1981–82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

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]

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 →

Schedule

^[4]

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

1. 2019-2020 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 2020
2. 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020
3. 1982 NBA Draft, Basketball Reference, retrieved 4 May 2020
4. 1981-82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 4 May 2020