1951–52 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball team

1951–52 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball
1951–52 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball
OVC Tournament Champion; Ohio Valley Conference Champion
NIT Tournament, Quarterfinals
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 16
Record	26–5 (11–1 OVC)
Head coach	Edgar Diddle (30th season);
Assistant coach	Ted Hornback
Home arena	Health & Physical Education Building
	Seasons ← 1950–51 1952–53 →

The 1951–52 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky State College (now known as Western Kentucky University) during the 1951-52 NCAA University Division Basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Edgar Diddle and leading scorer, forward Tom Marshall.^[1] The Hilltoppers won the Ohio Valley Conference season and tournament championships, and were invited to the 1952 National Invitation Tournament.^[2] During this period, the NIT was considered on par with the NCAA tournament.^[3]^[4] Marshall, Art Spoelstra, Gene Rhodes, and Richard White were named to the All-Conference and OVC Tournament teams.^[5]

Schedule

^[6]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/30/1951*		Southeastern Louisiana	W 77–57	1–0	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
12/1/1951		Tennessee Tech	W 89–62	2–0 (1-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
12/6/1951		at Evansville	W 69–56	3–0 (2-0)	Evansville, IN
12/8/1951*		Bowling Green State	W 89–57	4–0	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
12/10/1951		at Morehead State	W 65–54	5–0 (3-0)	Button Auditorium Morehead, KY
12/15/1951*		at Cincinnati	W 76–71	6–0	Cincinnati Gardens Cincinnati, OH
12/17/1951*		Central Missouri	W 76–56	7–0	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
12/19/1951*	No. 16	vs. Xavier	W 92–82	8–0	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
12/29/1951*	No. 11	vs. St. Bonaventure	L 60–73	8–1	Memorial Auditorium Buffalo, NY
1/1/1952*	No. 11	at No. 13 La Salle	L 58–67	8–2	Wister Hall Philadelphia, PA
1/3/1952*		vs. No. 11 Seton Hall	L 65–77	8–3	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
1/12/1952		at Murray State	W 77–64	9–3 (4-0)	Carr Health Building Murray, KY
1/16/1952		at Tennessee Tech	W 64–55	10–3 (5-0)	Memorial Gymnasium Cookeville, TN
1/19/1952		Eastern Kentucky	W 69–63	11–3 (6-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/25/1952*		at Miami	W 102–74	12–3	Miami, FL
1/28/1952*		at Tampa	W 82–77	13–3	Tampa, FL
1/30/1952*		Cincinnati	W 79–63	14–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/2/1952		Marshall	W 76–65	15–3 (7-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/5/1952	No. 20	at Morehead State	W 80–72	16–3 (8-0)	Button Auditorium Morehead, KY
2/7/1952*	No. 20	Tampa	W 79–70	17–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/9/1952	No. 20	at Eastern Kentucky	L 62–73	17–4 (8-1)	Weaver Gymnasium Richmond, KY
2/12/1952		at Marshall	W 86–82	18–4 (9-1)	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
2/16/1952		Murray State	W 97–63	19–4 (10-1)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/18/1952		Evansville	W 92–58	20–4 (11-1)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1952 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
2/21/1952		vs. Evansville OVC Tournament	W 83–63	21–4	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
2/22/1952		vs. Marshall OVC Tournament Semifinal	W 89–74	22–4	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
2/23/1952		vs. Murray State OVC Tournament Final	W 47–45	23–4	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
Regular Season
2/27/1952*	No. 18	at Kentucky Wesleyan	W 94–68	24–4	Owensboro Sportscenter Owensboro, KY
3/3/1952*	No. 18	at Bowling Green State	W 82–75	25–4	Bowling Green, OH
1952 National Invitation Tournament
3/8/1952*	No. 18	vs. No. 17 Louisville NIT First Round	W 62–59	26–4	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
3/10/1952*	No. 18	vs. No. 15 St. Bonaventure NIT Quarterfinal	L 69–70	26–5	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

^ Ruby, Earl (1979). Red Towel Territory : A History of Athletics at Western Kentucky University. American National Bank and Trust Co.
^ 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020
^ "NCAA Tournament History". Archived from the original on May 14, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2013. The tournament now determines the national champion, but that wasn't always the case. Until the 1950s, the NIT was just as big a tournament as the NCAA, and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney
^ Davies, Richard O. (2007). "Sports in American Life: A History." Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. p. 155. ISBN 9781405106474.
^ 2019-2020 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 2020
^ 1953-54 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 12 May 2020

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[Ruby-1] Ruby, Earl (1979). Red Towel Territory : A History of Athletics at Western Kentucky University. American National Bank and Trust Co.

[2] 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020

[3] "NCAA Tournament History". Archived from the original on May 14, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2013. The tournament now determines the national champion, but that wasn't always the case. Until the 1950s, the NIT was just as big a tournament as the NCAA, and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney

[4] Davies, Richard O. (2007). "Sports in American Life: A History." Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. p. 155. ISBN 9781405106474.

[5] 2019-2020 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 2020

[6] 1953-54 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 12 May 2020

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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
Seasons	List of seasons 1914–15 1915–16 1916–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics