1981–82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

The 1981–82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 1981–82 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by coach Clem Haskins and All-Ohio Valley Conference center Craig McCormick. In what would be their last year in the conference, WKU won the OVC championship, were OVC tournament runners-up, and received a bid to the 1982 National Invitation Tournament. Bobby Jones joined McCormick on the All-OVC Team; Jones and Kenny Ellis made the OVC Tournament Team and McCormick was tournament MVP. McCormick was selected in the NBA draft following the season.

1981–82 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Ohio Valley Conference Champion
NIT Tournament, First Round
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	19–10 (13–3 OVC)
Head coach	Clem Haskins
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena

1981–82 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Western Kentucky	13	–	3		.813			19	–	10		.655
Murray State	13	–	3		.813			20	–	8		.714
Middle Tennessee State †	12	–	4		.750			22	–	8		.733
Morehead State	11	–	5		.688			17	–	10		.630
Tennessee Tech	8	–	8		.500			12	–	14		.462
Youngstown State	5	–	11		.313			8	–	18		.308
Austin Peay	4	–	12		.250			6	–	20		.231
Akron	3	–	13		.188			7	–	19		.269
Eastern Kentucky	3	–	13		.188			5	–	21		.192
† 1982 OVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 27, 1981*		vs. Nevada Sun Met Classic	L 70–84	0–1	Selland Arena  Fresno, CA
November 28, 1981*		vs. Oklahoma City Sun Met Classic	W 51–49	1–1	Selland Arena  Fresno, CA
December 4, 1981*		New Hampshire Wendy’s Classic	W 83–52	2–1	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
December 5, 1981*		No. 3 Louisville Wendy’s Classic	L 66–71	2–2	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
December 9, 1981*		Butler	W 96–65	3–2	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
December 12, 1981*		at Evansville	L 70–73	3–3	Roberts Municipal Stadium  Evansville, IN
Ohio Valley Conference regular season
December 19, 1981		Austin Peay	W 77–64	4–3 (1–0)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
December 22, 1981*		at No. 17 Georgetown (D.C.)	L 45–64	4–4	Capital Centre  Landover, MD
December 30, 1981*		Duquesne	L 62–63 OT	4–5	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
January 3, 1982		Murray State	W 71–54	5–5 (2–0)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
January 7, 1982		at Morehead State	L 57–59	5–6 (2–1)	Ellis Johnson Arena  Morehead, KY
January 10, 1982		at Eastern Kentucky	W 75–65	6–6 (3–1)	Alumni Coliseum  Richmond, KY
January 14, 1982		Middle Tennessee	W 65–49	7–6 (4–1)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
January 16, 1982		Tennessee Tech	W 51–50	8–6 (5–1)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
January 21, 1982		at Akron	W 77–68	9–6 (6–1)	James A. Rhodes Arena  Akron, OH
January 23, 1982		at Youngstown State	W 68–59	10–6 (7–1)	Beeghly Center  Youngstown, OH
January 25, 1982*		Dayton	W 65–57	11–6	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
January 28, 1982		at Austin Peay	W 48–46	12–6 (8–1)	Dunn Center  Clarksville, TN
January 30, 1982		at Murray State	L 60–63	12–7 (8–2)	Racer Arena  Murray, KY
February 4, 1982		Eastern Kentucky	W 61–34	13–7 (9–2)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
February 6, 1982		Morehead State	W 68–53	14–7 (10–2)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
February 11, 1982		at Tennessee Tech	L 64–70 OT	14–8 (10–3)	Eblen Center  Cookeville, TN
February 13, 1982		at Middle Tennessee	W 75–64	15–8 (11–3)	Murphy Center  Murfreesboro, TN
February 18, 1982		Youngstown State	W 63–51	16–8 (12–3)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
February 20, 1982		Akron	W 82–68	17–8 (13–3)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
February 27, 1982*		Northern Iowa	W 75–67	18–8	UNI-Dome  Cedar Falls, IA
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
March 5, 1982	(1)	(4) Morehead State Semifinals	W 95–87	19–8	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
March 6, 1982	(1)	(3) Middle Tennessee Championship	L 52–54	19–9	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
NIT
March 10, 1982*		at Purdue First Round	L 65–72	19–10	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.