WKU Hilltopper Basketball officially begins its 2018-19 season on the road at No. 25/24 Washington at 9:30 p.m. CT Tuesday in Seattle, Wash. The game will air on ESPNU.
The Hilltoppers completed the preseason with tune-up victories over Campbellsville (91-66) and Kentucky Wesleyan (96-71) in exhibition play.
Washington returns nine lettermen and five starters from a team that won 21 games last year and advanced in the NIT. The Huskies defeated Seattle Pacific 70-61 in an exhibition on Thursday and routed preseason top-10 Nevada 91-73 in a charity exhibition earlier in the month.
WKU is 68-31 all-time in season openers. This is the first time the Hilltoppers have opened on the road since starting the 2013-14 campaign at No. 16 Wichita State. The Hilltoppers are 32-98 all-time against ranked opponents, including 8-39 on the road. The Hilltoppers played two ranked teams last season, Purdue and Middle Tennessee, knocking off the Boilermakers in the Bahamas.
Sophomore guard Taveion Hollingsworth is the team’s leading returning scorer at 13.3 points per game. Hollingsworth was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team and set new Hilltopper records in 2017-18 for most points scored (506), minutes played (1,312) and games started (38) by a freshman. He and graduate senior Desean Murray were named to the Preseason All-C-USA Team.
Not only is freshman center Charles Bassey the highest-rated recruit to play for WKU in several decades, he’s also one of the top-five youngest players in college basketball this season.
In their last meeting, WKU held Washington close throughout the first half but then allowed their opponent to pull away late in an 86-47 defeat at the Global Sports Classic in Las Vegas. Que Johnson led WKU with 12 points and five rebounds, and Anton Waters had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Courtesy of WKU Athletics