Western Kentucky will take its home floor this week without its head coach.

The back injury that forced Rick Stansbury to miss the Hilltoppers’ last two games will also force him to miss the next two, WKU announced Wednesday night.

Stansbury won’t be with the Toppers (15-10 overall, 8-4 Conference USA) when they host Middle Tennessee (8-17, 5-7) on Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena. CBS Sports Network will broadcast the 7 p.m. tipoff on its Facebook page.

The third-year coach will also miss WKU’s home game Saturday against Alabama-Birmingham.

“After consulting with my doctors, I will not be present in Diddle Arena on Thursday or Saturday as I have back surgery Friday morning,” Stansbury said Wednesday in a news release. “I anticipate a quick recovery and returning to the sidelines soon.

“I know tickets are limited for Thursday and sold out for Saturday, but I ask for all of Hilltopper Nation and our great student section to please arrive early, bring great energy that our players can feed off of, and support this coaching staff. You can make the difference. Go Tops!”

With Stansbury out, assistant Marc Hsu will again serve as interim coach this week. Hsu led WKU to two victories last week at Rice and North Texas in Stansbury’s absence.

Talvis Franklin, the Tops’ director of basketball operations, has slid into a full assistant role with Stansbury out. He’ll handle interviews and post-game media availability.

Hours before WKU announced Stansbury’s absence Wednesday, players Josh Anderson and Jared Savage met with the media.

“You know, he’s in our hearts and minds and the back of our heads,” the sophomore guard Anderson said of Stansbury. “We think about him. But right now, we’re just focused in on basketball. We’re taking it slow, day by day. Right now, it’s like next man up.”

Savage credited the job Stansbury’s coaching staff has done in his absence.

“They’ve stepped up and filled in his shoes,” the redshirt junior guard/forward Savage said. “They’ve done a good job since he’s been gone. That shows with getting two road wins. It’s hard to win on the road. So they stepped up big for us.”

Two games left before bonus play

WKU’s contests Thursday and Saturday will mark its final games before Conference USA’s 14 squads are locked into tiers for bonus play.

Right now, the Hilltoppers are in a good spot. They are tied with North Texas (20-5, 8-4) for third and own a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Mean Green.

First-place Old Dominion (20-6, 10-3), second-place Texas-San Antonio (15-10, 9-3) and fifth-place Southern Mississippi (15-9, 7-5) are the other three squads that currently hold spots in the top five-team pod.

Round-robin games within each pod will take place Feb. 23-March 9. Dates and locations of matchups will be determined Saturday night.

Earning a spot in the top tier keeps WKU in the hunt for a regular-season conference title. It also guarantees a top-five seed in March’s C-USA Tournament.

The Toppers have put themselves in the thick of the race by winning seven of their last eight games, and four straight, after a 1-3 start to league play. WKU’s improved its overall record from 8-9 after a Jan. 17 loss to 15-10 now.

“I think we’re surprising people,” said Savage, who averages 13.1 points per game. “We all knew we could be this good, but I think we’re surprising the outside world with how good we can be.

“We’re going to keep on showing that throughout the season.”

The Hilltoppers return this week to Diddle Arena, where they’re 8-2 overall this year and 4-1 in conference action.

They face a Middle Tennessee squad that’s rebuilding under first-year coach Nick McDevitt. The Blue Raiders lost 13 straight games after a 3-1 start but have showed life in C-USA play, winning five of their last eight.

Antonio Green averages a team-high 18 ppg for MTSU, which has defeated WKU in 13 of the teams’ 15 meetings this decade.

Thursday marks the only scheduled game this season between the Tops and Blue Raiders.

“I feel like we’re in a nice groove, have nice chemistry right now,” said Anderson, who averages 11.7 ppg. “We just want to keep this rolling.”

Anderson to wear mask again this week

Anderson’s been on a tear lately, averaging 14.5 ppg during conference play. He’s upped that average to 17 ppg over his last four contests, all while wearing a protective face mask.

The Baton Rouge, La., native broke his nose in a Jan. 24 win at Southern Mississippi. He’s had some of his best outings since then, including a 24-point, nine-rebound, four-steal night Feb. 7 in a victory at Rice.

Anderson said he’ll wear the mask again against MTSU and UAB, though he’s not sure how much longer he’ll have to beyond that.

“I mean, the last few games, he’s been killing it,” the Bowling Green native Savage said. “He’s been great for us. He’s the reason we’ve won a lot of those games.

“Him getting hit in the nose and just fighting through that, it shows the heart he has and the type of person he is.”

Notes

WKU has made at least one 3-pointer in 1,001 straight games dating back to March 15, 1987. … The Hilltoppers rank seventh in the country in total blocks (128) and 14th in blocked shots per game (5.1), and 19th in percentage of opponents’ shots blocked (14.2), according to Ken Pomeroy. … In the last four games, guard Lamonte Bearden has 31 combined assists against just four turnovers. He leads C-USA in conference play with a 3.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. … Bassey ranks seventh on WKU’s freshman scoring list with 367 points. He already owns program freshman records for blocks (58) and rebounds (254). … Bassey has more blocks himself this year than 63 Division I teams.

Middle Tennessee (8-17, 5-7) at Western Kentucky (15-10, 8-4)

7 p.m. Thursday, E.A. Diddle Arena

Probable starters

Middle Tennessee

Donovan Sims, g, 6-1, so. (11 ppg, 4.4 rpg); Antonio Green, g, 6-2, r-jr. (18 ppg, 4.3 rpg); Jayce Johnson, g, 6-5, fr. (6.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Reggie Scurry, f, 6-6, jr. (11 ppg, 6 rpg); Karl Gamble, f, 6-9, sr. (7.5 ppg, 6 rpg)

Western Kentucky

Lamonte Bearden, g, 6-3, r-sr. (8.6 ppg, 3.7 apg); Taveion Hollingsworth, g, 6-2, so. (14.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg); Josh Anderson, g, 6-6, so. (11.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg); Jared Savage, g/f, 6-5, r-jr. (13.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Charles Bassey, c, 6-11, fr. (14.7 ppg, 10.2 rpg)

Broadcast

CBS Sports Network on Facebook

Radio

100.7-FM

Coaches

• Nick McDevitt (8-17, first year; 106-83 overall) Middle Tennessee; Rick Stansbury (57-38, third year; 350-204 overall), Western Kentucky
• Marc Hsu will serve as interim coach in Stansbury’s absence

Series record

Western Kentucky leads 93-43 (Middle Tennessee won last meeting 84-62 on March 1 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.)

Last time out

Middle Tennessee lost 55-50 at home Saturday to Old Dominion; Western Kentucky won 62-59 at North Texas on Saturday