Hilltoppers fall to Kennesaw State in CUSA quarterfinals, wrap up season with 96-87 loss

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – WKU’s first matchup in the 2026 Conference USA Championships saw the team battle with Kennesaw State for the third time this season. After losing both times to the Owls in the regular season, the Tops were unable to turn things around in Propst Arena, falling in the quarterfinal matchup 96-87.

Kennesaw State guard RJ Johnson, a native of Huntsville, opened the game with a pair of three-point baskets, feeling right at home and giving the Owls an early 6-0 lead.

Through the first five minutes of play, Kennesaw was scoring efficiently, from points in the paint to points off of turnovers, a 50% rate had the Owls ahead 16-8 over WKU.

At the under-twelve timeout, the momentum of the matchup continued to grow for Kennesaw State.  The Owls led 23-12 with big starts from Johnson (10 points, 3 steals) and forward Braedan Lue (7 points, 2 rebounds).

WKU began to climb back from a slow start, baskets from Grant Newell, LJ Hackman and Teagan Moore trimmed the deficit to six points, with the Owls ahead 26-20.

With 3:39 to go in the first half, the Owls would stay in front 41-33, but both offenses were starting to get into a groove led by exciting freshman talent. For Kennesaw, it would be Trey Simpson with 11 points, nine of those from the charity stripe, and for WKU, Armelo Boone showed off his flashy play with 7 points.

Heading into the locker room, Kennesaw was up on WKU 46-41. Simpson and Johnson combined for 24 of the Owls first half points while Grant Newell was the lone Hilltopper in double figures at the break, having 12 points in his CUSA postseason debut.

The open to the second half was not what head coach Hank Plona and the Hilltoppers planned, being outscored 9-2 in a two-minute stretch, growing the advantage for the Owls to 55-43.

That wasn’t the end of the fight for WKU, though, as a scoring surge spearheaded by Moore pushed the Tops back within a handful, trailing 66-61.

There was a lot of back-and-forth down to the end of the game, but Kennesaw State would find itself pulling away from WKU in crunch time to win 96-87.

The loss marks back-to-back seasons the Tops have fallen in their first matchup of the postseason, and effectively begins the offseason for the team, barring any non-NCAA tournament bids.

WKU finishes with an 18-14 record, going 11-9 in CUSA play.