Kennesaw State’s basketball season could easily have ended up on the rocks. Instead, the Owls enter the Conference USA championship with a legitimate chance to extend their season.
Sixth-seeded KSU (18-13, 10-10) earned a first-round tournament bye and will play No. 3 seed Western Kentucky (18-13, 11-9) on Thursday at 9 p.m. in the quarterfinal round at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Alabama. The Owls need to win three games in three days to win the title and earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s time to go,” coach Antoine Pettway said. “You’ve got to get your big-boy pants on and go.”
It was a challenging season. The Owls lost two key players in January. Leading scorer Simeon Cottle was suspended after being indicted in a federal investigation of a point-shaving scheme. A week earlier, Ramone Seals sustained facial injuries that kept him out until late February.
“We lost 30 points out of our starting lineup within a week, so we knew we had to adjust and do things a little different,” Pettway said. “We sat down and talked with the guys and told them the mission was still the mission. We still were going to try to accomplish what we needed to accomplish to compete for a championship, and they did it. They stayed together. They stayed the course.”
Despite an occasional wobble, Kennesaw has remained competitive. Only one of its last seven conference losses was by double-digit points. Kennesaw State split with regular-season champion Liberty, was swept in two close games by No. 2 seed Sam Houston, and swept No. 3 seed Western Kentucky.
“I think all the adversity did was make us stronger,” Pettway said. “I love my group, and I’m excited for the challenge. My guys are locked in and they want to do something special, so we’ve just got to prepare them and give them every opportunity to do that.”
Kennesaw was well-represented in the All-CUSA honors. Point guard RJ Johnson was named first-team all-conference, Braedan Lue was named to the defensive team and Trey Simpson was named to the all-freshman team.
Johnson, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Huntsville, returned after sitting out last season with a medical redshirt because of a torn labrum. Johnson, who was Mr. Alabama Basketball as a high school senior, leads the Owls in scoring at 14.2 points, shoots 46.8% on 3-pointers and averages 3.8 assists. He had back-to-back 30-point games earlier in the season against Western Kentucky and Sam Houston.
“He’s been so valuable and vital to what we do,” Pettway said. “From day one, he’s been the most coachable kid in the gym. He works his tail off and it’s so good to see it come together for him on the court. He’s hungry for more. There’s no talking to him, he’s ready to go.”
Lue, a 6-8 sophomore from Alexander High School in Douglasville, was on the all-rookie team last year. He averages 11.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and has 47 blocked shots. Simpson, a 6-8 freshman from Evergreen, Alabama, averaged 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds.
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