By Jeff Nations, Bowling Green Daily News

Western Kentucky sophomore guard Teagan Moore announced he intends to redshirt this season as he recovers from hip surgery from an injury that occurred over the summer.

Moore, who has not played for the Hilltoppers this season, announced on his Instagram page Wednesday that he will be taking a medical redshirt.

“The surgery went smoothly and I had full intentions of playing this season,” Moore wrote. “However, my recovery is taking longer than we previously anticipated and I have decided to redshirt this season. I am eager to be back on the court 100% next season.”

As a true freshman in 2023-24, Moore made steady progress and by the second half of the season was a regular rotation player fo the Tops. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound guard displayed versatility as a strong rebounder and solid scorer, averaging 6.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game while appearing in 28 of 34 games, including one start.

Moore, who was twice named Conference USA Freshman of the Week last season, finished strong by posting double-digit scoring totals in four of WKU’s final six regular-season games. Against Louisiana Tech in the team’s final regular-season home game at E.A. Diddle Arena, Moore scored a career-high 22 points.

“We thought it was a four- to six-month process when it happened,” WKU first-year head coach Hank Plona said. “We’re five games in and he hasn’t run yet. If he runs in 10 … it just doesn’t make much sense. The most important thing for his life, for his basketball career and (his health). I don’t think rushing back to play basketball is anything that makes sense for him. Obviously that’s our guy, he’s been a huge part of our program. If you’d asked me six or seven months ago when I first got the job, I would have thought he’s going to have a breakout year. I now think a year from now, he’s going to have a breakout year.”

The loss of Moore further depletes a WKU roster that is already dealing with significant long-term injuries. Redshirt senior forward/center Fallou Diagne, who was limited by injury to five games last season, has not played this season and is expected to redshirt after offseason knee surgery. Graduate guard Terrion Murdix, who sat out all last season recovering from a knee injury suffered while playing for Texas A&M Corpus Christi, underwent another surgery on the knee this offseason and is also expected to redshirt.

Freshman guard Kade Unseld also had knee surgery over the summer and is expected to redshirt.

The one plus for the Hilltoppers is that they have had plenty of time to work out a rotation minus those players, including Moore.

“We’ve been going since May without him at this point,” Plona said after Wednesday’s 79-62 win against Jackson State at E.A. Diddle Arena. ” … Obviously, Enoch (Kalambay) has been playing well. Julius (Thedford) has stepped up well as a freshman and probably had a bigger role at the beginning than we anticipated. Tyrone (Marshall Jr.) has continued to be a great player. We have bodies and we’ve been going at this for four or five months as the team we currently are. Obviously we support Teagan and hopefully he’ll be back here before we know it. But yeah, obviously it’s a loss to our team.”