The 2012-13 WKU men’s basketball season will go down in the record books, as the squad captured yet another Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship and advanced to its 23rd NCAA Tournament on the heels of its 41st 20-win season. From the opening whistle of preseason practice to the final buzzer in Kansas City, the 2012-13 Hilltopper season was filled with all of the thrills and excitement expected from WKU basketball.
Preseason:
The Hilltoppers returned nine letterwinners and four starters from a 2011-12 squad that finished third in the Sun Belt Conference East Division, won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. WKU was picked third in the east division in the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll, behind Middle Tennessee and South Alabama, but sophomore forward Nigel Snipes was lost for the season due to a torn ACL suffered in preseason practice. WKU tuned up for the season with a pair of exhibition victories, beating Campbellsville (Ky.) 84-46 on October 29 and Kentucky Wesleyan 83-71 on November 3.
November (5-2):
WKU began the season with a 67-64 overtime loss in a hostile environment at Southern Miss, a team which would go on to win 27 games and finish second in Conference USA. From there, the Hilltoppers returned home for two wins against Austin Peay and Western Carolina as part of the 2012 Cancun Challenge. The Hilltoppers then headed for Cancun to face Iowa, and the Hawkeyes nipped the Hilltoppers in a tough defensive game, 63-55. WKU rebounded with a 70-61 win over BIG EAST foe DePaul the next night to wrap up play in the Cancun tournament.
WKU concluded the month of November with a conference game at ULM, marking the earliest a conference game has fallen on the schedule in the 94-year history of WKU basketball. The Hilltoppers defeated the Warhawks 65-54 behind the strength of 30 points by T.J. Price.
Two Hilltoppers won Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week honors in November. Jamal Crook averaged 21.0 points and shot 61.1 percent from the floor in wins over Austin Peay and Western Carolina, and T.J. Price earned the honor after averaging 26.5 points per game in key conference wins over ULM and Troy.
December (5-3):
A come-from-behind, 75-71 win at Troy began December in style, and the Hilltoppers made it six-straight wins with a 58-57 win against Southern Illinois four days later to improve to 8-2 on the season. After a 20-point win over IUPUI and a break for final examinations, WKU began its toughest stretch of the non-conference schedule with games at Murray State, VCU and against Louisville in Nashville. During the Murray State game senior guard Jamal Crook fractured his foot, and guard T.J. Price also missed time during the week due to injury, as the Hilltoppers began to be plagued by the injury bug.
The Hilltoppers battled Murray State to the wire and lost a 75-70 decision, and WKU lost 76-44 at VCU two days later. The week concluded with WKU facing fifth-ranked and eventual national champion Louisville at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, in a game in which the depleted Hilltoppers lost 78-55. The three teams who defeated the Hilltoppers that week combined to finish the season with an 84-24 record.
WKU rebounded with two more conference wins against FIU and North Texas to close the month with a perfect 4-0 mark in league play for the first time since 2005-06.
January (2-6):
WKU struggled in January after suffering a pair of three-game losing streaks sandwiched around a win against Louisiana-Lafayette, and the Hilltoppers closed the month with a 65-61 win against Troy. Four of the six losses came on the road, and all of those were against teams that eventually finished first and second in their respective divisions of the Sun Belt Conference. WKU’s win against Louisiana-Lafayette came by 23 points in front of nearly 5,000 fans at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Brandon Harris picked up Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week honors after averaging 19.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in conference games against Louisiana-Lafayette and UALR. Harris buried six three-pointers en route to 22 points against the Trojans for his first weekly award of his career.
February (4-3):
WKU began to hit its stride as the calendar turned to February, with the Hilltoppers snapping a three-game losing streak with three-straight wins near the end of the month against ULM, at Louisiana-Lafayette and against South Alabama, who finished second in the Sun Belt Conference East Division. The Hilltopper offense exploded during this stretch, scoring 75, 88 and 79 points in the wins and shooting around 50.0 percent from the floor in each game. The South Alabama win gave WKU its 10th conference win of the season.
WKU closed February at 16-3 in its last 19 home games, and WKU improved to 10-1 over the last two seasons in games played on or after February 21.
March (4-2):
WKU put together some more March magic in 2012-13, as the Hilltoppers rolled through the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with four wins in four days after a season-closing defeat to league champion Middle Tennessee. WKU was seeded sixth in the conference tournament and knocked off ULM, South Alabama, Arkansas State and FIU to win its second-straight tournament title in thrilling fashion.
With the tournament championship, WKU became the first school in NCAA men’s basketball history to win four games in four days to win the title in back-to-back seasons, and the Hilltoppers advanced to their 23rd NCAA Tournament with the win and second their 41st 20-win season. WKU and its tournament opponents battled to the wire, as the Hilltoppers beat South Alabama by three, Arkansas State by two and FIU by two. Toughness and tenacity proved to be key factors for the Hilltoppers during the four days in Hot Springs.
After the tournament concluded, George Fant and Brandon Harris were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Tournament Team, and T.J. Price was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
The Hilltoppers then headed to Kansas City, Mo., to face top-seeded Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, marking the fourth NCAA Tournament appearance for the Hilltoppers in the last six seasons. WKU led at the half, looking to become the first 16-seed to defeat a one-seed in tournament history and capturing the attention of the nation, before falling 64-57 at the end.
A vocal Hilltopper crowd was in attendance at the Sprint Center, helping push the Hilltoppers to the brink of history. Those in Kansas City and those watching on television across the nation had plenty to be proud of, both in the game against the Jayhawks and about the season as a whole.
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