1981–82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

American college basketball season

1981–82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball

Ohio Valley Conference Champion
NIT Tournament, First Round
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	19–10 (13–3 OVC)
Head coach	Clem Haskins
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena
Seasons ← 1980–81 1982–83 →

1981–82 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Western Kentucky	13	–	3	.813	19	–	10	.655
Murray State	13	–	3	.813	20	–	8	.714
Middle Tennessee State †	12	–	4	.750	22	–	8	.733
Morehead State	11	–	5	.688	17	–	10	.630
Tennessee Tech	8	–	8	.500	12	–	14	.462
Youngstown State	5	–	11	.313	8	–	18	.308
Austin Peay	4	–	12	.250	6	–	20	.231
Akron	3	–	13	.188	7	–	19	.269
Eastern Kentucky	3	–	13	.188	5	–	21	.192

† 1982 OVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 1981–82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 1981–82 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by coach Clem Haskins and All-Ohio Valley Conference center Craig McCormick.^[1] In what would be their last year in the conference, WKU won the OVC championship, were OVC tournament runners-up, and received a bid to the 1982 National Invitation Tournament. Bobby Jones joined McCormick on the All-OVC Team; Jones and Kenny Ellis made the OVC Tournament Team and McCormick was tournament MVP.^[2] McCormick was selected in the NBA draft following the season.^[3]

Schedule

^[4]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 27, 1981*		vs. Nevada Sun Met Classic	L 70–84	0–1	Selland Arena Fresno, CA
November 28, 1981*		vs. Oklahoma City Sun Met Classic	W 51–49	1–1	Selland Arena Fresno, CA
December 4, 1981*		New Hampshire Wendy’s Classic	W 83–52	2–1	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
December 5, 1981*		No. 3 Louisville Wendy’s Classic	L 66–71	2–2	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
December 9, 1981*		Butler	W 96–65	3–2	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
December 12, 1981*		at Evansville	L 70–73	3–3	Roberts Municipal Stadium Evansville, IN
Ohio Valley Conference regular season
December 19, 1981		Austin Peay	W 77–64	4–3 (1–0)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
December 22, 1981*		at No. 17 Georgetown (D.C.)	L 45–64	4–4	Capital Centre Landover, MD
December 30, 1981*		Duquesne	L 62–63 ^OT	4–5	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
January 3, 1982		Murray State	W 71–54	5–5 (2–0)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
January 7, 1982		at Morehead State	L 57–59	5–6 (2–1)	Ellis Johnson Arena Morehead, KY
January 10, 1982		at Eastern Kentucky	W 75–65	6–6 (3–1)	Alumni Coliseum Richmond, KY
January 14, 1982		Middle Tennessee	W 65–49	7–6 (4–1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
January 16, 1982		Tennessee Tech	W 51–50	8–6 (5–1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
January 21, 1982		at Akron	W 77–68	9–6 (6–1)	James A. Rhodes Arena Akron, OH
January 23, 1982		at Youngstown State	W 68–59	10–6 (7–1)	Beeghly Center Youngstown, OH
January 25, 1982*		Dayton	W 65–57	11–6	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
January 28, 1982		at Austin Peay	W 48–46	12–6 (8–1)	Dunn Center Clarksville, TN
January 30, 1982		at Murray State	L 60–63	12–7 (8–2)	Racer Arena Murray, KY
February 4, 1982		Eastern Kentucky	W 61–34	13–7 (9–2)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
February 6, 1982		Morehead State	W 68–53	14–7 (10–2)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
February 11, 1982		at Tennessee Tech	L 64–70 ^OT	14–8 (10–3)	Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
February 13, 1982		at Middle Tennessee	W 75–64	15–8 (11–3)	Murphy Center Murfreesboro, TN
February 18, 1982		Youngstown State	W 63–51	16–8 (12–3)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
February 20, 1982		Akron	W 82–68	17–8 (13–3)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
February 27, 1982*		Northern Iowa	W 75–67	18–8	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
March 5, 1982	(1)	(4) Morehead State Semifinals	W 95–87	19–8	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
March 6, 1982	(1)	(3) Middle Tennessee Championship	L 52–54	19–9	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
NIT
March 10, 1982*		at Purdue First Round	L 65–72	19–10	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

^ 2019-2020 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 2020
^ 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020
^ "1982 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
^ "1981-82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Men 's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved November 6, 2023.

v t e Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Venues	Red Barn (1920–1931) Health & Physical Education Building (1931–1963) E. A. Diddle Arena (1963–present)
Culture & lore	Big Red
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
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NCAA Final Four appearance in italics