Western Kentucky junior Don McHenry never could have imagined the path he has taken in his basketball career, not back when he was an up-and-coming high school guard out of the Milwaukee Academy of Science.

Playing Division I basketball, that part was always in McHenry’s mind so no surprise there.

And playing at a high level was never a doubt in McHenry’s mind, and in his first season with the Hilltoppers – his first as a D1 player – the left-hander has done just that as a fluid point guard equally at ease slicing through the lane for a drive to the goal of pulling up short to snap off a mid-range or 3-point attempt. McHenry leads the Hilltoppers in scoring this season at 15.3 points per game, good for third in all of Conference USA, and is a likely all-CUSA pick.

So yeah, McHenry is right where he expected to be.

But getting from there to here, that’s the tricky part.

Even during his senior season in Milwaukee, where he once scored 54 points in a game and earned all-state recognition, McHenry heard from few college coaches – at any level. As part of the ill-fated Class of 2021, he simply wasn’t seen as COVID-19 restrictions continued to curtail much college recruiting.

“Not at all, not at all – not even a little bit,” McHenry said. “I really didn’t talk to many schools coming out of high school, for real. I tried to wait it out as long as possible, even when the season was over but I guess due to COVID nothing was really moving.”

McHenry did find a landing spot – in Hawaii. At Division II program Hawaii-Hilo, associate head coach Jamison Montgomery was a Milwaukee native who kept tabs on players from his hometown and saw enough in the slightly-built McHenry to offer a scholarship.

It was a good move for the Vulcans – McHenry started all 26 games as a true freshman, averaging 15.2 points per game and earning All-PacWest Third Team honors for the 2021-22 season.

But Hawaii is a long way from Wisconsin, and McHenry felt that distance all season long. Traveling home to see his mom and two younger brothers was simply out of the question during the school year.

“Being that far just coming out of high school, the experience of being in Hawaii was not how I would have imagined it – like being in a movie or something,” McHenry said. “It was kind of like just being young and getting homesick, not being able to ever really go home just because of how far it was and just feeling overseas vibes and things like that. But the basketball side of it, just getting the experience and the beautiful weather, it was cool for sure. It definitely as I can see now helped me a lot in my basketball career and just experiencing something new was a plus for sure. Overall it was good for me.”

McHenry was ready for a new experience after that season in Hawaii and entered the NCAA transfer portal – a move Hank Plona was awaiting all season long.

Plona, in his first season as an assistant coach under first-year head coach Steve Lutz at WKU, was the head coach at perennial junior-college power Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College when McHenry hit the portal.

Like most coaches, Plona had missed out seeing McHenry due to those COVID-era restrictions.

“I had not heard of Don out of high school,” Plona said. “Don was a senior during the COVID year where you couldn’t recruit, nobody could see anybody. So he had the unfortunate pleasure of being a senior when probably no college coaches went to see him.

“ … I learned about Don early about November or December of that year at Hawaii-Hilo. They played a couple of Division I teams in some tournaments where I know coaches. I had coaches from multiple schools go, ‘Yo, there’s this kid from Milwaukee on this D2 team that we played that can really hoop, he can really score’ – people that I really know and respect that had coached at our level before, at junior college and things like that. Really from November of his freshman year on, I just kept my eye on him. I just kind of followed how he was doing and saw that he had a successful year. You never know, a lot of kids transfer in this day and age. So when he entered the transfer portal, his name rang a bell. I reached out to him myself, probably as soon as I could figure out how to get ahold of him. There was just no hesitation on my end.”

For McHenry, Indian Hllls offered the best path to getting to the D1 level – he consulted among others former IHCC standout Dwight Bucyks, a fellow Milwaukee native who went on to play at Marquette and in the NBA before settling into a pro career overseas.

“Still having the same dream that I had in high school, wanting to play Division I basketball,” McHenry said. “So that kind of was the main push for me, just still believing in myself that I could play at a higher level.”

McHenry took Plona up on his offer, and arrived as a polished scorer. But there was still work to be done to prepare McHenry for the Division I level – Plona had vast experience in that area, having coached 58 players at IHCC who had moved on to the D1 level during his eight seasons as head coach – McHenry ended up being one of them.

“He was already there as a scorer,” Plona said. “We tried to make him a more complete player, tried to make him a better defender for sure. I thought his defense needed some work and I think we’ve made progress, but it’s still an area that he can improve. I think the other big area was I saw him as a pointish-combo guard. I think he had kind of been an off-ball scorer his whole life and I thought his being 6-2 and 160, 165 pounds … I didn’t think he’d be able to be a professional at that level. So we always try to coach you on what you can be in your future.

“So I think the other thing that we really got better at is his handling the ball and kind of thinking like a point guard – still being Don McHenry, still being a scorer, but thinking of more than just that. Thinking of team dynamics, thinking of how to initiate offense, thinking of making the open play, sometimes waiting for your second touch to go get a shot or bucket.”

McHenry took that instruction to heart, earning NJCAA DI First-Team All-American honors after his lone season at Indian Hills in 2022-23, averaging 15.4 points while shooting 43% from the field while adding 2.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game.

It was enough to earn McHenry that long-desired shot at DI basketball – but where?

That decision ended up being tied to Plona, who joined Lutz’s staff as an assistant shortly after the former Texas A&M-Corpus Christi head coach took the job at WKU. Naturally, the two discussed the talent Plona had developed at Indian Hills and McHenry’s name came up fast.

“My deal was always like, ‘Coach, you tell me who you like. I love all my guys. It’s hard for me to choose, but I can tell you their strengths and weaknesses but who fits you, what are you looking for?’ “ Plona said. “And he was really excited about Don from the start. I said if you want him, cool, I’ll present the option but Don’s got to want to do it.

“ … I wanted him to want to be here. I like to think I’ve never really tried to convince Don to do anything. I try to present how I and we here can help him be successful and the things he needs to do to take advantage of that.”

McHenry said the added comfort of knowing “Coach Hank” would be on staff helped guide his decision to become a Hilltopper, with Indian Hills teammate Enoch Kalambay’s decision to join the program also adding another welcome layer of familiarity.

Then it was back to work – now that McHenry had arrived at the D1 level, it was time to prove he not could just compete but excel. McHenry expected to fight for playing time, but also believed he could be a high-level player for the Tops.

“It’s living up to my expectations, for sure,” McHenry said. “Before Division I, I really didn’t know what to expect … just how I imagined it being, but it’s something that I’m glad I’m here for sure.”

McHenry won the starting point guard position by the season opener and has been a mainstay all season, starting all 30 games for the Tops and helping them to a third-place finish in the CUSA regular-season standings. WKU (19-11 overall, 8-8 CUSA) opens Conference USA Tournament play Thursday against No. 6 seed New Mexico State at VBC Propst Arena in Huntsville, Alabama. Game time is 8 p.m. CT.

The Tops’ high-tempo offense has been a perfect fit for McHenry, who has maintained his natural ability as a scorer while continuing to improve his rebounding and overall defensive game.

“I don’t think it was any big, major adjustment because at Indian Hills we kind of played with the same fast pace as well,” McHenry said. “So it was almost like a real smooth transition, their playing style compared to how I was just playing (at Indian Hills).”

The Tops hope to end an NCAA Tournament drought that has lasted since 2013, and to do that they will have to win the CUSA Tournament – three games in three days – and will need McHenry playing well to pull that off.

Regardless of how and when the season ends, McHenry is glad his path led him to Bowling Green to play for the Hilltoppers.

“I don’t really go out much or things like that,” McHenry said. “But as far as staying in the gym and schoolwork and stuff like that, it’s just perfect for me.”