Fans may have noticed lately that the men’s basketball team hasn’t been as active on Twitter as it was last season.

That’s because Head Coach Ken McDonald is preventing his players from using it this season.

“It’s not a big deal. I think it can become a little bit of a distraction,” McDonald said on Wednesday. “Our players did a pretty good job of it this summer, but I did want to tighten up and just focus on basketball.”

An instance arose last season between Cliff Dixon and Sergio Kerusch in which the two argued on Twitter following a win against Bowling Green. Dixon, who saw limited playing time before eventually being dismissed from the team for behavioral issues, called out Kerusch for not giving enough effort.

Dixon was also active on Twitter following a loss to South Carolina, claiming he deserved more playing time.

McDonald said originally the rule was “no tweets after 9 p.m.” He said nothing good happens after that time anyway.

But once it got closer to the season, McDonald told his players to steer clear of Twitter unless it’s to promote something going on with the team.

WKU football player Antonio Andrews was suspended for Saturday’s game against Florida Atlantic following his tweets over the weekend in which he was critical of WKU fans.

Head Coach Willie Taggart said he doesn’t plan to implement any sort of a Twitter ban, but said the policy is for players to use it to be positive.

McDonald said once the players broke the habit of tweeting, it hasn’t been too hard for them to avoid it.

“It becomes a habit and there’s an ownership involved where you think you’ve got to talk to your following all the time,” McDonald said. “‘Hey, I’m going to the bathroom right now,’ or ‘I’m going to shower.’

“It gets a little bit out of control, and our players have handled it great. We haven’t had much out there, and I think now they’re used to not doing it. One less thing they’ve got to worry about.”