The Western Kentucky men’s basketball team will likely be without senior forward Babacar Faye for the next two games with head coach Hank Plona listing Faye as doubtful for Tuesday’s home tilt with Seattle and Saturday’s home game against Kentucky Wesleyan.

Faye left Saturday’s game against Murray State with a right knee injury. He had an MRI on Sunday which Plona said confirmed the injury.

“We are still trying to figure out treatment, the process here over the next two or three weeks,” Plona said. “Obviously we have an off week after this week so I would say he is doubtful for (Tuesday) and Saturday. We will see how he responds to treatment the next week or two and go from there.”

Faye leads the Hilltoppers in rebounding (7.8 rpg) and is second in scoring (15.2 ppg).

“I am thinking at the end of the break in two weeks we will have an idea of what his timeline looks like. I’d give you one now but we have to see how he responds to treatment. There is a knee injury. Babacar is a tough kid.”

Faye is the second post player sidelined for WKU. Senior center Blaise Keita has been out the last three games and will continue to be out the remainder of the homestand. Plona said he is hopeful Keita can return for the Michigan game on Dec. 29 or worst case by the conference opener against Liberty on Jan. 2.

Without Faye and Keita, WKU will continue its four-game homestand against a Seattle team that is 4-6 on the season, including losses to fellow Conference USA members Liberty and UTEP. The Redhawks finished 23-14 last season.

“They are talented on offense,” Plona said. Creighton transfer John Christofillis “can really shoot the ball. They set a lot of down screens for him. We can’t let him get good looks from 3. Leading scorer, leading rebounder (Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe) was at Georgia, was at Oklahoma State. He creates a lot of action with his activity. We have to keep him off the glass. If he is able to get 15 rebounds there is probably five putbacks in there. If he has 20 points and 15 rebounds then we are in for a long night.

“They are a talented offensive team. I think they have been a little up and down defensively. Hopefully we can control the tempo, control the pace and make them a little uncomfortable.”

Tuesday’s game will be the third straight at Diddle Arena, part of a four-game homestand that began with a win over Tennessee State and continued with Saturday’s overtime win against in-state rival Murray State.

WKU battled back from eight down in regulation before winning in overtime. Plona is hopeful that momentum can carry over to Tuesday’s game, which is scheduled to tip at 7 p.m.

“You want to build off that,” Plona said. “The Murray State game was a game where we felt like we were climbing uphill the whole game. I think they led for 30 minutes or so and we led for 10 minutes or so. I think when you have games where things don’t go perfect and you are able to get a win in a rivalry game, you want to build off that momentum.”