WKU Men’s Basketball Season Preview
By Cooper Jaggers
Following Steve Lutz’s departure after the Hilltoppers’ loss to Marquette in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Hank Plona has brought stability and progress to the program in his first two seasons at the helm. A 17–15 record in his first season was followed by a one-win improvement in his second, giving Plona an 18–14 record in 2025–26. The 2026–27 season, however, could be the year the Toppers take a big step forward. With a strong returning cast that includes leading scorer Teagan Moore (18.7 PPG) and dynamic sophomore Armelo Boone, the Tops look to make a splash this year and take the leap toward contending for a C-USA title.
I think Coach Hank Plona is a guy that a lot of Western fans will come to love, if they haven’t already. My grandmother described Plona as a guy who “looks like he could sell me a used car”—a description that seems fitting for a city so closely associated with the automotive industry. The most important thing Plona has brought to the program is toughness. Go figure: the guy grinded it out in junior college for 15 years. Plona arrived at Western as an assistant in 2023 with a 225–35 NJCAA record (.865 winning percentage). After Lutz’s departure, Plona, as mentioned previously, brought a solid foundation and stability to Western basketball. The 2026–27 season brings massive expectations for the third-year coach. We’re far enough removed from the Lutz era that expectations should shift from simply staying afloat to competing for championships. With so much of the roster returning, however, the new standard seems highly attainable.
After missing the entire 2024–25 campaign following offseason hip surgery, redshirt junior Teagan Moore returned with a standout 2025–26 season for Western. Moore averaged 18.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 52.9% from the field, 42.9% from three-point range and 80.0% from the free-throw line. He is a strong, physical guard who can use his size to attack around the basket. At 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, Moore showed an ability to overpower many of the guards he faced. The leap he made last season turned him into a fan favorite in Bowling Green, but another leap could make Teagan Moore a player Hilltopper fans talk about for years to come.
Boone enters his sophomore campaign coming off a freshman season in which he averaged double figures (10.7 PPG), albeit with some shaky efficiency, shooting under 40% from the field. If Boone takes a sophomore leap, he could become an integral part of a winning WKU team during the 2026–27 season. Another notable return comes in senior guard LJ Hackman. The 6-foot-3 senior brings something that has become a recurring theme in this article: stability.
Looking ahead to the nonconference schedule, Western faces its toughest test on November 27 against the Illinois Fighting Illini. Coming off a Final Four appearance in 2026, Coach Brad Underwood brought in a top-15 recruiting class while retaining key players from last season, notably Andrej Stojakovic and the Ivisic twins. The Illini also brought in five-star freshman shooting guard Quentin Coleman this summer, and the No. 14 player in the 2026 recruiting class might not even crack the starting rotation. This is a team with national championship aspirations, currently listed at +1500 on FanDuel to win the national title next spring.
Recently, the Toppers announced they would compete in the 2026 Greenbrier Tip-Off, where they will take on Richmond on November 20 and George Washington on November 22. Western will travel to Indiana twice: first for a preseason exhibition against the Hoosiers, who are looking to secure a tournament berth, on October 25, and later for a regular-season matchup against the Evansville Purple Aces in early December. Other notable games include former C-USA foe UAB visiting Diddle Arena on December 12 and a road trip to the Big Easy for a hopeful early Christmas present against Tulane on December 22.
Obviously, the Illinois game is the biggest test on the nonconference schedule, especially with the Toppers playing on the road. However, this slate seems manageable for Western. The Tops have consistently played strong nonconference schedules over the years. Last season, they faced Vanderbilt, an SEC runner-up and No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, along with the AAC champion South Florida Bulls, who went on to give Louisville a heck of a game in March. We don’t know how these teams’ seasons will play out, of course. But from the outside looking in, I don’t see this schedule crushing the team’s confidence heading into conference play. More importantly, I see this season’s nonconference schedule as an opportunity for Western to build confidence heading into C-USA play.
Within Conference USA, I expect Western to face a series of dogfights on a game-to-game basis. Liberty and Kennesaw State will be there as usual, as will teams like Delaware and New Mexico State, which are always tough opponents, especially given the travel involved in road games. I don’t see Western falling apart in conference play, however.
Let’s face it: Conference USA is facing an uncertain future in 2026. Recent departures, including Louisiana Tech and UTEP, have left the conference thinner than it already was. The conference has also lost Charlotte, FAU, Southern Miss, UAB, Marshall and Old Dominion in recent years to the Sun Belt and the American. As always, college athletics remains unpredictable. Even as the conference faces challenges, Western could emerge as one of its leading programs.
This is Plona’s strongest roster since taking the job, and the Toppers have avoided the roster turnover that has affected many programs in the NIL era. In 2026, that continuity could be a matter of luck—or a sign of a program committed to winning. Not every C-USA team can say the same about retaining most of its key contributors. Hilltopper fans will be hoping it’s the latter and that March Madness-caliber basketball is returning to Bowling Green this winter and spring.
Overall, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this Western basketball squad. Above all, you have to look at the continuity. WKU retained its coaching staff and most of its key offensive contributors, although Grant Newell’s potential eligibility remains an exception worth watching. This is a tough team that I don’t see getting bullied defensively. Western has a strong nonconference slate, but not an unmanageable one. C-USA will still be tough, but Western should be able to hold strong because of its continuity from last season. I’m no Doctor Strange, but I can definitely see a world in which this Western team wins a conference title and waits to hear its name called in March.
2026–27 Men’s Basketball Roster
#1 Gavin Murphy
FR 5’11” 160 lbs.
#2 LJ Hackman
SR 6’3” 205 lbs.
#3 Sharron Young
JR 6’0” 165 lbs.
#4 Kade Unseld
R-SO 6’5” 200 lbs.
#5 Noah Norgaard
SO 6’2” 195 lbs.
#6 EJ Walker
SO 6’8” 235 lbs.
#11 Gabe Weis
FR 6’7” 215 lbs.
#12 Armelo Boone
SO 6’5” 190 lbs.
#13 Emondrek Erkins-Ford
SR 6’9” 220 lbs.
#23 Trevion LaBeaux
GR 6’5” 210 lbs.
#24 Lawson Rice
R-FR 6’6” 200 lbs.
#30 Teagan Moore
R-JR 6’6” 220 lbs.
#32 Moussa Konare
SO 6’10” 220 lbs.
#35 Joseph Adebayo
FR 6’10” 230 lbs.
2026–27 Schedule
Tue 10/20 vs BGSU exhibition
Sun 10/25 vs IU exhibition
Mon 11/2 vs Morehead
Thu 11/5 vs KWC
Sun 11/8 at Tenn Tech
Wed 11/11 vs Campbellsville
Mon 11/16 at Tulsa
Fri 11/20 vs Richmond
Sun 11/22 George Washington
Fri 11/27 at Illinois
Tue 12/1 vs Belmont
Sat 12/5 at Evansville
Sat 12/12 vs UAB
Wed 12/16 vs Lipscomb
Thur 12/31 at Kennesaw
Sat 1/2 at Jax
Thur 1/7 vs NMSU
Sat 1/9 vs SHSU
Thur 1/14 at Delaware
Sat 1/16 at Liberty
Thur 1/21 vs Missouri St
Sat 1/23 vs FIU
Sat 1/30 vs MTSU
Thur 2/4 at SHSU
Sat 2/6 at NMSU
Thur 2/11 vs Liberty
Sat 2/13 vs Delaware
Thur 2/18 at FIU
Sat 2/20 at Missouri St
Sat 2/27 at MTSU
Thur 3/4 vs Jax
Sat 3/6 vs Kennesaw
3/9-13 CUSA Championship