BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Despite recent setbacks, WKU finds itself very much still in the hunt for a Sun Belt Championship, as well as an important top three seed resulting in a first round bye at the SBC Tournament. Following a topsy-turvy Thursday around the league, Troy comes to Bowling Green to face the Hilltoppers on Saturday at 7:00 PM. The Trojans, winners of three-straight for the first time this year, are tied atop the Sun Belt East Division. Below are game notes for the contest (with a link to the full, downloadable version in PDF format).
GAME 24:
WKU (12-11, 5-6 SBC) vs. Troy (13-10, 8-4 SBC)
Saturday, February 6, 2010 • 7:00 PM CT
E.A. Diddle (7,326) • Bowling Green, Ky.
►COVERAGE: The game will be carried live on WKYU as well as on FCS and DirecTV channel 617. In addition, live stats, live audio, and live video feeds are available at WKUsports.com.
►SIZING UP THE TROJANS: Head coach Don Maestri, in his 28th season at Troy, returns eight letterwinners including four starters from last year's team that went 19-13 overall and finished second in the Sun Belt East Division at 14-4. The Trojans are led by Brandon Hazzard's 17.0 ppg while Richard Delk (12.5 ppg), Michael Vogler (11.5 ppg), and Yamene Coleman (10.9 ppg) all average double figures.
►STAR POWER: WKU's AJ Slaughter and Troy's Brandon Hazzard are tied atop the Sun Belt Conference scoring chart at 17.0 ppg. The only Hilltopper to ever lead the league in scoring was Jack Jennings in 1991-92 averaging 19.1 ppg.
►SNAKEBITTEN: With Thursday's 67-66 loss at ULM, the Hilltoppers have now dropped four games by one point this year, surpassing the 1978-79 team's school record of three one-point defeats in a single season.
►EVANS EYEING 1,000: Thanks to his five-straight double figure scoring games highlighted by his season-high 19 points on Thursday at ULM, senior Jeremy Evans is nearing 1,000 career points. In looking to become the 44th member of the prestigious club, the Crossett, Ark. native needs just 39 more points. Fellow teammate AJ Slaughter became the 43rd member earlier this year while junior Steffphon Pettigrew is just 89 points away.
►BUSINESS AS USUAL: For the sixth time in 27 years of Sun Belt affiliation, the Hilltoppers have had three Player of the Week selections in a season, equaling that of the 1986-87, 1991-92, 2002-03, and 2007-08, and trailing only the 2008-09 team's school record four selections.
►FINAL FAREWELL: Last weekend marked the final time WKU and New Orleans will meet on the hardwood. UNO is leaving the Sun Belt Conference at season's end, likely to transition to the Division III ranks, thus the 30th meeting between the program's will be the last for the foreseeable future.
►UNCHARTED TERRITORY: WKU snapped its five-game losing streak last Saturday, avoiding a six-game skid for the first time since 2003-04. Dropping four-straight conference contests was also a first since 1998-99.
►ROAD WOES: WKU is in the midst of a five-game road losing the streak, the longest such skid since the 2003-04 squad opened the season by dropping their first five road contests.
►TOP THIEF: AJ Slaughter swiped a career-high five steals against North Texas on January 28, becoming the first player since Courtney Lee back on November 13, 2007 against Kentucky Wesleyan to have five steals in a game.
►OVERTIME EXTRAS: After not playing an overtime contest in the first 46 games of the Ken McDonald era, WKU has seen two OT games in January. The win over South Alabama on January 7 was the first since the Toppers beat #14 Drake 101-99 in the NCAA Tournament on March 21, 2008. The January 28 home OT loss to North Texas snapped a five-game home extra frame winning streak by the Tops dating back to December 7, 2003.
►SEALING THE DEAL: Until the January 28 overtime loss to North Texas 84-83, WKU had won 21-straight games when leading with 5:00 to play, dating back to 2008.
►HOME SWEET HOME: After a grueling stretch of six games in 12 days, three of which were on the road, WKU is playing six of eight contests at home entering the final leg of the season.
►KERUSCH RETURNS: After missing 14-straight games with a foot injury, junior Sergio Kerusch returned to the Topper line-up on Thursday at ULM, scoring seven points and grabbing five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. WKU went 7-7 in his absence.
►IRON MAN: AJ Slaughter tied a career-high on January 28 against North Texas, logging 42 minutes of action. It marked the fifth time in nine games that the Sun Belt's league leader in minutes per game (36.8) played at least 40 minutes in a game.
►FOLLOW THE LEADER: Either AJ Slaughter or Steffphon Pettigrew has been WKU's leading scorer in 20 of 23 games this season. Jeremy Evans led the team with 19 points at ULM on February 4, snapping a string of 19-straight games one of the duo has led the squad.
►TOPPERS ADD TRANSFER: WKU has added Teeng Akol (pronounced TANG Ah-CALL), a 6-11 post player from Wian, Sudan. Akol spent last season as a freshman at Oklahoma State where he appeared in five games, averaging 3.7 minutes per outing. He will have to sit out a year before becoming eligible to play.
►DEFENDING HOME COURT: Since February 2007, the Hilltoppers have won 37 of their last 41 games at Diddle Arena. After a 13-0 mark last season, WKU suffered a one-point loss to Indiana State on November 24, snapping the longest homecourt winning streak in the Sun Belt Conference at 15 games.
►BEST SUN BELT START EVER: With the win over FIU on January 16, second-year head coach Ken McDonald moved past Matt Kilcullen and now claims the best start to Sun Belt Conference play ever by a WKU head coach at 19-4. McDonald also wrapped up his first 50 games on the sidelines for WKU with a .720 winning percentage (36-14).
►SUN BELT FOES BEWARE: WKU is 161-48 (.770) all-time in Sun Belt games at Diddle Arena. Even more impressive, the Toppers are 69-7 (.908) since 2000.
►CHAMPIONS ON AND OFF THE COURT: As of the beginning of the spring semester, freshman Caden Dickerson is on pace to earn a spot on the Commissioner's List (3.50 GPA or higher) while fellow freshmen Jordan Swing and William Green would qualify for the Sun Belt Honor Roll (3.00 GPA or higher). After the final grades from the fall semester were tallied, 213 WKU student-athletes are maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or higher, which represents 52 percent of WKU's 412 student-athletes. Equally as impressive, 11.4 percent of student-athletes (47 total) have a 4.0 cumulative GPA.
►GETTING DEFENSIVE AT DIDDLE: In the Ken McDonald era, WKU is holding opponents at Diddle Arena to just 63.9 ppg (25 games).
►TAKING ON THE SUN BELT: WKU is 277-120 (.698) all-time against the 12 current members of the Sun Belt Conference (includes postseason and match-ups when WKU was in the OVC). Since joining the Sun Belt in 1982, the Toppers are 274-159 all-time (.633) in league play.
►PETTIGREW EARNS PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Junior forward Steffphon Pettigrew was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on January 18, his first career selection, the third for the Hilltoppers this season, and the 49th weekly winner for WKU in their 27 years of Sun Belt affiliation. The Elizabethtown, Ky., native helped WKU to a pair of key conference wins over Florida Atlantic and FIU by averaging 18.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg.
►BATTLE-TESTED: WKU has played five non-conference games against opponents from the six BCS conferences this season. Among the teams currently ranked in the Top 15 of the AP poll (as of December 31), only Texas, with six, has played more non-conference contests against BCS opponents than WKU.
►FINALLY FREE BASKETBALL: Ken McDonald had coached 46 games at WKU without playing an overtime contest, the longest stretch to begin a career since E.A. Diddle, until a 67-64 OT win at South Alabama on January 7.
►DOUBLING UP ON THE SEC: Now with wins over #24 Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, WKU has wins over two different SEC opponents in the same season for the first time in school history.
►HISTORIC WINS: In their last two games against SEC opponents, the Toppers have erased a combined 113-year drought to Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. On December 11, WKU upset #24 Vanderbilt 76-69 at the Sommet Center in Nashville, snapping a 10-game losing streak to the Commodores for their first win over Vandy since 1946. On January 4, in a 55-52 home win over Mississippi State, WKU posted its first victory over the Bulldogs since 1959.
►THERE'S ALWAYS A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING: WKU beat South Alabama for the fourth-straight time on January 7 for the first time since 1988. Last year, the Hilltoppers downed the Jaguars three times in one season for a first in the 55-game series history.
►DIDDLE DOMINANCE: Since its doors opened on December 7, 1963, the Hilltoppers are 507-134 all-time at Diddle Arena for a .791 winning percentage. Diddle has witnessed eight undefeated home seasons (1965-66, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1970-71, 1994-95, 2001-02, 2002-03, and 2008-09) and only two losing seasons (1963-64 and 1997-98).
►KENTUCKY PROUD: Junior Steffphon Pettigrew, an Elizabethtown, Ky. native, is showing why he was the 2007 Kentucky Mr. Basketball, averaging 20.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game this season against in-state competition (Louisville and Murray State).
►BETTER LAND THE FIRST PUNCH: Only twice in the last nine seasons has WKU lost to the same non-conference opponents in consecutive seasons (SIU and Tennessee, both in 2006-07 and 2007-08.) WKU has now avenged last year's losses to Evansville, Murray State, and Mississippi State.
►DON'T COUNT 'EM OUT: WKU won when trailing at the half on Jan. 14 against Florida Atlantic for the seventh time in 16 games this season. WKU is now 38-60 when trailing at the half since 2002-03.
►SLAUGHTER NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the second time in five weeks, WKU senior guard AJ Slaughter was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week. The Shelbyville, Ky. native led the Hilltoppers to wins over Evansville and #24 Vanderbilt, averaging 16.0 ppg and 3.0 apg. The December 15th selection was the third career honor for Slaughter, and the program's 48th in the Tops' 27-year affiliation with the SBC.
►TOP DRAW: The January 23 game with Middle Tennessee drew 6,026, the ninth time this season WKU has played before a crowd of more than 5,000 fans.
►SLAUGHTER BREAKS INTO TOP 15 ON CAREER SCORING LIST: With his 18 points against ULM, AJ Slaughter now has 1,376 career points, moving past Charlie Osborne (1959-61) for 13th all-time in WKU history. Next up is Art Spolestra (1952-54) at 1,510.
►SOMMET CENTER SUCCESS: Two of AJ Slaughter's three best games have come at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn. against ranked teams. Last season, the senior guard dropped 25 on third-ranked Louisville, only to pour in 27 this year versus #24 Vanderbilt.
►THREE-POINT STREAK: WKU has made a three-pointer in 694-straight games, ranking as the sixth longest active streak. UNLV, Vanderbilt, and Princeton are the only three teams to have made a three in every game since the shot was instituted in 1986-87. WKU's last miss came on March 13, 1987 against West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament.
►RECORD VS. THE RANKED: With the Toppers' 76-69 win over #24 Vanderbilt, WKU is now 34-85 all-time versus ranked opponents including a 2-1 record under head coach Ken McDonald. The Toppers have won three of their last five games against ranked teams on neutral floors, and are 14-23 all-time in those contests.
►DOUBLING DOWN: On December 8 against Evansville, Steffphon Pettigrew (18 pts, 13 rebs) and Jeremy Evans (10 pts, 11 rebs) became the first WKU players to record double doubles in the same game since Anthony Winchester (25 pts, 11 rebs) and Elgrace Wilborn (10 pts, 10 rebs) accomplished the feat on February 24, 2005, a span of 145 games.
►700 CLUB: Ken McDonald is one only four WKU coaches to have a .700 winning percentage through his first 40 games on the bench. Out of 11 all-time coaches (beginning with E.A. Diddle), McDonald joins John Oldham, Murray Arnold, and Matt Kilcullen as those to achieve the feat. McDonald went 28-12, just three games behind Arnold and Kilcullen, and two back of Oldham for the best start ever.
►SLAUGHTER FOR THREE...: Senior guard AJ Slaughter has 184 career three-pointers, ranking sixth all-time at WKU. The Shelbyville, Ky. native is also fourth in career steals with 157.
►PETTIGREW'S PERFORMANCE: Junior Steffphon Pettigrew has notched double figures in 19 of 23 games this season, and in 35 of his last 42 regular season games. The 2007 Kentucky Mr. Basketball is averaging 16.7 ppg over his last 15 outings.
►SLAUGHTER REACHES 1,000: Senior guard AJ Slaughter needed just 14 points entering the season to reach 1,000 for his career. With a career-best 30 on November 16 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he became the 43rd member of the illustrious WKU 1,000-point club.
►500TH WIN AT DIDDLE: The December 6 win over Tulane 62-48 gave WKU men's basketball its 500th victory in the 47-year history of E.A. Diddle Arena.
►WKU RANKED 44th ALL-TIME: With a history and tradition that ranks third all-time in conference championships (41), sixth in 20-win seasons (39), eighth in all-time winning percentage (.672), and 14th in wins (1,618), Western Kentucky University is rated 44th out of 330 Division I men's basketball programs in the ESPN/Sagarin All-Time Rankings released in October. In the 1,200-page book, the authors stated, "Western Kentucky has a tradition and fan base that almost any other team in the country would envy."
►SI.COM LOVES SLAUGHTER: Sports Illustrated held an "online draft" on November 19 of four of its top college basketball analysts. Each person selected five players and one coach to make up their "Dream Team." Seth Davis selected AJ Slaughter with his fifth pick, stating, "As you all pointed out I need a long-range shooter and scorer...so I'll go with AJ Slaughter from Western Kentucky. Best mid-major player next to Jerome Jordan." Grant Wahl responded with, "Inspired pick. I really like WKU this season."
►BEEN THERE BEFORE: This year marked the fourth appearance in the Preseason NIT for WKU, the last coming in 1997 when the Toppers fell at #2 Kansas 75-62. In 1993, Ralph Willard's squad lost 101-87 to top-ranked North Carolina before going on to win the Sun Belt Tournament and face Texas in the NCAA Tournament. In the program's first appearance in the Preseason NIT, the Hilltoppers won at Notre Dame 80-63, ousted TCU 96-90, and then beat Memphis 68-67 in Madison Square Garden, setting up a showdown with UNLV for the championship, only to suffer a heartbreaking 96-95 2OT loss. Overall, WKU is 5-5 all-time in the event.
►NATIONAL RANKING NOTHING NEW: Being in the national rankings is nothing new for the tradition-rich Hilltopper program. Since the AP poll debuted in 1948, WKU has spend 112 weeks in the Top 25, including 60 weeks inside the Top 10. The Toppers were last ranked inside the Top 25 when they finished 2007-08 at 22nd.
►SUN BELT FAVORITES: The Sun Belt Conference coaches selected WKU as the overwhelming favorite to win the East Division in 2009-10. If the prediction holds, it will be the program's third-straight and seventh crown in the last 10 seasons. The Hilltoppers garnered 12 of a possible 13 first-place votes.
►SLAUGHTER PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Senior guard AJ Slaughter has been selected as the Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year by the league's head coaches. The Shelbyville, Ky. native led the team in scoring at 16.0 ppg last season and is trying to become the third-straight Topper to become Player of the Year (Courtney Lee and Orlando Mendez-Valdez).
►FOUR NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE: AJ Slaughter, Sergio Kerusch, Steffphon Pettigrew, and Jeremy Evans have been selected to the Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference team. Slaughter was a First-Team selection, and Player of the Year, while Kerusch and Pettigrew were placed on the Second-Team and Evans the Third-Team.
►RECORD VS. THE SEC: WKU is 25-32 all-time against the 12 current members of the Southeastern Conference. After a 1-1 record last year, the Toppers are 2-2 against the league this season, for an even 3-3 mark under head coach Ken McDonald.
►SEC NO STRANGER TO BG: With the January 4 game against Mississippi State, WKU hosted an SEC opponent for the 21st time, improving to a solid 11-10 record in those contests. Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt have all made trips to face the Hilltoppers in Bowling Green.
►TAKING ON THE VALLEY: WKU is 63-38 (.624) all-time against the 10 current members of the Missouri Valley.
►TAKING ON THE BIG EAST: WKU is 78-78 (.500) all-time against the 16 current members of the Big East Conference.
►TAKING ON CONFERENCE USA: WKU is now 47-36 all-time against the 12 current members of Conference USA. The Hilltoppers were 1-1 against the league last year, beating Tulane and falling at Houston.
►WELCOME BACK: Tulane became just the fifth C-USA team to play at Diddle Arena since the league was founded in 1995. The Tops are 4-1 in those games.
►TITLETOWN: Last season, WKU won its sixth Sun Belt East Division Title in nine seasons. It was the Hilltoppers' 41st conference championship (includes regular season and postseason), ranking third all-time in Division I, trailing only Kentucky and Kansas.
►DECADE OF DOMINANCE: WKU captured the program's fifth Sun Belt Conference Tournament Title this decade, taking home the hardware in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, and 2009.
►SEEING 20-20: With a 25-9 mark last season, WKU posted the program's fifth-straight 20-win campaign, a first in Sun Belt Conference history. With 20 wins this season, the streak would become the second-longest in Hilltopper history, trailing only the string of 10-straight by E.A. Diddle's teams from 1933 to 1943.
►CENTURY MARK: WKU is virtually unbeaten all-time when scoring 100 points. The Hilltoppers are 100-1 all-time when scoring at least 100 points.
►BEST OF THE BEST: WKU owns 34 wins against ranked teams including 13 against Top 10 opponents. Six of those have come over foes ranked fourth or higher and seven against ranked teams in the NCAA Tournament.
►20-WIN SEASONS: 20 wins in 2009-10 would extend WKU's Sun Belt Conference record of consecutive seasons with 20+ wins to six and mark the 40th all-time 20-win season in school history, the sixth highest total in NCAA history.
►HITTING THE CENTURY MARK: 24 wins in 2009-10 would give WKU 100 over the last four years for only the third time in the program's 91-season history (103 wins from 1947-50 and 101 wins from 1935-38).
►NCAA TOURNAMENT WINS: WKU has the Sun Belt Conference's last six NCAA Tournament wins (one in 2009, two in 2008, one in 1995, and two in 1993). The last conference team other than WKU to win an NCAA Tournament game was Louisiana-Lafayette in 1992.
►POSTSEASON PROS: 21 NCAA Tournament appearances and 18 all-time wins are more than any Sun Belt Conference school, and seven Sun Belt Conference Tournament championships (7-4 in tournament title games) and 37 all-time conference tournament wins are the most in Sun Belt history.
►REPEAT THE THREE-PEAT: A Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship this year would make WKU the only school to win the tournament three consecutive seasons on two different occasions. WKU won the conference tournament in 2001, 2002, and 2003 and has won the tournament in 2008 and 2009. UAB is the only other school with three consecutive conference tournament titles, pulling the trifecta in 1982, 1983, and 1984.
►STANDARD BEARER: 25 times Sun Belt teams have finished the season ranked in the final national polls (AP, UPI, USA Today/ESPN), and WKU owns 18 of those 25 final rankings.
►PLAYER OF THE YEAR: A WKU player has been named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in five of the last nine seasons and WKU has had an All-Conference First-Team selection in each of the last nine seasons.
►BEST OF THE BEST: Of the Sun Belt Conference's highest individual awards, WKU has had seven student-athletes earn Player of the Year and four named Defensive Player of the Year, the most in the conference in each category.
►AMONG WINNINGEST PROGRAMS: WKU's is one of only 14 programs in the nation with more than 1,600 victories.
►UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS: Ken McDonald became the 11th WKU head coach to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament when his inaugural squad reached the 2009 tournament. No other program in the country has had 11 different coaches reach the NCAA Tournament.
►CONFERENCE KINGPINS: 41 all-time conference championships rank third in NCAA history, trailing only Kansas (52) and Kentucky (43) on the all-time list.
►NCAA TOURNAMENT WINS: Over the past two seasons, only 18 teams have won a game in the NCAA Tournament in both the 2008 and 2009 seasons. WKU joins Siena (MAAC), Memphis (C-USA), and Xavier (A-10) as the only four teams NOT from a BCS conference to do so. WKU won two games in 2008 to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16, while last season the Hilltoppers won their First Round game with Illinois before falling in the final second to 10th-ranked Gonzaga.
►ROOKIE SUCCESS: Of the 65 coaches to lead their team to the 2009 NCAA Tournament, only one--Ken McDonald--was in his first season as a head coach.
►CRADLE OF COACHES: Many schools may claim to be the cradle of coaches when it comes to men's basketball, but WKU has the evidence to back it up. WKU has gone to the NCAA Tournament under the greatest number of head coaches than anyone else in NCAA history. Eleven different head men have directed the Hilltoppers to the Big Dance.
►AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE: WKU trails only 27 of 73 men's basketball programs from BCS conferences in NCAA Tournament appearances over the last 10 years. The Hilltoppers have been to five NCAA Tournaments since 1999-2000.
