JEFF NATIONS / jeff.nations@bgdailynews.com

Tyrone Marshall Jr. has been providing Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball team with a burst of pizzazz since he set foot on campus.

Now going into his third season with the Hilltoppers, Marshall’s flashy play generates plenty of highlight-reel moments for the program. Even his introduction is a little something extra – Hilltoppers fans are long familiar with his pregame introduction, courtesy of E.A. Diddle Arena’s PA announcer Cody Schuler – Tyrone “Woooooooooooo” Marshall.

“Woo” might be how most WKU fans think of Marshall, but that nickname went through a modification before he embarked on his college basketball career.

“So my real nickname is Needy Woo,” Marshall said. “My mom just says I was needy all the time, so she gave me the nickname Needy Woo. I don’t know where she got the Woo from, but my mom gave it to me. So going on in high school, I got tired of getting called Needy Woo so I slashed the Needy and put Woo. Ever since then, everybody was calling me Woo but when I got to WKU it seemed like it got big here and I just rolled with it.”

Marshall, a 6-foot-7 graduate senior from Nashville, has been rolling since he joined the Hilltoppers prior to the 2022-23 season as a transfer from Colby Community College, where he played two seasons after a standout prep career at Pearl-Cohn High School.

That first season with the Tops, Marshall flashed as an electric athlete capable of giving his team a jolt of energy off the bench. He averaged just 3.0 points per game and 13.6 minutes, but had worked into a regular rotation spot by the time Conference USA play kicked off.

When WKU coach Rick Stansbury resigned following a 17-16 campaign and much of the staff that recruited him also departed, Marshall considered transferring elsewhere. Ultimately, he stayed as a part of a core group of scholarship holdovers along with Khristian Lander, Dontaie Allen and Fallou Diagne to play for new head coach Steve Lutz.

“It was kind of my teammates,” Marshall said. “Khristian Lander, that’s like a teammate who became like a brother. After I saw he was staying, I was like I might as well give it another shot too if he’s going to stay because I put my trust into him too. He’s a guy that when I was going through a little tough stage, he was there for me to pick me up and talk to me. Me hearing he was staying really gave me that pop where I was like I’m going to stay here with you too and we’re going to see what coach Lutz is talking about.”

Under Lutz, the Tops had a breakthrough season in 2023-24, winning the CUSA tournament championship to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade and finishing the season with a 22-12 record.

Marshall played a pivotal role in that success, starting 33 of 34 games he played in and averaging 8.8 points (third-most on team) and 4.5 rebounds (fourth on team) while leading the Tops in steals (50) and blocked shots (36).

“I feel like it’s a part of my game,” Marshall said. “I remember last year coach Lutz was always telling me before I’d get back in the game, go get a steal, go get a dunk, get the crowd into it. I love the fans. I just love the atmosphere here. I love when the fans come out and cheer us on because that really gives us momentum. It was so fun last year when we played Sam Houston here and when we got Liberty for the first conference game here and it was the top two best teams playing and the crowd was just going crazy. It helps us in tough moments, like our fans have got our back so lets not let them down here today.”

Lutz departed to take the head coaching job at Oklahoma State following the season, with his top assistant Hank Plona elevated to the head coaching job at WKU. This time around, Marshall never had any thoughts of transferring elsewhere.

“It was tough, the growth,” Marshall said. “But I saw WKU come from the bottom to the top and it really made me excited to see that. I was really happy to be a part of that, to win a championship here from being the last probably in the conference to the top of the conference my second year here. And now we’ve got coach Hank and I know for a fact – you see his resume, he wins. And we’re definitely going to win this year and he’ll make sure we’re gonna win.”

Part of winning for Plona is getting the most out of his players, Marshall included. The versatile forward has proven he can be the best player on the floor any given night – in the Tops’ matchup against Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Marshall was absolutely electric in the first half, hitting 6-of-8 shots from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range for 17 points, five rebounds five assists and two blocks in the first 20 minutes to lead the 15th-seeded Hilltoppers to a 43-36 halftime lead against the No. 2 seed Golden Eagles. Marshall finished with a career-high 21 points in the Tops’ 87-69 loss.

“He’s proved that he can succeed and be the best player on the floor with a bunch of NBA players out there,” Plona said. “So I think when Woo’s at his best, oh man, his best is really, really good.

“ … He’s not going to have his best every day, but you should have your best effort and your best focus. Let’s say a couple of those shots don’t go in – he’s playing great, but he’s 0-for-5. Right there is probably the area that him and I talk about a lot; just because you miss shots doesn’t mean you’re not playing good. You can still be the best player on the floor, even if you’re not scoring, even if the stats aren’t showing up – still be the 6-7, do-it-all player that really has no position, that can play every position, that can guard anybody, that can catch the ball in any spot. I think Tyrone’s upside is just through the roof.”

Marshall, an All-CUSA Honorable Mention selection last season, is determined to make sure that Marquette performance becomes more of a norm in his final season of collegiate eligibility.

“I can definitely do it more often,” Marshall said. “That was a crazy game. I was just in the moment. It was our first time on that big stage, so a lot of us were nervous and somebody had to come out there and just give that pop and show them that we might be Conference USA but we can run with the Big East.”

Marshall is a Preseason All-CUSA pick this year along with teammate Don McHenry, who led the team in scoring last season with 15.1 points per game. Marshall wasn’t expecting that early recognition, but he welcomes the added motivation of meeting expectations.

“It kind of surprised me when I got it,” Marshall said. “I was definitely excited because I’ve put in a lot of work last year and I’m putting in work this year. It made me where I want to fight harder this year to get another ring for Bowling Green, Kentucky. So it definitely made me excited to see it – shocking, too.”

Succeeding on an individual level is all just part of the bigger plan for Marshall, who intends to make his final season with the Hilltoppers another one to remember.

“I’m just happy to be a part of this program and this WKU family,” Marshall said. “And I’m definitely wanting to get us another ring here before I leave out.”