UHA hosted Bowling Green back on February 1st.
The first time University Heights played Bowling Green the game was dominated by Bowling Green’s length as the Purples won 88-50 on February 1.
“Their length gives us trouble,” UHA coach Grant Shouse said Monday on a KHSAA zoom call to preview the state tournament that starts Wednesday in Rupp Arena. “We were not able to get to the rim as much as we like against them.”
UHA shot only two free throws in the game but Shouse says that was not due to a lack of aggressiveness by his team.
“Just their length bothered us and we stopped attacking and got away from some things we do,” Shouse said. “We typically try to get to the line as much as we can. We are hoping the (bigger) size of the floor (at Rupp Arena) might help us spread them out and let us take advantage of some speed and quickness we have.”
The teams meet again Wednesday at 1 p.m. CT in the second game of this year’s state tourney.
K.J. Crump had 16 points in that first game against Bowling Green for University Heights and D.J. Quarles had 14. UHA was just 6-for-24 from 3-point range in that game and 21 of 61 overall from the field. Shouse starts four 5-10 guards but says Crump and Quarles have to play well.
Bowling Green coach D.J. Sherrill thinks the first game gives UHA a “lot of motivation” for this game but is taking nothing for granted.
“They are a team that could hit 15 3’s,” Sherrill said. “They are very wide open. We won’t pay attention to that score. That was a long time ago. They are in the Sweet Sixteen and we are going to give them all the respect they deserve.”
Shouse says his team got off a slow start the first game and got down 14 points in the first quarter.
“We played fairly evenly the second and third quarters and then they started the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run. We got run out of gym 27-4 (the fourth quarter),” Shouse said. “Bowling Green is obviously a very good team. Very athletic with a lot of weapons. Lots of size, one thing we do not have. What we lack in size we have to make up in speed, quickness, and toughness.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity. The first game was not as bad as the final score indicated. We have got to be more focused and physical with them this time.”
The bad news for UHA is that Bowling Green has added 6-7 Jacobil Huddleston since the first game and Conner Cooper, the starting quarterback on the football team, missed the first game with a broken hand. Huddleston is averaging 8.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while Cooper adds 4.9 points and 1.9 rebounds.
“We are better defensively now,” Sherrill said. “We are doing a better job rebounding and playing a lot better team defense.”
