Rick Stansbury remembers trying to recruit Mo Williams to Mississippi State. Now, after Williams’ 13-year NBA career, the two will meet as coaches.

Williams enters his second season as Alabama State’s head coach, and the Hornets will travel to Bowling Green to open the 2021-22 season at 7 p.m. Tuesday against the Hilltoppers at E.A. Diddle Arena.

“We don’t know much about them. Know their head coach. Recruited him when he was a player from Jackson, Mississippi,” Stansbury said Friday after WKU’s exhibition win over University of the Cumberlands. “He had a great NBA career and I’m sure he’ll do a great job getting some players. He was a great young man coming out of high school. We didn’t lose many of them, but that was one we lost. That’s about all we know about them. They’ll be quick and athletic, I’m sure.”

Williams went to Alabama instead of playing for Stansbury and Mississippi State, and after being named All-SEC two times, he was selected with the 47th overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. The guard was an All-Star in 2009 and in 2016 won an NBA championship with Cleveland alongside LeBron James.

Now, he’s preparing for his second season as Alabama State’s head coach. The Hornets are coming off a 4-14 season in which they only played other SWAC teams.

Alabama State returns six players who saw significant playing time last season, including second-leading scorer Kenny Strawbridge. The 6-foot-6, 202-pound redshirt sophomore guard averaged 10.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists last year, and was a second team preseason all-SWAC selection. Also back for the Hornets are DJ Heath (9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in 2020-21), Kevion Stewart (82, 2.6, 0.6), Jordan O’Neal (5.8, 4.8, 0.7), E.J. Clark (5.8, 2.1, 1.5) and DJ Jackson (4.4, 2.9, 1.8).

The Hornets also added pieces for this year’s squad, including Owensboro native and North Hardin graduate Trace Young, who led the team in its exhibition win Thursday with 12 points and seven rebounds. Young sat out last season after stops at John A. Logan College and Wyoming. Michael Barber, who came from Southwest Mississippi after a year at Howard, had 10 points and seven rebounds in Alabama State’s exhibition. Gerald Liddell transferred from Texas and got eight points starting at forward, and Isaiah Range scored 10 points in the exhibition in his first game with Alabama State since transferring from Tarleton State.

“These first two games there was zero preparation with the opponent – it was all us – because there’s really not a whole lot you can get, and even sometimes when you can get it, you want your guys to make adjustments in games early,” Stansbury said after the Cumberlands exhibition. “Alabama State, I haven’t even looked ahead to see if they’ve played, do they have film – we’re not going to have film because a lot of these early games, you don’t get no film. Whatever it is, it won’t be long, there won’t be any styles we haven’t played against. … They’ll be quick and athletic, I’m sure.”

WKU is 3-0 all-time against Alabama State, with the last meeting a 79-66 Hilltopper victory on Nov. 12, 2016, in Bowling Green.

The Hilltoppers will travel to Asheville, N.C., for two games at the Asheville Championship following Tuesday’s season opener. WKU will open the tournament Friday against Minnesota and will face either South Carolina or Princeton on Sunday.

Alabama State (0-0) AT WESTERN KENTUCKY (0-0)

7 p.m. Tuesday/E.A. Diddle Arena

Probable starters

ALABAMA STATE

• Trace Young, f, 6-8, jr. (9.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg)%5E; Jordan O’Neal, f, 6-7, so. (5.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg); Gerald Liddell, f, 6-8, jr. (2.1 ppg, 1.7 rpg)+; Kenny Strawbridge, g, 6-6, r-so. (10.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg); E.J. Clark, g, 5-11, jr. (5.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg).

WESTERN KENTUCKY

• Luke Frampton, g, 6-5, r-sr. (7.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg); Dayvion McKnight, g, 6-1, so. (5.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg); Jaylen Butz, f, 6-9, r-sr. (10.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg)& Jairus Hamilton, f, 6-8, sr. (6.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg)$; Josh Anderson, g, 6-6, fifth-year sr. (9.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg).

Television

ESPN3/WKU PBS

Radio

Hilltopper Sports Network

Coaches

Mo Williams (4-14, second year; 4-14 overall), Alabama State; Rick Stansbury (103-60, sixth year; 396-226 overall), WKU.

Series record

WKU leads the series 3-0 (The Hilltoppers won the last meeting 79-66 on Nov. 12, 2016, at E.A. Diddle Arena).

Last time out

Alabama State won 72-47 against Mobile at home on Thursday; WKU won 88-59 against University of the Cumberlands in a home on Friday.

• 2020-21 stats at current school

%5Eat John A. Logan College in 2019-20

+at Texas in 2020-21

&at DePaul in 2019-20

$at Maryland in 2020-21{&end}