Camron Justice has a chance to get back in a Western Kentucky basketball jersey.

Justice, who played for the Hilltoppers in the 2019-20 season and has been in his first year serving as a men’s basketball graduate assistant in an academic adviser role, was cleared for an additional year of eligibility and is immediately eligible, a source told the Daily News on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound guard from Hindman joined WKU as a graduate transfer from IUPUI for the 2019-20 season after starting his career at Vanderbilt. He played in 27 of 30 games for the Hilltoppers during the 2019-20 season, starting 18 games. He averaged 10.1 points while shooting 37.3% from the field and 32.9% from 3-point range. He also averaged 1.4 assists in 27.6 minutes per game. Justice was limited and/or out for roughly a month of Conference USA play because of a bulging disc in his back.

Justice’s extra eligibility primarily stems from a combination of a hardship waiver from the time of his departure at Vanderbilt when he was injured, coupled with the extra year amid the COVID-19 pandemic he didn’t previously take advantage of, the source said.

Justice was in his first year in an academic adviser graduate assistant role for the Hilltoppers, where he advised basketball student-athletes through day-to-day academic responsibilities, as well as managing and assisting with their academic progress and post-graduate aspirations.

“He’s been really good in his new role. He’s been really good,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said Nov. 1 when asked about Justice’s role following the Hilltoppers’ exhibition win over Campbellsville. “You’ve got a veteran guy that understands, he’s been through it, been in the real world, worked for a year in the real world. He’s the guy helping us academically. We’ll see moving forward how that role continues to grow or develop, or if there’s other roles and opportunities for him. Naturally he wants to go into coaching some day, so we’ll see as we move forward what happens with that.”

At IUPUI, Justice averaged 18.6 points – he shot 35.2% from 3-point range – 3.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals as a redshirt junior, and was named to the All-Horizon League second team. He sat out at IUPUI in 2017-18 as a junior to satisfy transfer requirements after coming from Vanderbilt, where he appeared in seven games as a sophomore before deciding to transfer after the fall semester. He played in 27 games as a true freshman in 2015-16, averaging 3.3 points and shooting 38.9% from 3-point range.

Justice was a four-star prospect by ESPN out of Knott County Central and was named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and Kentucky’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015. Knott County Central played in three straight Sweet Sixteens. He averaged 28.5 points as a senior, and finished his high school career third in KHSAA history with 3,588 points and 393 3-pointers.

WKU is scheduled to next play Minnesota in the Asheville Championship in Asheville, N.C., on Friday, and will also play either South Carolina or Princeton in the event Sunday.{&end}