2001–02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

2001–02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
2001–02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Sun Belt Conference Tournament Champion; Sun Belt Conference East Division Champion; NABC Classic Champion
NCAA Tournament, First Round
Conference	Sun Belt Conference
	East Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 19
Record	28–4 (13–1 Sun Belt)
Head coach	Dennis Felton;
Assistant coach	Pete Herrmann
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena
	Seasons ← 2000–01 2002–03 →

2001–02 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
No. 19 Western Kentucky †	13	–	1	.929	28	–	4	.875
Arkansas-Little Rock	8	–	6	.571	18	–	11	.621
Middle Tennessee	6	–	8	.429	14	–	15	.483
Arkansas State	5	–	9	.357	15	–	16	.484
Florida International	4	–	10	.286	10	–	20	.333
West
Louisiana–Lafayette	11	–	4	.733	20	–	11	.645
New Mexico State	11	–	4	.733	20	–	12	.625
New Orleans	9	–	6	.600	15	–	14	.517
North Texas	8	–	7	.533	15	–	14	.517
Denver	3	–	12	.200	8	–	20	.286
South Alabama	2	–	13	.133	7	–	21	.250

† 2002 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2001–02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Dennis Felton and All-American Center Chris Marcus.^[1] The team won the East Division Championship and the Sun Belt Basketball Tournament, earning an automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.^[2] One of the highlights of the season was a victory over in-state rival, 4th ranked Kentucky. Marcus missed 17 games this season due to an ankle injury. David Boyden and Derek Robinson were named to the All SBC team. Marcus and Patrick Sparks made the SBC All-Tournament team and Robinson was the tournament MVP.^[3]

Schedule

^[4]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/15/2001*		at No. 4 Kentucky NABC Classic	W 64–52	1–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
11/16/2001*		vs. George Washington NABC Classic	W 73–48	2–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
11/20/2001*	No. 21	Evansville	W 90–64	3–0	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
11/24/2001*	No. 21	Murray State	W 101–77	4–0	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
11/27/2001*	No. 17	at Creighton	L 91–94 ^2OT	4–1	Omaha Civic Auditorium Omaha, NE
12/2/2001*	No. 17	at Vanderbilt Marcus out with injury	L 75–80	4–2	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, TN
12/3/2001*	No. 25	at Akron	W 78–68	5–2	James A. Rhodes Arena Akron, OH
12/8/2001*	No. 25	at Austin Peay	W 77–75	6–2	Dunn Center Clarksville, TN
12/15/2001*		West Alabama	W 103–40	7–2	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/19/2001*		Creighton	W 95–61	8–2	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/22/2001*		at Southern Mississippi	W 74–50	9–2	Reed Green Coliseum Hattiesburg, MS
12/28/2001*		at New Orleans	W 90–76	10–2 (1-0)	Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA
12/30/2001		at South Alabama	L 58–61	10–3 (1-1)	Mitchell Center Mobile, AL
1/2/2002		at FIU	W 65–54	11–3 (2-1)	Ocean Bank Convocation Center University Park, FL
1/5/2002*		Austin Peay	W 75–73	12–3	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/10/2002		Louisiana–Lafayette	W 63–62	13–3 (3-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/13/2002		New Mexico State	W 83–67	14–3 (4-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/16/2002		at Middle Tennessee	W 55–45	15–3 (5-1)	Murphy Center Murfreesboro, TN
1/19/2002		at Denver	W 86–59	16–3 (6-1)	Magness Arena Denver, CO
1/24/2002		Arkansas–Little Rock	W 95–85	17–3 (7-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/27/2002		Arkansas State	W 45–42	18–3 (8-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/31/2002		FIU	W 66–64	19–3 (9-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/3/2002*		Morris Brown Marcus returns	W 92–53	20–3	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/7/2002		at Arkansas–Little Rock	W 83–79 ^OT	21–3 (10-1)	Jack Stephens Center Little Rock, AR
2/9/2002		at Arkansas State	W 50–46	22–3 (11-1)	Convocation Center Jonesboro, AR
2/16/2002		North Texas	W 100–76	23–3 (12-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/19/2002*	No. 24	Kentucky State	W 100–63	24–3	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/23/2002	No. 24	Middle Tennessee	W 65–61	25–3 (13-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2002 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
3/2/2002	No. 20 (SBC 1E)	vs. No. (SBC 4W) North Texas Second Round	W 82–68	26–3	Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA
3/4/2002	No. 18 (SBC 1E)	vs. No. (SBC 2W) New Mexico State Semifinal	W 73–72	27–3	Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA
3/5/2002	No. 18 (SBC 1E)	vs. No. (SBC 1W) Louisiana–Lafayette Championship	W 76–70	28–3	Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA
2002 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
3/14/2002*	No. 19 (M9)	vs. No. 24 (M8) Stanford First Round	L 68–84	28–4	Edward Jones Dome St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll (M#) during NCAA Tournament is seed with Region . (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

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[1] Marcus honored by publication, WKU center lands on All-America team, By Justin Willis, Bowling Green Daily News, Aug 3, 2001 retrieved 27 April 2020

[2] SBC 2016-17 Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 28 April 2020

[3] 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020

[4] 2001-02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 29 April 2020

[1]

[2]

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[4]

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