Rick Stansbury started smiling a little bit bigger mid-morning Wednesday. The WKU coach, along with the rest of Hilltopper fans found out that guard Lamonte Bearden was removing his name from the NBA draft and returning to Western Kentucky University for his final season.
Bearden made the announcement via Twitter Wednesday, which is the final day that players who had declared for the draft, but had not hired an agent, could make the decision to return to college.
Bearden, who is from Milwaukee, played his first two seasons at Buffalo, before transferring to WKU, where he became eligible during the 2017-2018 season. The 6-3 guard played in all 38 games for the Toppers, who went 27-11 and reached the semifinals of the NIT. He averaged 11.8 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game.