2004–05 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

2004–05 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
2004–05 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
NIT Tournament, Second Round
Conference	Sun Belt Conference
	East Division
Record	22–9 (9–5 Sun Belt)
Head coach	Darrin Horn;
Assistant coach	Paul Sanderford
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena
	Seasons ← 2003–04 2005–06 →

The 2004–05 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 2004–05 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by head coach Darrin Horn and All Sun Belt Conference guard, Anthony Winchester.^[1] They finished 2nd in the SBC East Division and were invited to the 2005 National Invitation Tournament. Future NBA player Courtney Lee was SBC Freshman of the Year and was named to the SBC All Tournament team.^[2]

2004–05 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
Little Rock	10	–	4	.714	18	–	10	.643
Western Kentucky	9	–	5	.643	22	–	9	.710
Middle Tennessee	7	–	7	.500	19	–	12	.613
Arkansas State	7	–	7	.500	16	–	13	.552
Florida International	4	–	10	.286	13	–	17	.433
West
Denver	12	–	3	.800	20	–	11	.645
Louisiana–Lafayette †	11	–	4	.733	20	–	11	.645
New Orleans	7	–	8	.467	13	–	17	.433
South Alabama	6	–	9	.400	10	–	18	.357
North Texas	6	–	9	.400	14	–	14	.500
New Mexico State	1	–	14	.067	6	–	24	.200

† 2005 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Schedule

^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/19/2004*		Tennessee State	W 76–73 ^OT	1–0	E. A. Diddle Arena (6,785) Bowling Green, KY
11/23/2004*		at Georgia	W 71–61	2–0	Stegeman Coliseum (6,217) Athens, GA
11/27/2004*		Montana	W 72–46	3–0	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,220) Bowling Green, KY
12/1/2004*		Southeast Missouri	W 74–53	4–0	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,882) Bowling Green, KY
12/4/2004*		at Murray State	W 82–72	5–0	CFSB Center (6,612) Murray, KY
12/8/2004*		Eastern Kentucky	W 75–63	6–0	E. A. Diddle Arena (6,478) Bowling Green, KY
12/11/2004*		at Evansville	L 62–68	6–1	Roberts Municipal Stadium (9,036) Evansville, IN
12/18/2004*		Marshall	W 70–54	7–1	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,367) Bowling Green, KY
12/22/2004*		Kentucky State	W 89–73	8–1	E. A. Diddle Arena (2,462) Bowling Green, KY
12/28/2004*		at Austin Peay	W 87–80	9–1	Dunn Center (3,300) Clarksville, TN
1/1/2005*		Fordham	W 80–59	10–1	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,240) Bowling Green, KY
1/5/2005*		at Virginia	L 79–80 ^2OT	10–2	University Hall (6,675) Charlottesville, VA
1/13/2005		at Arkansas–Little Rock	L 66–69	10–3 (0-1)	Alltel Arena (3,627) North Little Rock, AR
1/15/2005		at Arkansas State	L 90–94	10–4 (0-2)	Convocation Center (4,751) Jonesboro, AR
1/20/2005		New Orleans	W 81–69	11–4 (1-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,418) Bowling Green, KY
1/22/2005		South Alabama	W 79–76 ^OT	12–4 (2-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena (5,564) Bowling Green, KY
1/27/2005		at Louisiana–Lafayette	L 76–91 ^Vacated	12–5 (2-3)	Cajundome (5,011) Lafayette, LA
1/29/2005		at New Mexico State	W 77–75	13–5 (3-3)	Pan American Center (4,571) Las Cruces, NM
02/3/2005		at Middle Tennessee	W 61–56	14–5 (4-3)	Murphy Center (6,103) Murfreesboro, TN
2/5/2005		Arkansas State	W 76–72	15–5 (5-3)	E. A. Diddle Arena (6,467) Bowling Green, KY
02/7/2005		FIU	W 83–67	16–5 (6-3)	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,717) Bowling Green, KY
02/10/2005		Denver	W 84–79	17–5 (7-3)	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,880) Bowling Green, KY
2/12/2005		at North Texas	W 93–92	18–5 (8-3)	UNT Coliseum (3,211) Denton, TX
2/17/2005		Arkansas–Little Rock	L 53–55	18–6 (8-4)	E. A. Diddle Arena (5,053) Bowling Green, KY
2/19/2005*		Bradley	W 75–60	19–6	E. A. Diddle Arena (6,102) Bowling Green, KY
02/24/2005		Middle Tennessee	W 85–83 ^OT	20–6 (9-4)	E. A. Diddle Arena (6,455) Bowling Green, KY
2/26/2005		at FIU	L 77–79	20–7 (9-5)	Ocean Bank Convocation Center (1,019) University Park, FL
2005 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
03/06/2005	(2E)	vs. (3W) New Orleans Second Round	W 78–67	21–7	UNT Coliseum (1,724) Denton, TX
03/07/2005	(2E)	vs. (1W) Denver Semifinals	L 68–77	21–8	UNT Coliseum (805) Denton, TX
2005 National Invitation Tournament
03/16/2005*		Kent State Opening Round	W 88–80 ^OT	22–8	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,325) Bowling Green, KY
03/19/2005*		at Wichita State First Round	L 81–84	22–9	Charles Koch Arena (10,478) Wichita, KS
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll Louisiana-Lafayette’s wins were vacated by the NCAA due to the participation of an ineligible player.^[4]. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.