Jim Mashek

TOPS CLOSE REGULAR SEASON ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AGAINST LIBERTY UNIVERSITY; WKU SLIPPED PAST FLAMES, 71-70, ON JANUARY 2 IN LYNCHBURG

Western Kentucky’s first-year men’s basketball coach Hank Plona is not given to hyperbole, bracketology and figuring out all the permutations of tournament basketball just yet.

The Hilltoppers still have a significant regular-season game to play, before they leave for Huntsville, Alabama, and the Conference USA Tournament next week at the Propst Arena.

What they’d like to have, but what won’t be learned until sometime Saturday afternoon, is what they’ll have to do to GET BACK to the NCAA Tournament, the breakthrough they realized just one year ago, and the breakthrough that sent Steve Lutz, Plona’s predecessor, to Stillwater, Oklahoma, the home of Oklahoma State University, Eskimo Joe’s and, um, we’ll get back to that later …

Western Kentucky took care of business against one of Conference USA’s weaker teams, Florida International University, by regrouping in the second half to knock off the Golden Panthers, 76-67, before a paid crowd of 3,645 at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena.

But that victory cleared up next to nothing on the C-USA Tournament seeding front, as the Hilltoppers (17-13, 8-9 in C-USA play) get ready for their regular-season finale against Liberty University at Diddle. Liberty (24-6, 12-5 in C-USA) shares first place in the conference standings with Jacksonville State (20-10, 12-5), and they’ll be playing for at least a share of C-USA’s regular-season title, as well as the No. 1 seed in Huntsville.

The Hilltoppers?

They’ll be the No. 6 seed, or the No. 7 seed, regardless.

The difference is staggering.

If WKU can claim the sixth seed, and a victory over Liberty would certainly help in that regard, they’ll avoid first-round play on Tuesday, reserved for the final four teams in the league standings. It’ll all be solved, simultaneously, at three C-USA sites — Diddle, Ruston, Louisiana and Jacksonville, Alabama. Louisiana Tech (19-11, 8-9) will play host to the UTEP Miners (17-13, 7-10), while JSU tangles with league newcomer Kennesaw State (17-13, 9-8).

There’s all sorts of scenarios at work here, but the bottom line is WKU will be either the No. 6 seed, and play its tournament opener on Thursday, or the Hilltoppers will be the No. 7 seed, where they’d open the tourney with a Tuesday game, and have to win four games IN FIVE DAYS to repeat as Conference USA Tournament champions.

The big prize, of course, is the NCAA Tournament berth, and the Hilltoppers don’t have the sort of resume that figures to interest the NIT too much. (Plus, the school has a policy — a good one — against playing in the pay-your-way-in postseason tournaments such as the CBI and the CIT.)

It’s either NCAA, NIT or bust.

WKU won for the third time in its last four games on Thursday night, using a fast start and Khristian Lander’s second-half heroics to zap Florida International, 76-67. The Hilltoppers are now three victories away from the expected standard of AT LEAST 20 wins in a given season, certainly a realistic goal considering the talent Plona and Co. has had on hand for the 2024-25 season.

“We have a lot of confidence in what we can do, when we get to Huntsville,” Plona said.

That’s great, but it sure seems like a greater possibility if the Hilltoppers don’t have to play until Thursday, and then win three games in as many days, as they did last year to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years.

It’s all in front of them, this opportunity, and a victory over Liberty University would certainly help them in this regard.

The Tops know it. Everybody knows it.

Let All-Conference USA guard Don McHenry, WKU’s leading scorer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, break it all down.

“We’re staying in the moment, trying to win every game,” McHenry said. “However the pieces fall, we’re going to be in that moment … and be the best version of ourselves, and do what we need to do to get a ‘W.'”

McHenry carried the Hilltoppers a long way in that regard Thursday night, particularly in the first half.

McHenry scored 18 of his team-high 20 points at the first half, before the Hilltoppers filed off the court nursing a 39-38 lead.

Florida International closed first-half play with a 12-3 run, scoring points inside and at the free-throw line. The Hilltoppers opened the second half with a burst of their own, after FlU opened a five-point lead in what seemed like a blink of an eye.

McHenry got the Tops within a single point of FIU on an entry pass to WKU teammate Tyrone Marshall, who slammed home the dunk to trim the Golden Panthers’ lead to 45-44. Two Khristian Lander free throws, a put-back from the Tops’ Leeroy Odiahi and a coast-to-coast basket from Lander put WKU in front, 50-45, with 14:17 left in the game.

Lander continued to take the initiative the rest of the way, scoring inside, from the perimeter and at the free-throw line. The fifth-year senior from Evansville, Indiana — along with Marshall, one of the holdovers from the Rick Stansbury era — finished the game with 19 points. He hit 5 of 11 shots, including a 3-for-6 showing from 3-point range, while converting six of seven free throws while adding three rebounds and four steals.

“We got some offense through our defense,” Plona said.

Florida International dominated on the boards — finishing with 40 rebounds, compared to 27 for the Hilltoppers — but the Golden Panthers hit just one of eight shots from 3-point range after halftime, and WKU kept them at bay down the stretch.

“We outrebounded them in the second half, “Plona said. “and continued to guard their primary players.”

FIU’s Vianney Salatchaum, a 6-foot-11, 225-pound junior from Cameroon and Panola (Texas) Community College, showed a flashy side and finished the game with a game-high 21 points and six rebounds. FIU guard Jayden Brewer added 14 points and seven rebounds, while teammate Dashon Gittens had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.

FIU is the last-place team in Conference USA, but the Golden Panthers rolled past WKU, 85-66, in the first weekend of the season in Miami. FIU (9-21, 3-14 in C-USA play) closes its regular-season schedule on the road against Middle Tennessee State (20-10, 11-6) on Saturday afternoon in Murfreesboro. The Blue Raiders trail only Liberty and Jacksonville State in the league standings.

“(FIU) kind of came in with a chip on their shoulder,” WKU coach Hank Plona said. “It’s easy to assume, that a home game against a team that’s had some ups and downs is going to be easy … FIU has been playing very good basketball. They played very hard tonight. They gave us some real problems there, on the glass, with their toughness and aggressiveness.”

Ultimately, the Hilltoppers found their groove in time to get the victory.

And now the Liberty Flames are coming to town, and Plona, for one, has an idea of what to expect. WKU slipped past the Flames 71-70, in its C-USA opener on January 5 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

“They’re unbelievably unselfish,” he said. “They’ll pass up two good shots to get an even better one … They play six guys, mostly, the whole game. They’re a very good basketball team.

“And they’ll come in playing for a championship.”

That might help pack E.A. Diddle Arena by itself. WKU will hold Senior Day before Saturday’s game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.