1949–50 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball team

1949–50 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball
1949–50 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball
Ohio Valley Conference Champion
NIT Tournament, Quarterfinals
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 8
Record	25–6 (8–0 OVC)
Head coach	Edgar Diddle (28th season);
Assistant coach	Ted Hornback
Home arena	Health & Physical Education Building
	Seasons ← 1948–49 1950–51 →

The 1949–50 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky State College (now known as Western Kentucky University) during the 1949-50 NCAA University Division Basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Edgar Diddle and All-American center Bob Lavoy.^[1] The team then won the Ohio Valley Conference season championship and appeared in the 1950 National Invitation Tournament.^[2] During this period, the NIT was considered to be on par with the NCAA tournament.^[3]^[4] Lavoy and Johnny Givens were named to the All-Conference team, Lavoy was also selected to the OVC All-Tournament team.^[5]

Schedule

^[6]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
12/3/1949		at Morehead State	W 58–47	1–0 (1-0)	Button Auditorium Morehead, KY
12/5/1949*		Kentucky Wesleyan	W 89–45	2–0	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
12/8/1949*		vs. Bowling Green State	W 78–57	3–0	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
12/10/1949*		at Xavier	W 59–57	4–0	Cincinnati Gardens Cincinnati, OH
12/13/1949*		Georgetown (KY)	W 67–48	5–0	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
12/17/1949*		at Cincinnati	L 54–55	5–1	Cincinnati Gardens Cincinnati, OH
12/26/1949*		at Canisius	W 74–61	6–1	Buffalo, NY
12/29/1948*		vs. Long Island	L 66–73	6–2	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
1/2/1950*		at La Salle	L 69–80	6–3	Wister Hall Philadelphia, PA
1/7/1950		Eastern Kentucky	W 86–61	7–3 (2-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/9/1950*		Xavier	W 63–51	8–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/11/1950*	No. 14	at Louisville	L 59–70	8–4	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
1/14/1950	No. 14	at Murray State	W 58–52	9–4 (3-0)	Carr Health Building Murray, KY
1/16/1950*	No. 14	No. 12 Cincinnati	W 84–59	10–4	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/18/1950	No. 17	at Evansville	W 73–69	11–4 (4-0)	Evansville, IN
1/21/1950	No. 17	at Eastern Kentucky	W 69–51	12–4 (5-0)	Weaver Gymnasium Richmond, KY
1/27/1950*	No. 17	at Miami	W 66–61	13–4	Miami, FL
1/28/1950*	No. 17	at Miami	W 78–61	14–4	Miami, FL
1/30/1950*	No. 17	at Tampa	W 79–59	15–4	Tampa, FL
1/31/1950*	No. 14	No. 15 Louisville	W 84–62	16–4	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/7/1950	No. 11	Morehead State	W 77–65	17–4 (6-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/9/1950*	No. 11	vs. Bowling Green State	W 103–87	18–4	Cleveland Arena Cleveland, OH
2/11/1950	No. 11	Murray State	W 54–50	19–4 (7-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/15/1950*	No. 9	Miami	W 79–57	20–4	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/16/1950*	No. 9	Miami	W 83–47	21–4	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/18/1950	No. 9	Evansville	W 81–56	22–4 (8-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1950 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
2/24/1950	No. 9	vs. Tennessee Tech OVC Tournament	W 79–60	23–4	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
2/25/1950	No. 9	vs. Murray State OVC Tournament Semifinal	W 58–54	24–4	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
2/26/1950	No. 7	vs. Eastern Kentucky OVC Tournament Final	L 50–62	24–5	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
1950 National Invitation Tournament
3/11/1950*	No. 8	vs. Niagara NIT	W 79–72	25–5	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
3/13/1950*	No. 8	vs. No. 9 St. John's (NY) NIT Quarterfinal	L 60–69	25–6	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 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 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 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020
^ Western Kentucky Men's Basketball Archive, retrieved 14 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 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 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 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020

[6] Western Kentucky Men's Basketball Archive, retrieved 14 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