Western Kentucky’s short-handed roster expects to get an immediate bump for this week’s road trip, but long-term help won’t be coming for the Hilltoppers.

WKU men’s basketball coach Hank Plona said during his weekly news conference Monday that graduate senior guard Khristian Lander practiced with the team Monday and is expected to make the trip to UTEP on Thursday and New Mexico State on Saturday and be available to play after sitting out a game and a half with a back issue.

The rest of the news was not so positive for the Hilltoppers. Senior forward Babacar Faye hasn’t played since injuring his right knee in WKU’s 90-82 win against Marshall at E.A. Diddle Arena on Nov. 30. He will miss the rest of the season and seek a medical redshirt, Plona said.

“He’s still not healthy, but getting there,” Plona said. “He’s going to apply for a medical redshirt. Obviously played 10 games, so he still has the ability to do that.”

Faye, a 6-foot-8 forward in his second season with the program, was having a breakout campaign before the injury. He was second on the team in scoring (15.2 points per game) and the top rebounder (7.8 rebounds per game) at the time of his injury.

Plona said standout freshman guard Julius Thedford, who has been out since dislocating his right kneecap in the Tops’ 71-57 loss at Middle Tennessee on Jan. 18, “is doubtful” to play again this season. WKU had hoped that Faye, whose injury did not require surgery, and Thedford would be able to return at some point this season.

“Again, not running, not sprinting – it’s just going to be very hard I think in two weeks to get to that point,” Plona said of Thedford. “But I’ll use the word doubtful rather than out.”

Thedford, a true freshman out of Memphis, has been an impactful addition to the roster this year. The 6-4 guard has played in 18 games with six starts and has averaged 12.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Thedford cannot take a medical redshirt due to exceeding the game limit to apply.

WKU senior guard Enoch Kalambay, who was not with the team during Saturday’s 64-63 home win against Louisiana Tech, will not make the road trip for non-injury reasons. Kalambay played just eight minutes in the game before Saturday’s win against LA Tech, a 78-62 home loss to Sam Houston that saw the 6-6 senior guard sit out the entire second half.

Plona said Kalambay has not returned to practice, but has been lifting as he prepares to return to playing.

“He is still part of the team,” Plona said. “We’re working on a plan to just kind of get him back in the right physical and mental spot that he needs to be to be the best player that he can be. We’ll reevaluate and hopefully he’s able to return after the trip.”

Kalambay, in his second year at WKU, has played in 25 games (14 starts) and has averaged 8.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season.

Lander, a graduate senior guard from Evansville, Indiana, has had a strong final season for the Hilltoppers – his third with the program after transferring from Indiana. He is averaging 11.9 points and 3.6 rebounds, and is second on the team with 41 made 3-pointers. Lander also sat out the second half against Sam Houston after trying to play through a sore back caused during the Tops’ 87-77 home loss to Middle Tennessee on Feb. 15.

“He had a X-ray on Monday – no broken bones,” Plona said. “His back’s bothering him – landed in the Middle Tennessee game towards the end or on a layup hit the floor or something. He kind of had a little nerve-tingling feeling going leg, so they did an MRI on Wednesday and there’s just inflammation in one of the discs – fifth vertebrae, maybe – something like that. The MRI showed inflammation that caused a nerve just to be bothering him, so it’s a painful thing. I can’t tell you the exact treatment, but they do treatment on these things and it’s been getting better and better. He practiced last Wednesday and by Thursday he didn’t feel as good but tried to play, then he got more treatment and saw a specialist on Friday.

“He said he felt way better yesterday and looked good in practice. I have not seen him today, but unless there’s some kind of setback that’s unforeseen he’s a full go in practice (Tuesday and Wednesday) and will be playing on Thursday night.”

WKU entered the season with a shorter than expected bench when sophomore guard Teagan Moore, who averaged 6.2 points and 2.3 rebounds as a true freshman, elected to use a redshirt season as he recovers from offseason hip surgery. Moore joined a trio of Hilltoppers already slated to miss the entire season due to knee injuries – redshirt senior forward/center Fallou Diagne, graduate senior guard Terrion Murdix and freshman guard Kade Unseld.

One potential healthy addition to this season’s roster is junior guard Cade Stinnett, a former Greenwood High School standout who joined the program as a walk-on after two strong seasons at Centre College. Stinnett has been redshirted this year, and Plona said that plan has not changed despite the slew of injuries to this year’s squad.

“Not in my mind – I’ve had that suggestion from a couple staff members, just because there’s probably ways that it maybe does make sense,” Plona said of pulling Stinnett’s redshirt and having him join the roster this season. “But Cade and I had a plan when he came here and hopefully as you see, Jaylen Dorsey is more than capable of playing the role that we need him to play right now. We’ll have Khristian back on Thursday.

“Cade Stinnett and I had a game plan, a three-year plan, and I gave him my word on a couple things. And I bet if I asked him, he’d be willing to pull that redshirt. At the same time, I think he’s an important part of our future and I never have interest in sacrificing what that plan was to try and play five, seven minutes here and there.”

The low numbers have made practices a bit more challenging, but Stinnett has helped in that regard as he anchors the lineup that simulates that week’s opponent – along with sophomore guard Jack Edelen, fellow walk-ons senior Tyler Olden and Dorsey, plus one of either Blaise Keita or Leroy Odiahi in the post.

“He always simulates the best player, the best shooter,” Plona said. “Cade Stinnett is a very good basketball player. He’s a guy that is obviously redshirting this year, he’s a walk-on, a local kid. But Cade is going to be able to help us in our future here.”