# 2017–18 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

The 2017–18 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by head coach Rick Stansbury in his second season and played their home games at E. A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky as fourth-year members of Conference USA.
On October 16, 2017, assistant coach Ben Hansbrough resigned from WKU following his DUI arrest two days prior.
They finished the season 27–11, 14–4 in C-USA play to finish in third place. They defeated UAB and Old Dominion to advance to the championship game of the C-USA tournament where they lost to Marshall. They received an at-large bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Boston College, USC, and Oklahoma State to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Utah.

## Previous season

The Hilltoppers finished the 2016–17 season with 15–17, 9–9 in C-USA play to finish in a tie for seventh place. They lost to UTSA in the first round of the C-USA tournament.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Jabari McGhee | 00 | F | 6'7" | 205 | RS Sophomore | Albany, Georgia | Left for the team for personal reasons |
| Tobias Howard | 1 | G | 6'2" | 182 | Freshman | Lithonia, GA | Transferred to Chipola College |
| Damari Parris | 3 | G | 6'0" | 160 | Sophomore | Bowie, MD | Transferred to Trinity Valley CC |
| Junior Lomomba | 5 | G | 6'5" | 205 | RS Senior | Montreal, QE | Graduated |
| Cleveland Thomas | 12 | G | 6'4" | 195 | RS Senior | Baton Rouge, LA | Graduated |
| Benjamin Lawson | 14 | F/C | 7'1" | 235 | Senior | Hitchin, England | Graduated |
| Marko Stajkovski | 21 | G | 6'7" | 195 | Freshman | Novi Sad, Serbia | Transferred to Mineral Area College |
| Willie Carmichael | 24 | F | 6'8" | 210 | RS Sophomore | Apopka, FL | Dismissed from the team |
| Que Johnson | 32 | G | 6'6" | 205 | RS Senior | Pontiac, MI | Graduated |
| Anton Waters | 42 | F | 6'7" | 245 | Senior | Baltimore, MD | Graduated |
| Marty Leahy | 43 | G | 6'5" | 210 | Freshman | Brisbane, Australia | Left for the team for personal reasons |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Darius Thompson | 15 | G | 6'4" | 196 | Graduate Student | Murfreesboro, Tennessee | Transferred from Virginia. Thompson will play in the 2017–18 season. |
| Dwight Coleby | 22 | F | 6'9" | 240 | Graduate Student | Nassau, Bahamas | Transferred from Kansas. Coleby will play in the 2017–18 season. |
| Jared Savage | 2 | G/F | 6'5" | 190 | Junior | Bowling Green, Kentucky | Transferred from Austin Peay. Will sit out the 2017–18 season due to NCAA transfer rules. |

### 2017 recruiting class

Mitchell Robinson, a McDonald's All-American and a projected first-round pick in the 2018 NBA draft, committed to Western Kentucky a few weeks after the school hired his godfather, Shammond Williams. He signed a National Letter of Intent in November 2016 and enrolled at the school in July 2017. However, later in July, he left the school amid reports that he was unhappy at the school. Head coach Rick Stansbury and the school issued a statement that Robinson was suspended and would not be going on the team's trip to Costa Rica in August. However, asking to be released from his Letter of Intent and being released, he made visits to LSU, Kansas, and New Orleans. At the end of August, he returned to the school and enrolled and stated that he intends to play for Western Kentucky. On September 17, Robinson again left the university announcing he will prepare for the NBA and will not play college basketball.
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Josh Anderson F | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Madison Prep Academy | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Sep 20, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 84 ||||||
| Taveion Hollingsworth G | Lexington, Kentucky | Paul Laurence Dunbar HS | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Nov 9, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Jake Ohmer G | Covington, Kentucky | Scott HS | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 150 lb (68 kg) | Mar 20, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Marek Nelson F | Plano, Texas | Sunrise Christian Academy (KS) | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | May 14, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 16, 2017. ||||||

### Costa Rica trip

The Hilltoppers announced that they would be participating in a seven-day, three-game foreign tour to Costa Rica in August.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Costa Rica trip ||||||
| Aug 8, 2017* | | Laurentian University | W 104–98 | | BN Arena San Jose, Costa Rica |
| Aug 9, 2017* 9:00 pm | | Costa Rica National Team | W 99–69 | | BN Arena San Jose, Costa Rica |
| Aug 10, 2017* 5:00 pm | | Laurentian University | W 118–63 | | BN Arena San Jose, Costa Rica |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Oct 29, 2017* 1:00 pm | | at Samford Pack The Pete For Hurricane Relief | W 78–64 | | Pete Hanna Center (608) Homewood, AL |
| Nov 1, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Campbellsville | W 92–51 | | E.A. Diddle Arena (2,789) Bowling Green, KY |
| Nov 7, 2017* 7:00 pm, WKYU | | Cumberland | W 109–66 | | E.A. Diddle Arena (3,081) Bowling Green, KY |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 7:00 pm, WKYU | | Missouri State | L 80–85 | 0–1 | E.A. Diddle Arena (5,241) Bowling Green, KY |
| Nov 15, 2017* 7:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | Kentucky Wesleyan | W 83–53 | 1–1 | E.A. Diddle Arena (3,844) Bowling Green, KY |
| Nov 19, 2017* 5:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | Nicholls State Battle 4 Atlantis On Campus Site | W 100–86 | 2–1 | E.A. Diddle Arena (3,378) Bowling Green, KY |
| Nov 22, 2017* 1:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 5 Villanova Battle 4 Atlantis Quarterfinals | L 58–66 | 2–2 | Imperial Arena (3,378) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Nov 23, 2017* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. No. 18 Purdue Battle 4 Atlantis | W 77–73 | 3–2 | Imperial Arena (2,102) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Nov 24, 2017* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. SMU Battle 4 Atlantis 5th place game | W 63–61 | 4–2 | Imperial Arena (1,252) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Nov 29, 2017* 7:00 pm, Stadium | | Eastern Kentucky | W 83–51 | 5–2 | E.A. Diddle Arena (5,532) Bowling Green, KY |
| Dec 2, 2017* 4:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | Wright State | W 78–60 | 6–2 | E.A. Diddle Arena (4,165) Bowling Green, KY |
| Dec 10, 2017* 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Ohio | L 84–89 | 6–3 | Convocation Center (4,501) Athens, OH |
| Dec 13, 2017* 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at Wisconsin | L 80–81 | 6–4 | Kohl Center (17,287) Madison, WI |
| Dec 16, 2017* 2:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | Indiana State | W 81–65 | 7–4 | E.A. Diddle Arena (4,412) Bowling Green, KY |
| Dec 19, 2017* 7:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | Belmont | L 72–75 | 7–5 | E.A. Diddle Arena (5,156) Bowling Green, KY |
| Dec 22, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at Austin Peay | W 72–55 | 8–5 | Dunn Center (2,023) Clarksville, TN |
| Conference USA regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 7:00 pm, beIN Sports | | Louisiana Tech | W 69–68 | 9–5 (1–0) | E.A. Diddle Arena (4,897) Bowling Green, KY |
| Dec 30, 2017 2:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | Southern Miss | W 82–66 | 10–5 (2–0) | E.A. Diddle Arena (4,654) Bowling Green, KY |
| Jan 6, 2018 6:00 pm, Stadium | | at Marshall | W 112–87 | 11–5 (3–0) | Cam Henderson Center (6,826) Huntington, WV |
| Jan 11, 2018 7:00 pm, beIN Sports | | at Old Dominion | W 75–68 | 12–5 (4–0) | Ted Constant Convocation Center (6,895) Norfolk, VA |
| Jan 13, 2018 6:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | at Charlotte | W 73–63 | 13–5 (5–0) | Dale F. Halton Arena (3,845) Charlotte, NC |
| Jan 18, 2018 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | UAB | W 77–69 | 14–5 (6–0) | E.A. Diddle Arena (5,643) Bowling Green, KY |
| Jan 20, 2018 6:00 pm, Stadium | | Middle Tennessee | L 62–66 | 14–6 (6–1) | E.A. Diddle Arena (7,759) Bowling Green, KY |
| Jan 27, 2018 6:00 pm, Stadium | | Marshall | W 85–74 | 15–6 (7–1) | E.A. Diddle Arena (7,362) Bowling Green, KY |
| Feb 1, 2018 9:00 pm, CBSSN | | at UTEP | W 72–60 | 16–6 (8–1) | Don Haskins Center (6,116) El Paso, TX |
| Feb 3, 2018 3:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | at UTSA | L 63–74 | 16–7 (8–2) | Convocation Center (1,305) San Antonio, TX |
| Feb 8, 2018 7:30 pm, FCS/WKYU | | Florida Atlantic | W 75–63 | 17–7 (9–2) | E.A. Diddle Arena (5,617) Bowling Green, KY |
| Feb 10, 2018 6:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | FIU | W 83–76 | 18–7 (10–2) | E.A. Diddle Arena (6,429) Bowling Green, KY |
| Feb 15, 2018 8:00 pm, beIN Sports | | at North Texas | W 102–94 $^{OT}$ | 19–7 (11–2) | The Super Pit (2,306) Denton, TX |
| Feb 17, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Rice | W 85–66 | 20–7 (12–2) | Tudor Fieldhouse (4,246) Houston, TX |
| Feb 22, 2018 7:00 pm, beIN Sports | | Charlotte | W 93–55 | 21–7 (13–2) | E.A. Diddle Arena (5,634) Bowling Green, KY |
| Feb 24, 2018 6:00 pm, Stadium | | Old Dominion | W 88–66 | 22–7 (14–2) | E.A. Diddle Arena (7,387) Bowling Green, KY |
| Mar 1, 2018 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Middle Tennessee | L 64–82 | 22–8 (14–3) | Murphy Center (11,307) Murfreesboro, TN |
| Mar 3, 2018 7:00 pm, FCS/WKYU | | at UAB | L 73–101 | 22–9 (14–4) | Bartow Arena (4,363) Birmingham, AL |
| Conference USA Tournament ||||||
| Mar 8, 2018 9:00 pm, Stadium | (3) | vs. (6) UAB Quarterfinals | W 98–70 | 23–9 | The Ford Center at The Star Frisco, TX |
| Mar 9, 2018 3:00 pm, CBSSN | (3) | vs. (2) Old Dominion Semifinals | W 57–49 | 24–9 | The Ford Center at The Star Frisco, TX |
| Mar 10, 2018 7:30 pm, CBSSN | (3) | vs. (4) Marshall Championship | L 66–67 | 24–10 | The Ford Center at The Star Frisco, TX |
| NIT ||||||
| Mar 13, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (4) | (5) Boston College First Round – USC Bracket | W 79–62 | 25–10 | E.A. Diddle Arena (6,176) Bowling Green, KY |
| Mar 19, 2018* 10:30 pm, ESPN2 | (4) | at (1) USC Second Round – USC Bracket | W 79–75 | 26–10 | Galen Center (2,130) Los Angeles, CA |
| Mar 21, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN | (4) | at (2) Oklahoma State Quarterfinals – USC Bracket | W 92–84 | 27–10 | Gallagher-Iba Arena (11,308) Stillwater, OK |
| Mar 27, 2018* 6:00 pm, ESPN | (4) | vs. (2) Utah Semifinals | L 64–69 | 27–11 | Madison Square Garden (7,865) New York City, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source. ||||||