just need to take care of our business so we can get that two seed, go down there and only have to play two games to win, so when we go to the NCAA Tournament we’re not all wore out. Win two games, get in and get out, handle the job.”

Filed under: Basketball, Talkin’ bout the Tops