VIP Player: Teagan Moore
Story by Amelia Bowen
Basketball entered Teagan Moore’s life so early that he cannot remember a time without it. “My mom has a picture. I think I was probably two months old when I first picked up a basketball,” he says. “It’s just always been a part of my life.” More than two decades later, Teagan is entering his fourth year at Western Kentucky University as one of Conference USA’s most recognized returning players. The redshirt junior guard is coming off one of the most productive individual seasons in recent Hilltopper Basketball history. In 2025–26, Teagan averaged 18.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. He finished second in CUSA in scoring, earned All-CUSA First Team and NABC All-District Second Team honors and recorded 13 games with 20 or more points. His 18.7 points per game marked WKU’s highest single-season scoring average since Courtney Lee averaged 20.4 in 2007–08. Now, as WKU prepares for 2026–27, Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook has named Teagan its Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year. But when Teagan talks about the years that brought him here, the numbers are only one part of it.
KENTUCKY ROOTS
Growing up in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, Teagan was surrounded by athletics. Both parents played basketball in high school, his mother also played volleyball and his father competed in shot put. Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose were childhood favorites, and a Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose jersey was the first basketball jersey Teagan ever owned. He graduated from a small high school with roughly 100 classmates. While players at larger programs attracted attention from colleges across the country, Teagan learned not to measure his progress against anyone else’s. “You just have to keep going and not worry about what anybody else is doing and any attention that anybody else is getting,” he says. “You just have to tune it out and keep doing what you need to do to get to the level you want to get to.” WKU entered the picture the summer before his senior year. For a Kentucky kid who had always dreamed of playing college basketball in his home state, the opportunity felt right. “It was always a dream to play at an in-state school,” Teagan says. Three years later, he can see how much has changed. “I’ve just grown so much as a person, as a friend, as a basketball player,” he says. “Just growth all around.”
A NEW APPRECIATION
Part of that growth came during a season when Teagan could not compete. After medically redshirting in 2024–25, he found himself watching the game that had occupied so much of his life from the sideline. “I think it was just being grateful to be on the court,” he says. “That year, you sit out and that’s all you want to do. You just want to participate in practice, sweat, just get a sweat in.” The experience also challenged him to consider who he was beyond basketball. “You spend so much time on your sport, on your sport, on your sport that your personal life kind of gets pushed to the side,” Teagan says. “It was just finding your identity in something other than your sport.” He returned with a new appreciation for the game and delivered the strongest season of his college career. Teagan reached double figures in 23 of 27 appearances and scored at least 15 points 22 times. Following a five game midseason absence, he helped lead WKU on a five-game winning streak, averaging 24.6 points and five rebounds during that stretch. WKU opens its 2026–27 campaign at home against Morehead State on Nov. 2 following exhibition contests against Bowling Green and Indiana. “We’re just excited to play another team,” Teagan says. He enters the season with plenty of attention surrounding No. 30, but also a greater appreciation for every opportunity he has to step onto the court.
LIFE ON THE HILL
Teagan’s years at WKU have become about much more than time inside Diddle Arena. Between the friendships he has made, the community he has found and the life he is building with his fiancée, Alli, Bowling Green has given him plenty to value away from basketball. “It’s a close-knit, family-type relationship,” Teagan says of his teammates. Through Fellowship of Christian Athletes, his circle expanded to other student-athletes who understood the demands of balancing competition, academics and everyday life. It is also where his story with Alli began. Teagan was a freshman and Alli a junior when mutual friends through FCA began plotting an introduction. One night after FCA, the group headed to Cook Out and conveniently left the two sitting together while everyone else went through the drive-thru. Exactly who was interested first remains a point of playful disagreement, but their shared experience as college athletes has become an important part of their relationship. “Some days you come home from a hard practice and you just want to lay in bed and do nothing,” Teagan says. “There’s just an understanding of what each other is going through on a day-to-day basis.” When asked what keeps him grounded amid practices, games, travel and the attention that comes with college basketball, Teagan immediately points to Alli. Their life together includes Goose, a black Lab puppy affectionately described as a “terror,” and plans for an April wedding. In his downtime, Teagan enjoys golfing, cooking homemade alfredo and exploring Bowling Green, with Mr. B’s, Shogun and, fittingly, Cook Out among their local favorites. Teagan hopes to continue playing basketball for as long as he can, so the couple does not yet know where the next chapter will take them. For now, there is still plenty ahead on the Hill. Basketball has been part of Teagan Moore’s life for nearly as long as he can remember. Along the way, the game has given him more than points and accolades. It has given him teammates who became family, relationships that will last beyond college and a place that has helped shape who he is becoming. As another season begins, all eyes are on Teagan Moore. And he is ready to make it count.