1977–78 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

American college basketball season

1977–78 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball

OVC Tournament Champion
NCAA Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	16–14 (9–5 OVC)
Head coach	Jim Richards
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena
Seasons← 1976–77 1978–79 →

The 1977–78 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were members of the Ohio Valley Conference and led by coach Jim Richards, in his final year at the helm. WKU finished third in the OVC regular season, but won the tournament championship and the conference's automatic bid to the 1978 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, where they advanced to the sweet sixteen. James Johnson and Darryl Turner made the All-OVC Team and Aaron Bryant was selected to the OVC Tournament Team.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
11/26/1977*		No. 13 Michigan	L 81–87	0–1	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
11/30/1977*		at Evansville	W 82–72	1–1	Roberts Municipal Stadium Evansville, IN
12/3/1977*		at Bowling Green	W 78–65	2–1	Anderson Arena Bowling Green, OH
12/5/1977*		Memphis State	L 80–86	2–2	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/7/1977*		Butler	L 86–90	2–3	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/10/1977*		Wisconsin-Milwaukee	L 70–73	2–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/17/1977*		Cal Poly-San Lius Obispo	W 72–50	3–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/28/1977*		at No. 14 Maryland Maryland Invitational	L 78–91	3–5	Cole Field House College Park, MD
12/29/1977*		vs. St. John’s (NY) Maryland Invitational	L 63–80	3–6	Cole Field House College Park, MD
1/4/1978*		La Salle	L 64–78	3–7	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/7/1978		at Eastern Kentucky	L 79–85	3–8 (0-1)	Alumni Coliseum Richmond, KY
1/9/1978		at Morehead State	W 97–82	4–8 (1-1)	Wetherby Gymnasium Morehead, KY
1/11/1978*		Jacksonville	W 96–94	5–8	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/14/1978		East Tennessee	W 98–94	6–8 (2-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/16/1978		Tennessee Tech	W 86–75	7–8 (3-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/21/1978		Murray State	W 91–75	8–8 (4-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/23/1978		at Austin Peay	W 91–83	9–8 (5-1)	Dunn Center Clarksville, TN
1/25/1978*		Dayton	L 72–80	9–9	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/28/1978		at Middle Tennessee	L 69–98	9–10 (5-2)	Murphy Center Murfreesboro, TN
2/4/1978		Morehead State	W 106–69	10–10 (6-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/6/1978		Eastern Kentucky	L 74–78	10–11 (6-3)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/11/1978		at East Tennessee	L 77–80	10–12 (6-4)	Memorial Center Johnson City, TN
2/13/1978		at Tennessee Tech	W 81–69	11–12 (7-4)	Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
2/18/1978		Austin Peay	L 64–66	11–13 (7-5)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/20/1978		at Murray State	W 100–98	12–13 (8-5)	Racer Arena Murray, KY
2/25/1978		Middle Tennessee	W 87–78	13–13 (9-5)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1978 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
3/3/1978	(3)	(2) East Tennessee Semifinals	W 79–75	14–13	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
3/4/1978	(3)	(4) Austin Peay Championship	W 77–69	15–13	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1978 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament
3/11/1978*	(4Q ME)	vs. (2L ME) No. 18 Syracuse First Round	W 87–86	16–13	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, TN
3/7/1980*	(4Q ME)	vs. (1Q ME) No. 4 Michigan State Sweet Sixteen	L 69–90	16–14	UD Arena Dayton, OH
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

Lowell H. Harrison (1987). Western Kentucky University. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 276–. ISBN 978-0813116204.
2019-2020 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 2020
2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020
1977-78 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 6 May 2020

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

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