1979–80 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

American college basketball season

1979–80 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball

OVC Tournament Champion Ohio Valley Conference Champion
NCAA Tournament, First Round
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	21–8 (10–2 OVC)
Head coach	Gene Keady
Assistant coach	Clem Haskins
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena
Seasons← 1978–79 1980–81 →

1979–80 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Western Kentucky †	10	–	2	.833	21	–	8	.724
Murray State	10	–	2	.833	23	–	8	.742
Morehead State	7	–	5	.583	15	–	12	.556
Eastern Kentucky	7	–	5	.583	15	–	12	.556
Middle Tennessee	5	–	7	.417	13	–	13	.500
Austin Peay State	2	–	10	.167	8	–	18	.308
Tennessee Tech	1	–	11	.083	5	–	21	.192

† 1980 OVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 1979–80 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were members of the Ohio Valley Conference and led by future National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame coach Gene Keady. WKU won the OVC regular season and tournament championships and received the conference's automatic bid to the 1980 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament. Craig McCormick and Bill Bryant made the All-OVC Team, and McCormick was selected as OVC Tournament MVP.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
12/1/1979*		Rollins	W 104–73	1–0	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/3/1979*		at Illinois State	L 55–66	1–1	Horton Field House Normal, IL
12/6/1979*		at Duquesne	L 73–84	1–2	Mellon Arena Pittsburgh, PA
12/8/1979*		Florida A&M	W 87–60	2–2	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
12/13/1979*		vs. Evansville Holiday Classic	W 75–61	3–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
12/14/1979*		at No. 12 Louisville Holiday Classic	L 74–96	3–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
12/29/1979*		Florida State	L 65–67	3–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/3/1980*		Butler	W 66–62	4–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/5/1980*		at Louisiana Tech	W 63–59	5–4	Memorial Gym Ruston, LA
1/7/1980*		East Tennessee	W 71–59	6–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/10/1980*		Akron	W 92–58	7–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/12/1980		Tennessee Tech	W 97–72	8–4 (1-0)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/17/1980		Murray State	W 68–48	9–4 (2-0)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/19/1980		at Austin Peay	W 95–71	10–4 (3-0)	Dunn Center Clarksville, TN
1/21/1980*		Dayton	W 71–65	11–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1/24/1980		at Middle Tennessee	W 62–58	12–4 (4-0)	Murphy Center Murfreesboro, TN
1/26/1980		at Eastern Kentucky	L 82–84	12–5 (4-1)	Alumni Coliseum Richmond, KY
1/31/1980		Morehead State	W 86–79	13–5 (5-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/2/1980		Eastern Kentucky	W 74–62	14–5 (6-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/7/1980*		at Akron	W 70–68	15–5	James A. Rhodes Arena Akron, OH
2/9/1980		at Tennessee Tech	W 75–56	16–5 (7-1)	Eblen Center Cookeville, TN
2/11/1980		at Morehead State	L 73–76	16–6 (7-2)	Wetherby Gymnasium Morehead, KY
2/14/1980		Austin Peay	W 70–51	17–6 (8-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/16/1980		at Murray State	W 56–55	18–6 (9-2)	Racer Arena Murray, KY
2/21/1980		Middle Tennessee	W 81–79	19–6 (10-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
2/23/1980*		at South Carolina	L 65–73	19–7	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
1980 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
2/28/1980	(1)	(4) Eastern Kentucky Semifinals	W 84–83	20–7	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
3/1/1980	(1)	(2) Murray State Championship	W 54–51	21–7	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
1980 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament
3/7/1980*	(10 ME)	(7 ME) Virginia Tech First Round	L 85–89	21–8	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY
*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
1979-80 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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