The UW-Whitewater Men’s Basketball team earned a much needed win against Hope College 90-83 at home Friday, Dec. 6. The Warhawks improved their record to 4-3 and Jameer Barker continued to impress with a 27-point showing.
Barker recorded his third game with over 25 points this season, all of which resulted in wins for Whitewater. The Warhawk guard has been a vital part of the program during his tenure, but this season has solidified himself as the number one option for the team.
“It has put me in a good headspace, I know people depend on me and I can’t let them down,” Barker said. “I can miss a couple shots but I can’t let that get me down, if I’m not making shots someone else can make shots and I can pick up on defense.”
The Warhawks held a 45-33 lead at halftime and were able to hold Hope center and leading scorer this season, Gabe Quillan, to just 4 points and forced him to commit 3 turnovers prior to the half.
“To keep it out of the post like that you have to have really heavy ball pressure, an active post defender and you also have to have backside,” Whitewater head coach Jarod Wichser said. “I’ll take a look at the film but I thought we were really good in all three of those areas.”
Overall, Quillan scored 14 points total, with all 8 of his second half points coming from the foul line. The Hope senior is averaging over 17 points on the season.
“It was a good collective win,” Barker said. “We lost the last couple games so it was a big focus to just get the win. Everyone bought in today, everybody played well on defense and offense. Everybody stepped up, the bench, the starters.”
Wichser was also pleased with the way his team fought. He said he thinks it is a crucial win for morale at this point in the season.
“I’m really proud of our effort tonight and I hope this game instills some confidence in this group that they can really compete and win these games against high level programs,” he said.
In addition to the usual group of fans present at Kachel Gymnasium in Whitewater, the Watertown boys youth basketball team was in attendance rooting on the Warhawks. Wichser said that several of the young players attended the Whitewater shooting clinic this summer so the team reached out for tickets. The Watertown boys started chants like “Defense” that Warhawk players even clapped along with on the bench.
While the Warhawk student-athletes clearly have a big impact on the young athletes, it’s a connection that goes both ways.
“That means a lot to me because I remember when I was their age and I wanted signatures and stuff like that,” Barker said. “That’s what means the most to me is having younger kids at the game that look up to me and stuff like that, but not even just me it’s the whole team, the vibes that they bring, it’s only good times when other people come to cheer for us especially the younger kids.”
Barker even added that he is inclined to play better when he knows younger fans are in attendance, because “they always bring the energy.”
“They’re probably our biggest fans for real. They definitely give us more energy, because you want to play well so they can remember you. Those kids are definitely a big part of UW-Whitewater basketball.”
The Warhawks will play their next game on the road in Virginia Beach as part of the North Beach Plastic Surgery Winter Classic. The trip will include a meeting against Averett Saturday, Dec. 14 followed by a matchup with Virginia Wesleyan Sunday, Dec. 15.