Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball team got a little extra rest after a tough road trip last week.

The Hilltoppers faced a light slate this week, with no Thursday game before heading into Saturday’s 7 p.m. matchup against Conference USA rival Middle Tennessee at E.A. Diddle Arena. CBSSN will broadcast the game.

Maybe that extra time off will help the Tops regain a bit of extra zip – not to mention a couple players on a roster that dipped into dangerously thin territory by last weekend. The Hilltoppers used just eight players in Saturday’s 85-83 road loss to league-leading Jacksonville State – walk-on guard Jaylen Dorsey logged seven minutes, two days after playing 11 minutes in last week’s loss at Kennesaw State – as the Tops were without guard Enoch Kalambay, who was out with the flu.

WKU (14-10 overall, 5-6 CUSA) was also without sophomore guard Jack Edelen for both of last week’s games following his arrest on charges of driving under the influence. Edelen did not make the road trip.

WKU head coach Hank Plona said Kalambay returned to practice Monday and is looking better, and also expected Edelen to be available to play Saturday if he put in a solid week of practice.

The Tops could use that added depth facing Middle Tennessee (16-8, 7-4 CUSA), which enters Saturday’s latest installment of the “100 Miles of Hate” rivalry sitting tied for third in the CUSA standings, just 1 1/2 games back of leader Jax State.

“I know it’s a great rivalry and I know everybody at both universities has a little special interest in the game and that’s awesome,” Plona said. “To me, it’ll be awesome if we have a great crowd out there in Diddle and we’ll play the best that we can.”

The Tops lost the first matchup against the Blue Raiders this season in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. WKU led 28-27 at halftime in that Jan. 18 meeting, but a frightening knee injury to talented freshman guard Julius Thedford came just before MTSU put together a dominating run in the second half to claim going away 71-57 victory.

Guard Jestin Porter leads the Blue Raiders in scoring at 16.3 points per game, with center Essam Mostafa next at 13.1 points followed by guards Camryn Weston and Jlynn Counter – both at 10.9 points per outing.

“They’ve been a little up and down, but obviously a great win at Kennesaw on Saturday,” Plona said. “Those guards, Porter and Weston, always give you problems. And Porter’s been playing really good. Weston had 14 assists the other night – he hasn’t been scoring quite as much, but man Weston was fantastic in the first game against us.

” … Porter and Weston are kind of the guys that make them go, but Jlynn Counter had a great game against us the first time (we played). Some of those other guys … (Tre) Green will go in there and make some shots, hit a couple big 3s in the second half during their run that extended it from about a tie game to a 10-point game. When you struggle with scoring and throw up a bad shot, they do occasionally get out in transition and they kind of blew the game open at their place.”

The Hilltoppers, currently tied for seventh in the CUSA standings, have the opportunity to get back on track with a three-game homestand starting with Saturday’s game against MTSU before home against next week against Sam Houston and Louisiana Tech. The Hilltoppers are 11-2 at Diddle this season, 3-8 on the road.

“We’ve been successful here,” Plona said. “We’d much rather play in Diddle than anywhere else. I think we’ve had more success than not. At the same time, you don’t win just because you play at home. We’re playing Middle Tennessee, Sam Houston, Louisiana Tech … I mean, these next three are very talented basketball teams.”

Plona said keeping the Blue Raiders’ offense under wraps will be crucial Saturday – if the Tops can hold MTSU to “around 32 points” each half, Plona likes his team’s chances to win.

INJURY UPDATE

Plona updated the status of Thedford and injured senior forward Babacar Faye during Tuesday’s weekly news conference.

Neither will play Saturday, but one more both could play again before the season is over.

“Julius is progressing,” Plona said of Thedford, who hasn’t played since his injury against MTSU. “Obviously a dislocated kneecap is his injury. I saw him working out yesterday. He’s not sprinting, running or jumping. But I think it’s progressing in the right direction. His job is to work his tail off every day to get back. Whatever the result of that is – I mean, we have four more weeks of regular-season play, I guess Huntsville (for the CUSA tournament) is in five, I think that it’s within the realm of possibility that he’s back at some point in that time.

” … We don’t want him to re-injure the knee, we don’t want him to press it. I would guess it’s a couple more weeks. If he’s healthy and he can play, he will play.”

Faye is still recovering from a right knee injury suffered during the Tops’ 90-82 home win against Marshall on Nov. 30. The injury did not require surgery, but rehabilitation continues for the 6-foot-8 forward from Saly, Senegal. At the time of his injury, Faye was WKU’s second-leading scorer (15.2 points per game) and leading rebounder (7.8 rpg).

“He’s not running, sprinting or jumping yet either,” Plona said. “Obviously if we get to the point where it’s just four or five games to go, do you consider sitting him out to have another year to play? There is that question with Baba.”