Fans can tune in on ESPN+ as Tyler Hansbrough and Joe Fischer call the game beginning at 7:30 p.m. CT. WKU Hilltopper Basketball games can be heard on The Varsity Network mobile app and 100.7-FM (WKLX).
Fans can watch all home Men's Basketball games on "The Hill at Home," a live video feed of Hal Schmitt and Voice of the Hilltoppers Randy Lee on the radio call. The broadcast of The Hill at Home can be found at wkusports.com/MBBSecondScreen and will be live 30 minutes prior to tip-off.Â
Lutz begins his tenure as head coach for the Hilltoppers having led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the last two seasons to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and the program's first ever NCAA Tournament win. With Lutz at the helm, the Islanders won three conference titles, including two tournament championships and one regular-season title.
Lutz currently holds a career head coaching record of 47-23.
Along with the addition of Lutz, assistant coaches Tim MacAllister, Robert Guster, Hank Plona and Darryl Jackson join the Hilltopper Basketball staff for the 2023-24 season. Martin Cross remains on the Hilltoppers' staff and will enter his ninth season at WKU this season.Â
The Hilltoppers will gear up for competition on Monday touting a new-look roster that includes a total of eight newcomers and six returners.
Redshirt senior Brandon Newman joins the WKU roster as a transfer from Purdue having played three seasons for the Boilermakers. Newman appeared in all 35 games for Purdue in 2022-23, starting in the final six of the season and averaging 6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game, as well as netting 35 3-pointers across the year.
Graduate transfer Jalen Jackson will enter competition at WKU after spending the last two seasons under Lutz at Texas A&M Corpus-Christi. Jackson was named the Southland Tournament MVP after averaging 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, leading the Islanders to the SLC Tournament Championship.Â
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Jackson logged a career-high 22 points against Southeast Missouri State in the 2023 NCAA Tournament First Four, helping the Islanders to their first-ever NCAA Tournament win in program history. Jackson was honored on the SLC All-Academic First Team with a 3.44 GPA as a communication major.
Joining both Lutz and Jackson from Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, Terrion Murdix joins Hilltopper Basketball as a graduate transfer and will redshirt for the 2023-24 season. The Springfield, Ill. native was named the 2023 SLC Defensive Player of the Year and selected as an All-Conference First Team, All-Defensive Team and NABC All-District First Team honoree in 2023.
Murdix also received 2022 SLC Tournament MVP honors, and earned All-Tournament Team and All-Defensive Team honors in 2022.Â
Rodney Howard joins the Hilltoppers' roster as a transfer from Georgia Tech for 2023-24. Howard previously played three seasons for the Yellow Jackets, starting in 41 games and logging 17.8 minutes per game in his last two seasons in Atlanta.
The 6-foot-11 fifth-year from Ypsilanti, Michigan averaged 4.3 rebounds and 4.5 points per game in the 2022-23 season while shooting 55% from the floor. Prior to his time at Georgia Tech, Howard spent one season at UGA as a freshman and appeared in 24 contests for the Bulldogs. Â
Joining the Hilltoppers' roster having spent two seasons at the College of Charleston, junior forward Babacar Faye enters competition for WKU after appearing in a combined 65 games for the Cougars from 2021-2023. The native of Saly, Senegal started in 14 games while at Charleston,  averaging 4.7 points and 4.6 boards, as well as posting a 52% shot mark from the floor in 2022-23.
BJ Marable joins WKU as a 6-foot-9 forward from Knoxville, Tenn. Marable logged 21.6 minutes per game in 2023-24, shooting 52.9% from the floor and averaging 8.5 points and 5.9 boards per game.
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Enoch Kalambay and Don McHenry each join the Hilltoppers for 2023-24 as junior college transfers from Indian Hills CC. Kalambay spent two seasons with the Warriors and helped the program to back-to-back national tournament appearances, while McHenry played one season with IHCC and was selected as a NJCAA DI First-Team All-American for the 2022-23 season.
McHenry was selected to the NABC NJCAA DI All-American Team after playing in 34 games for the Warriors and charting 43% from the field, 15.4 points per game and 63 3-pointers on the year. The Milwaukee, Wis. native was named Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Player of the Year and was picked to the Region 11 All-Region First Team for 2022-23.Â
A native of Quebec, Canada, Kalambay was named a Third-Team NJCAA All-American after playing in 33 games for IHCC in 2022-23 and averaging 12.8 points, 2.8 assists and 6.6 boards in 25.8 minutes per game. Kalambay was also named to the NJCAA All-Region First Team as well as the NJCAA All-Tournament Team in 2023.
McHenry and Kalambay both join Plona as newcomers from Indian Hills CC, as the assistant coach previously spent eight seasons as head coach at Indian Hills and coached the Warriors to a 225-35 (.865) record. IHCC qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament in seven of those eight seasons, and earned eight consecutive ICCAC regular-season titles, six postseason conference titles and four district championships.
Jack Edelen and Teagan Moore each join the Hilltoppers' roster as freshmen for the 2023-24 season.
Edelen played at Male HS in Louisville, Ky. where he led his team in scoring with 17.4 points per game. Edelen charted 1,000 career points for Male and helped the Bulldogs to a Sweet 16 appearance in his senior year.
Moore attended Owen County HS in Dry Ridge, Ky. where he averaged 31.7 points per game his senior year and compiled over 3,300 career points in additional to over 1,100 rebounds – only the eighth player in Kentucky high school basketball history to have at least 3,000 and 1,000. Moore was named to the Kentucky All-Star Team as a junior and senior, and was a seven-time First-Team Academic All-State member as well as four-time all-8th Region Selection. Â
Redshirt senior Dontaie Allen and senior guard Khristian Lander are among two notable returners to the Hilltoppers' roster for 2023-24. A Falmouth, Ky. native, Allen averaged 13.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 41.6% from beyond the arc (32-77).
Allen finished with 11 games of double-digit scoring, and finished 11th in the league in 3-pointers made per game.
Lander appeared in all 33 of WKU's games last year while averaging 11.4 minutes with 3.2 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. Ladnder added 21 assists on the season while shooting 30.7% (35-114) from the floor.
Tyrone Marshall Jr. and Fallou Diagne both return for the Hilltoppers in 2023-24 after serving as key contributors for WKU a season ago. A native of Dakar, Senegal, Diagne made appearances in 30 of 33 games for WKU, while Marshall Jr. played in all 33 of WKU's contests.Â
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Marshall Jr. averaged 13.6 minutes with 2.7 boards and 3 points on the year, while shooting 50% from the floor and accounting for a total of 20 steals and 18 assists for the season. A native of Nashville, Tenn., Marshall Jr. tallied at least three boards in 13 games for WKU.
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Tyler Olden and Jaylen Dorsey round out the Hilltoppers' roster for the 2023-24 season. Both Olden and Dorsey appeared in three games for the Hilltoppers a season ago.
The highly anticipated 2023-24 campaign will tip-off on Monday night in E.A. Diddle Arena. Follow the team on social media for the latest news and updates on all things Hilltopper Basketball.
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