Rick Stansbury didn’t hesitate after Thursday’s victory over Gardner-Webb when discussing Western Kentucky’s next opponent – he believes it’ll be the best team to visit E.A. Diddle Arena this season.

The Hilltoppers will host a Rhode Island team that’s faced a tough schedule early this season in an 11 a.m. game Sunday.

“First thing you need to know with 3-3 is who they’ve played, who’s beat them,” Stansbury said Thursday. “ … They have three losses, but they’re really quality teams. They will be the most talented team that’s going to come into Diddle Arena this season as of right now, unless (associate athletic director for communications and men’s basketball) Zach (Greenwell) finds somebody else. It will have to be a real talented team, and I don’t think a real talented team is going to come back up in here.”

The Rams have already faced two top-25 teams and three Power Five teams this season. They lost to then-No. 18 Arizona State and Boston College at the Empire Classic to open the season, before wins over South Florida and San Francisco – the Dons have a victory over then-No. 4 Virginia – at the Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff. Rhode Island also beat Seton Hall, and is coming off a loss to No. 13 Wisconsin.

“They got beat by an Arizona State – that was a tie game with about four minutes to go – that was a top-25 team,” Stansbury said. “Then they got beat on the road at Wisconsin where they outplayed Wisconsin in the second half. They got down in the first half 16, cut it to eight in the second half. Their third loss was I think Boston College – another really good team.”

Rhode Island is led in scoring by 5-foot-11 senior guard Fatts Russell at 16 points per game. Jeremy Sheppard – who sat out last year due to transfer rules after spending a year at College of Central Florida in 2018-19 and East Carolina in 2016-17 – also scores in double figures at 11.8 points per game, and Jalen Carey and Antwan Walker are both averaging over nine points a night.

The Rams do a good job of getting to the free-throw line – they’re ranked second in the nation in both free throws made (125) and attempted (177).

“When you look at Rhode Island, you’ll see that they’re going to be big, they have four or five guys on that back line. Just a big, huge team,” Stansbury said. “They’ve got great guard play in Russell – an all-league guy. … Talent-wise, depth-wise, you will see a huge, talented team in here Sunday afternoon – a team that has a chance against anybody on a given night.”

WKU (4-2) lost an overtime game in Kingston, R.I., last year 86-82 in the first meeting between the two programs. It was the Hilltoppers’ first real game – it had an exhibition against Kentucky Wesleyan – after losing Charles Bassey for the season and learning Kenny Cooper would not have his transfer waiver approved. Carson Williams led WKU with 26 points and 14 rebounds, and made a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime.

“Last year I didn’t play, but I watched them,” Bassey said Thursday. “They’re a very good team. They’ve got a good guard – Russell. We’re just going to go back and watch film as a team and just see how we’re going to play them.”

Like Rhode Island, WKU has also faced a challenging schedule – Ken Pomeroy ranks it the 31st toughest in the country, and the two losses came to then-No. 15 West Virginia and Louisville – so there hasn’t been much time to experiment with lineups. Even Thursday’s game against the Runnin’ Bulldogs, where WKU entered favored by 20, ended up being a two-point game.

“We haven’t had many learning curves or experiences so far,” Stansbury said. “Mississippi Valley is the one game you kind of had a little bit of a learning curve. Outside of that, it hadn’t really been any learning curves where we could really experiment and do a lot of things differently, so we’ve got to learn on the fly.

“ … We’ll keep getting some more continuity and figure it out. The good thing is I think we’ve got some options and some pieces that we can move around a little bit. When you can bring a (Jordan) Rawls, a Luke (Frampton) off that bench and a Davy (McKnight) off that bench – those are three quality guys that can be starters, that can play starter minutes any night, that can help you win any game. Some nights, some guys are going to be better than others, but we’ve got some options with some guys.”

Having both Bassey and Cooper available this season has been a learning process, Stansbury says, and the Hilltoppers have tried to feed both Bassey and Williams. On Thursday, the two big men combined for 27 shots attempted. Bassey had a career-high 29 points, plus 14 rebounds, but Williams was held scoreless on 0 for 8 shooting.

The Hilltoppers had 20 assists to just four turnovers – including a team-high seven assists from Cooper – after a 21-assist game before that against Mississippi Valley State, where McKnight led the team with seven.

“We’re still trying to learn all the new pieces,” Stansbury said. “Remember, last year we played small after Charles went out. We’ve got two new point guards we’re playing with, and we’re playing with Carson and Charles a bunch now – 20 minutes a game at least – together. Those are the adjustments.

“Also, I think we know this. We’ve learned we’ve got some guys that can go make some basketball plays besides Taveion (Hollingsworth). We know Dayvion can go make some plays, we know Luke’s capable of making shots, we know Rawls gives us some good skill out there. We need skill, especially around Charles and Carson some.”

WKU currently has one more nonconference game scheduled after Sunday. The Hilltoppers are scheduled to host Tennessee Tech on Dec. 22, but are still trying to fill a nonconference scheduling vacancy.

RHODE ISLAND (3-3) AT WESTERN KENTUCKY (4-2)

11 a.m., Sunday, E.A. Diddle Arena

Probable starters

RHODE ISLAND

Jeremy Sheppard, g, 6-1, sr. (11.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg); Fatts Russell, g, 5-11, sr. (16.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg); Makhel Mitchell, c, 6-9, so. (5.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg); Malik Martin, g, 6-6, jr. (5.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg)%5E; Antwan Walker, f, 6-7, r-jr. (9.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg).

WESTERN KENTUCKY

Taveion Hollingsworth, g, 6-2, sr. (16.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg); Kenny Cooper, g, 6-0, r-sr. (3.8 ppg, 3.0 apg); Charles Bassey, c, 6-11, jr. (17.0 ppg, 11.7 rpg); Carson Williams, f, 6-5, r-sr. (5.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg); Josh Anderson, g, 6-6, sr. (8.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg)

Television

CBS Sports Network

Radio

Hilltopper Sports Network

Coaches

David Cox (42-27, third year; 42-27 overall), Rhode Island; Rick Stansbury (86-54, fifth year; 379-220 overall), WKU.

Series record

Rhode Island leads the series 1-0 (The Rams won the last meeting 86-82 in overtime on Dec. 21, 2019, in Rhode Island).

Last time out

Rhode Island lost 73-62 at Wisconsin on Wednesday; Western Kentucky won 86-84 against Gardner-Webb on Thursday.{&end}