Official practices begin for WKU men’s basketball

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU men’s basketball is less than a month away from its first exhibition game of the season.

Western welcomes back five returners this year in addition to six transfers and three freshman.

We got to see them all in action on Tuesday when the Tops opened their doors to media for the first official practice of the 2026-27 campaign.

The squad has been unofficially meeting on the court together since the beginning of summer, but now is when practice ramps up to what it would look like in season.

That also means expectations in practice become higher.

“ I think it’s really just details and stuff that we learned over the summer that we got to start taking a little bit more seriously, so that in the games we won’t really have any miscommunications and everything will be pretty solid during the game,” forward EJ Walker said.

“We’ve kind of been working on a way to play on defense,” head coach Hank Plona said. “There’s certain principles that we’re emphasizing… kind of as they get tired and you’re 0 for 3, are you still holding true to what your job is, or are you letting the emotions of your own performance creep in? Great teams don’t let that happen. Great teams are doing their job at all times.”

One Hilltopper who knows what it takes to make a great team is Trevion LeBeaux.

LeBeaux may be new to the Hilltoppers, but he’s not new to Plona.

The East Carolina transfer played under Plona at Indian Hills Community College for a season and the two made an NJCAA Final Four appearance together in 2023.

LeBeaux is already seeing similar characteristics between a team that knows how to make a tournament run and these 2026 Hilltoppers.

“We were very versatile. You wouldn’t know which player is playing which position,” LeBeaux said. “I like that about this team, how we switch probably one through five, but I just like how versatile we are, and you never know which player is playing which position.”

WKU unofficially opens the season in an exhibition match with Indiana in Evansville on Sunday, October 25.