Western Kentucky picked up its first road win of the season on Saturday at Evansville.

Now the Hilltoppers are back home at E.A. Diddle Arena looking to continue building momentum with a 7 p.m. matchup against Tennessee State on Tuesday night. It will be the first of four straight home games for the Tops, with Murray State set for Saturday, then Seattle (Dec. 17) and Kentucky Wesleyan (Dec. 21) the following week.

WKU (5-3) has won two straight after knocking off Marshall at home on Nov. 30 and dispatching the Purples Aces 79-65 on Saturday at the Ford Center.

“Obviously a little home stretch for us here with four games, so Tennessee State (on) Tuesday, Murray, Seattle, Kentucky Wesleyan,” WKU head coach Hank Plona said. “It’s always one game at a time. But at the same time, we’re here home for the next two weeks so we kind of have a day-to-day structure and routine as far as what’s in front of us. Last night and today it’s getting ready for a pretty strong Tennessee State (Tuesday). A very important game for us – obviously it was great to get a win on the road against Evansville on Saturday, second half we played pretty well. That’s two straight games where I think we’ve kind of pulled away in the second half, so it was good that we’ve fought through some adversity and gotten stronger as the game goes on.”

With Enoch Kalambay slowed after a blow to the head and neck area and Jalen Jackson limited by a slightly turned ankle, the Tops needed more contributions from elsewhere against Evansville. Senior point guard Don McHenry tallied 17 points, freshman Julius Thedford continued his stellar first season with 16 points, Braxton Bayless had what Plona thought was his best game of the season with 11 points and five assists, and Leeroy Odiahi came off the bench to provide quality minutes. But it was senior forward Babacar Faye who delivered the most with a double-double, tallying 19 points and 12 rebounds and going 3-for-3 from beyond the 3-point line.

“He’s (been) a part of three very good basketball teams and has good roles on those teams, but obviously this is the first year where he’s probably been in as big of a featured role as he is,” Plona said of Faye. “And that’s a credit to him. He’s earned that. He’s certainly earned the respect of his teammates.

“He finally made a couple shots at the (3-point line) the other day … trust me, I know that sometimes when you haven’t seen a guy do that in a game and that guy finally steps up and shoots … I try not to hear any noise, but sometimes I hear get in the paint. To his credit, he’s just worked very, very hard to be a complete player. He shoots the ball very well every day in practice. That adds a dynamic to our team.”

Plona expects a fast-paced matchup Tuesday against the Tigers, who like to push the tempo nearly as much as the Hilltoppers. WKU enters Tuesday’s game ranked No. 11 nationally in adjusted tempo, while Tennessee State (3-6) rates at No. 29 in that same category.

“They’re statistically on the year, their pace is I think top 10%,” Plona said. “It’s one of the faster teams that we’ll play all year, so I would expect them to be. They’ve shown some different defenses in some road games, trying to slow people down. So we’ll be ready for anything, but yeah they push the ball pretty good.”

Redshirt junior Brandon Weston, a 6-foot-5 guard, has led the Tigers in scoring this season with 17 points per game. Three others are averaging double-digit scoring for Tennessee State – senior forward Carlous Williams (12 points per game), junior guard Justus Jackson (11.1 ppg) and junior guard Aaron Nkrumah (10.1 ppg).

Faye leads the Tops in scoring this season at 15.5 points per game, with McHenry (14.8 ppg), Thedford (13.8 ppg) and graduate senior guard Khristian Lander (10.0 ppg) also averaging double digits.

KEITA UPDATE

WKU redshirt senior Blaise Keita, a 6-11 forward center, missed Saturday’s game against Evansville after playing just one minute in the previous game against Marshall. Still bothered by a bruised bone in his knee, Keita has seen action in just six games for the Hilltoppers this season.

Plona said Keita got an injection in the ailing knee and will likely miss Tuesday’s matchup against Tennessee State and is questionable for the Murray State game this weekend.

“Blaise just hasn’t fully been back to being full speed and was getting frustrated with how he was struggling to impact the game, so we took a different line of treatment,” Plona said. “I would think Blaise would be out tomorrow night for Tennessee State, I would say questionable for Saturday. We’re just trying to get him some treatment and trying to get him some medicine.

“It’s just a bone bruise in his knee that has just lingered and lingered and obviously he’s had some leg injuries in the past. We’re just trying to get him healthy with the goal being that by the time we hit our conference season he’ll be able to be the player that we intend for him to be.”