Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball team won’t be claiming the Conference USA men’s basketball regular-season championship this season.

With four games to go and trailing current leader by 4 1/2 games in the standings – Jax State has only three games left – the Hilltoppers can’t reach the top of the CUSA standings.

That doesn’t mean these final regular-season games don’t have significance, starting with Thursday night’s 8 p.m. road game against UTEP at the Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

The Hilltoppers are currently eighth in the 10-team league standings. That’s not where they want to be – at next month’s CUSA Championship in Huntsville, Alabama, the top six teams in the league get a first-round bye. In WKU’s case, reaching the top six would allow the Tops to play three games instead of four, and likely start the tournament two days later. That’s especially significant for squad as beat up and short-handed as the Hilltoppers have been this season.

“It certainly would make the path simpler, I think,” WKU coach Hank Plona said. “I think I’d much rather be in the top six than the bottom four. It is what it is. We’ll take the court and we’ll do what we can do. Hey, if we win all four games we will be (in the top six) – maybe if we win three, I don’t know, I don’t look at all the math. But I think you definitely want to try to avoid playing in the first round if you can, but we can’t magically control that.

“We play UTEP on Thursday night, we play New Mexico State on Saturday night and obviously if we’re able be successful in those games then hey, we’ve earned it. We deserve to hopefully avoid that round. But if we play well – or poorly – and we’re not able to do it, then you have to take whatever path that you earn for better or worse.”

WKU (15-12 overall, 6-8 CUSA) is coming off a crucial 64-63 win Saturday against CUSA preseason favorite Louisiana Tech at E.A. Diddle Arena. Much seemed stacked against the Tops heading into that game – already on a four-game losing streak including the last two at home, the Tops played without injured guard Khristian Lander and fellow guard Enoch Kalambay. But behind a career-high 27 points from graduate guard Braxton Bayless, the Tops pulled out the victory.

Despite Plona announcing during Tuesday’s weekly news conference that injured forward Babacar Faye is out the rest of the season and will apply for a medical redshirt and injured guard Julius Thedford likely won’t play again this season, the Tops will probably be in better shape roster-wise for Thursday’s matchup against the Miners. Kalambay won’t make the trip – Plona said he is still a part of the team and is working to get back to playing by getting to the “right physical and mental spot that he needs be to be the best player that he can be.”

The good news for the Tops is the likely return of Lander, who missed Saturday’s game and sat out the entire second half of last week’s home loss to Sam Houston with a sore back.

Lander has stepped up his contributions throughout the season as the Tops’ roster has been decimated by injuries. His 11.9 points per game puts the graduate senior guard second on the team in scoring among active players – senior guard Don McHenry leads the team with 17.6 points per game – and the Evansville, Indiana, native has been a sturdy defender for the Tops.

UTEP (17-10, 7-7 CUSA) is holding onto a top-six spot in the conference standings – barely. The Miners are sixth in the league and also have four left to play. UTEP has lost three straight games.

The Hilltoppers won the first matchup this season 78-74 on Jan. 30 at Diddle – Lander had 28 points and McHenry had 20 as the Tops overcame 18 turnovers by shooting a strong 55.6% from the field.

That’s the Miners’ game – forcing turnovers and converting them into easy baskets. UTEP features the top two in steals – Otis Frazier III (2.4 steals per game) and Corey Camper Jr. (2.2 steals per game) – and four of the top 10 in that category. Camper missed the first meeting against WKU, but is expected to play Thursday. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

“I think when you play UTEP, their focus is always on forcing turnovers,” Plona said. “So you certainly need to understand where the pressure’s coming from, understand the situations that we have struggled in and figure out how to take care of that basketball, keep it moving and hopefully get a good shot.”