OWENSBORO – Teagan Moore got a blessing and a message from Western Kentucky men’s basketball coach Steve Lutz.

Moore, a WKU signee, had earned the opportunity to play for his home state in the annual Kentucky-Indiana All-Star basketball series. First, he needed to run it by his new coach.

“I mentioned it to him about a month ago and he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s a once in a lifetime experience. Go and dominate.’ I was on campus today and before I drove over here all the coaches told me that I’m representing WKU, so just show out.”

Moore showed up and showed out, all right. The recent Owen County School School graduate led the Kentucky squad to a 94-90 victory at the Owensboro Sportscenter, snapping Indiana’s seven-game win streak in the series. Moore earned game Most Valuable Player honors after leading Kentucky with 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including a trio of made 3-pointers. The 6-foot-5 guard, a native of Dry Ridge, also tallied three rebounds, two blocks and an assist.

“Just like any other game – it doesn’t matter who’s wearing the other color jersey, I’ll still go out and give my 100%,” Moore said. “I’m proud of the outcome.

“… To be able to do that on that level against this level of talent just gives me a lot more confidence.”

Kentucky was fortunate to have Moore on the court Friday. He could have followed the reasoning as Kentucky Mr. Basketball Reed Sheppard and skipped the two-game series – the rematch was played Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Sheppard, a Kentucky signee who starred at North Laurel High School, opted out to focus on starting his college career.

Moore could well have done the same after moving onto campus at WKU with his new teammates this past weekend. He’s already had a week to experience what playing at the college level is like for the Hilltoppers.

“We started right away – workouts, we lift, so I mean it’s just like normal,” Moore said. “I’m just getting used to it, getting settled in. It’s been a culture shock. I mean, I go from high school where it’s like, serious, but not that serious. It’s a full-time job now. You wake up, lift, work out. So it’s way different. My body’s still getting used to it, my mind’s still getting used to it, so it’s a big change.”

The motivation to skip the annual all-star series might have been even greater for Moore, who originally signed with WKU to play for previous head coach Rick Stansbury and his staff. That changed when Stansbury resigned following this past season after seven years leading the program, and Lutz was named the new head coach. Moore had a decision to make – stick to his commitment or look elsewhere to start his college career.

Moore said Lutz convinced him that he could be part of a successful program at WKU.

“I went up for an open run with the team and he was there,” Moore said. “He just told me that he really liked my game and what I needed to do to impact his team. So he gave me a lot of confidence that he’s still confident in my ability.

“I just trusted in his ability to coach. The last team he coached went to the NCAA tournament. It looked like the right thing for me and I just stuck it out.”

For WKU, there’s a lot to like about Moore’s game. He finished his career at Owen County as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 3,309 points. That surpassed the 2,967 career points of previous Owen County all-time leader Carson Williams, the 2016 Kentucky Mr. Basketball who played two productive seasons as a forward at WKU (2019-20, 2020-21) after transferring in from Northern Kentucky.

Moore, who averaged 31.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game as a senior at Owen County, bears some basic size similarities to Williams in addition to a common alma mater. But while Williams excelled as a small forward who could get out on the perimeter, Moore showed his skills as a shooting guard against the Indiana All Stars. He opened the game’s scoring with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to spark Kentucky’s game-opening 22-3 run and had a team-high 17 points by halftime to lead his team to a 49-37 advantage at the break.

Indiana, stacked with Power Five Division 1 signees – five of them, as opposed to none for Kentucky – rallied in the second half with a 20-0 run that turned a 19-point deficit into a 78-77 lead for Indiana with 3:48 to play.

Moore ended that stretch with a tough basket in the paint to give Kentucky the lead once again, then scored four straight points to put his team up once more at 83-82 with 2:26 to play Those were Moore’s last points of the night, but it was enough as Kentucky closed out the win.

“We just have that chip,” Moore said. “Even in our (Kentucky All Star) senior and junior scrimmage, they were supposed to win on paper and we blew them out by 50. So just playing with that chip and that aggression has given us two wins. Hopefully we can get one more.”

It wasn’t to be, as Indiana claimed Saturday night’s rematch with a 95-74 win. Moore had nine points in Saturday’s game in Indianapolis.

Warren Central graduate Chappelle Whitney, who will play collegiately at Auburn University-Montgomery, tallied nine points and six rebounds for Kentucky in Friday’s win, then scored eight points in Saturday’s loss.

Kentucky also split with Indiana in the girls’ series, winning 72-62 on Friday in Owensboro before falling 71-67 in Saturday’s rematch in Indianapolis.{&end}