The Western Kentucky men’s basketball team was without two of its new players for its first game in front of fans.

The Hilltoppers announced Monday prior to tipoff of its exhibition against Campbellsville that Cincinnati transfer Keith Williams was unavailable while waiting for clarity from the NCAA on his eligibility, while freshman guard Zion Harmon would be out for personal reasons.

“Keith Williams will not be available tonight while he’s waiting for clarity from the NCAA on his eligibility status,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said in a statement. “We hope to have his situation resolved very soon.

“Zion Harmon’s not playing right now for personal reasons. Zion is a good kid, but he needs time to work through some personal issues. We’re all trying to support him and help him right now.”

Stansbury said after the exhibition – an 82-61 Hilltopper victory – he doesn’t have a timetable for either to become available for games, but hopes to know more about Williams’ eligibility status “hopefully sooner than later.”

The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Williams is coming off a season with the Bearcats in which he started 22 of 23 games and averaged a team-high 14.3 points on 39.8% (113-of-284) shooting from the field, 31.3% (25-of-80) shooting from 3-point range and 65.3% (79-of-121) shooting from the free-throw line. He also brought down 4.1 rebounds, dished out 2.5 assists and recorded 1.2 steals in 27.4 minutes per game as a senior. He was named an AAC second team honoree and named to the NABC All-District 24 Second Team.

Cincinnati went 12-11 last season and ended the year with a 91-54 loss to Houston in the AAC Tournament championship game.

Williams started 83 of a possible 121 games over his Cincinnati career, averaging 9.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 22.5 minutes. He finished 35th on Cincinnati’s all-time scoring list with 1,156 career points. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native helped lead the Bearcats to AAC Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019, and to two AAC regular-season titles in 2018 and 2020.

“No question Keith’s a guy that gives us another guy out there at a high level, a guy that’s been there and done it a little bit and he helps us in a lot of different ways,” Stansbury said after the game. “He’s a guy that can really get the ball in that paint to that rim. He’s got a good feel off the bounce passing the ball. His adjustment has been learning a new system, how we play a little bit and at the same time it’s challenging for him when he knows he’s not eligible right now. That’s challenging for anybody, but he’s handled things great and he’s a great kid, too.”

Following the season, Williams announced April 29 via Twitter that he would be entering the 2021 NBA Draft and signing with an agent, but later changed his decision and two months later entered the transfer portal. This season, he will be using his fifth and final year of eligibility afforded because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It has something (to do with) declaring for the draft. Some paperwork involved with that. I won’t go into details, but nothing the kid has really done wrong,” Stansbury said. “A lot of moving parts with everything right now, and at the same time, he didn’t have a coach. There wasn’t no coaches there, people to really give him some insight on some things. Hopefully we’ll know sooner than later with him.”

Cincinnati parted ways with coach John Brannen after two seasons on April 9 and announced Wes Miller as its new coach April 14.

Harmon is a true freshman out of Marshall County High School, where he averaged 22.3 points per game in a senior season that was shortened due to injury. Harmon was a consensus four-star recruit and a top-50 prospect in the country by ESPN. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound guard won a KHSAA state title with Bowling Green as an eighth grader in 2017.

“Zion’s a really good kid and we’re all trying to help him right now through these issues,” Stansbury said after the game. “It’s all personal issues that he has and players, coaches, support staff – everybody’s trying to help him get through some of these things. We’ll see as we move forward. I have no timeframe for it now – no timeframe for his return right now.”

WKU is scheduled to host University of the Cumberlands in its second exhibition game Friday at 7 p.m. before opening the regular season against Alabama State on Nov. 9 at E.A. Diddle Arena.{&end}