Jim Mashek

WKU COACH HANK PLONA: ‘WE WERE KIND OF ON OUR HEELS … AND PLAYING THAT WAY ALL DAY …’

COOKEVILLE, Tennessee — There’s plenty of optimism surrounding the Western Kentucky University men’s basketball program this season, with a solid corps of returning players and talented newcomers alike.

Tennessee Tech’s agenda looked past all of that on Sunday afternoon.

Tennessee Tech, the Hilltoppers’ rival from the OVC days, rained 3-pointers from all over the place, and the Golden Eagles withstood WKU’s late rally to claim a 97-94 victory before a sparse but enthused crowd at TTU’s Hooper Eblen Center.

Tobin Anderson, Tennessee Tech’s first-year coach, employed a spread-the-floor, let-it-fly offensive strategy against the Tops, before Western Kentucky scrambled back into the game’s final five minutes.

Western Kentucky pulled to within four points, at 95-91, when freshman forward Gabe Weis came up with a backcourt steal before converting it into a layup in the final minute. L.J. Freeman, the Tops’ sturdy senior guard, was fouled shooting a 3-pointer from the left corner with 1.5 seconds left, and he hit the first two free throws before purposely missing the final one.

The Golden Eagles knocked the ball out of bounds and the game was over.

The Hilltoppers dropped to 2-1 overall heading into Wednesday’s home game against NAIA Campbellsville University at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena. Tennessee Tech is also 2-1, and the Golden Eagles were definitely recharged after grabbing a lead with sensational outside shooting and closing the deal down the stretch.

Third-year WKU head coach Hank Plona pulled out all the stops, to get the Tops back into contention, but a disastrous first-half showing was too much to overcome.

Plona admitted the Hilltoppers probably “got more out of this game” than last week’s rout of NCAA Division II Kentucky Wesleyan. But he went on to reference WKU’s strong showing in an exhibition game against tradition-rich Indiana University, last month in Evansville, Indiana, while crediting TTU coach Tobin Anderson’s prolific shooting squad.

Tennessee Tech hit a school record NINETEEN 3-point field goals, 12 in the first half alone, to snap a four-game losing streak against the Hilltoppers. All-time, WKU has gone 33-15 against Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, but none of that seemed to matter on Sunday afternoon.

“(It was) a very challenging game, and one that, I tell you, I personally expected,” Plona said when it was over. “I just said, on the radio, when you play a team that says ‘Indiana’ across the front of their jersey, I think you know that every single play can get you.

“It seemed like it took us a while to realize that, even though it says ‘Tennessee Tech’ on the front of their jersey … Every single play could get us. And then, we were kind of on our heels, and playing that way all day.

“Obviously, they play a very unique style. They’re great players. They’re a very good basketball team. And that’s what we need. We need to be in these situations to get better, and continue to improve.”

The Golden Eagles wasted no time in letting it rain on the Hilltoppers.

After WKU used its athleticism to forge an early 9-3 lead, Tennessee Tech started finding its range from 3-point land. TTU’s Trent Mosquera drilled the Golden Eagles’ first 3-pointer of the afternoon, a deep perimeter shot from the left wing, and teammate Caleb Hollenbeck followed with an open 3-pointer, in transition, to tie the game at 9.

The final 10 minutes of the first half set the tone for the rest of the game.

Tennessee Tech’s Cbo Newton drilled a 3, from the left corner, to put the Golden Eagles in front, 18-15. Newton hit another open 3, extending the Tech lead to six points, and his 3-pointer from the top of the key pushed the Hilltoppers’ deficit to 24-15.

Newton converted a WKU turnover into a drive to the basket, but the Tops were able to pull to within five points on Armelo Boone’s inside shot with about eight minutes left in the half.

The barrage was just beginning.

WKU was more efficient, at least offensively, for the rest of the first half, but the Golden Eagles refused to take their foot off the gas. The Hilltoppers returned to their locker room with a 50-41 deficit at the break, after Tennessee Tech hit 12 of their first 23 shots from 3-point range.

Tennessee Tech would finish the game with 53 percent shooting, from 3-point territory, and the Golden Eagles needed only nine two-point field goals to complete the task at hand. Tobin Anderson, the former Iona (New York) College coach who succeeded John Pelphrey after the 2025-26 season, got a signature win at his new school in the first two weeks of the season.

“Obviously, you never want to lose,” WKU coach Hank Plona said, “but you’ve got to learn from winning. At the same time, if we’re able to get better from this, and it prepares us … kind of, in mid-December, (if) we think this experience helped us, then we do have a chance to be a special team.

“If we put our heads down, and sulk, and this turns into something worse than that, then we’re really not made of too much.”

The Hilltoppers should be commended for fighting to the finish, and Gabe Weis’ aforementioned steal and layup in the final minute seemed to give Plona’s squad a chance. Instead, it was the Golden Eagles’ night.

Tennessee Tech has made just two NCAA Tournament appearances in school history, compared to the Hilltoppers’ 24 tourney berths, most recently in 2024.

Tennessee Tech put SIX PLAYERS in double figures, led by Cbo Newton’s 23 points. TTU teammate Caleb Sanders added 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds, followed by Kamai Sanders’ 15 points.

Western Kentucky had just 11 assists, against 15 turnovers, but did shoot 47.5 percent from the field. The Tops got most of their points in the paint, and hit just three of 10 3-pointers against a swarming TTU defense. The Golden Eagles used a full-court press to force the tempo for nearly the entire second half.

Redshirt junior guard/forward Teagan Moore, the preseason Conference USA Player of the Year, led the Hilltoppers with 22 points and 11 rebounds. WKU teammate L.J. Hackman finished with 17 points, while Armelo Boone added 14 points and eight rebounds.

WKU coach Hank Plona will be looking for a more aggressive defensive approach against Campbellsville on Wednesday, not to mention a road trip to square off with the Tulsa Hurricanes next Monday. From there, they’ll move on to the Greenbrier Classic, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, with an opening game against the Richmond Spiders on November 20.

The Tops will tangle with George Washington University two days later.

“You have to be able to extend your defense,” Plona said. “We’ve got to extend the defense past the 3-point shooters … Thirty-nine of (TTU’s) first-half points were from 3-point range.”