Western Kentucky has a chance to pick up a little momentum heading into next week’s Conference USA Men’s Basketball Championship.

The Hilltoppers have just two more games left in the regular season, both at home, starting with Florida International on Thursday night at E.A. Diddle Arena. The regular-season finale is two days later when the Tops host Liberty on Senior Day.

WKU (16-13 overall, 7-9 in Conference USA) will be looking to even the regular-season series against FIU in Thursday’s 7 p.m. rematch at Diddle. The Panthers pummeled the Tops by hitting 11-of-22 from 3-point range in an 85-66 win on Jan. 4 in Miami one of the best wins of the season for FIU (9-20, 3-13).

“We’ve got to figure that out,” WKU coach Hank Plona said. “They’ve struggled to shoot the ball really since then. In a couple of their wins they’ve shot it well, and then in their losses they’ve really struggled. So we’ve got to make a decision, where to pressure out and to really try and take away the 3. When they haven’t made 3s, they have struggled to win. So I would think limiting that is an important part of the game. At the same time, going into the first game we thought those guys were more drivers than shooters and they proved us otherwise.”

The Hillltoppers who split on a two-game road trip this past weekend with an impressive 80-73 win at UTEP followed by a scuffling performance in a 65-47 loss Saturday at New Mexico State. Overall, it wasn’t a bad showing for the Tops. The win against UTEP gives WKU the tie-breaker over the Miners in the league standings, which could be important depending on who the final regular-season results play out.

The goal remains the same — try and reach the top six in the final regular-season standings to avoid a first-round game, which would make the path to the CUSA championship that much harder with four games instead of three next week in Huntsville, Alabama.

WKU and UTEP are currently tied for seventh, one game behind Louisiana Tech and 1 1/2 games back of Kennesaw State. By winning their final two at home and getting a bit of help, the Hilltoppers can still avoid the tougher route in the postseason.

A victory against FIU on Thursday — the 7 p.m. game will be broadcast on ESPN+ — would guarantee a winning season in Plona’s first year leading the program. That counts for something, even if it isn’t Plona’s primary focus heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

“I guess at the end of the year we can look at the whole picture,” Plona said. “It’s important to try and do the best we can do every day and every game. I mean, I want to win every game. We’ve had some hurdles this year that have certainly made this season a challenge. I guess I look at it like we have two more home games this week and I know if we win them both we improve our standings in the league. I want the season always, when you look back, to look as good as possible. It’s been a long time since I’ve been part of a team that hasn’t had a winning record, so yeah I guess I do want one. But I want us to do better than that too. I wouldn’t tell you there’s any comfort or (contentment) in that.

” … We have FIU on Thursday night. If we can win that one, then it sets up a big game (against Liberty) on Saturday. We’ll try and take it one game at a time and keep chipping away at this. We have an opportunity to get a lot more wins this year. So I think that’s our focus moving forward.”

GAINING STRENGTH

The Hilltoppers, ravaged by injuries all season long, regained a bit of strength last week the return of graduate senior guard Khristian Lander from a back injury that prompted him to sit out the second half of the Feb. 20 home loss to Sam Houston and miss the Feb. 22 win against Louisiana Tech. Lander played in both games this past weekend, tallying a combined 18 points.

WKU potentially has more help coming this week with the expected return of senior guard Enoch Kalambay, who has missed three straight games for unspecified reasons.

“He’s in a good physical and mental spot right now,” Plona said of Kalambay. “He’s practiced the last couple days and he’s available to play on Thursday.”

Kalambay, in his second season with the program, is averaging 8.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season.

The news was less positive regarding injured freshman guard Julius Thedford, who hasn’t played since dislocating his right kneecap in a Jan. 18 loss at Middle Tennessee. WKU had hoped Thedford could return at some point this season.

“It’s probably more definite — he’s still not a full go and I would think … I guess I don’t want to lie to you, so I wouldn’t say 1,000% out, but I’d say it’s very, very doubtful that Julius plays these next two weeks,” Plona said.