2001–02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball none 2001–02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers WKU Hilltoppers wordmark.png 150 Sun Belt Conference 19 East Division Sun Belt 28–4 13–1 Dennis Felton Pete Herrmann E. A. Diddle Arena Sun Belt Conference tournament ChampionSun Belt Conference East Division ChampionNABC Classic Champion NCAA Tournament first round The 2001–02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Dennis Felton and All-American Center Chris Marcus.Marcus honored by publication, WKU center lands on All-America team, By Justin Willis, Bowling Green Daily News, Aug 3, 2001 retrieved 27 April 2020 The team won the East Division Championship and the Sun Belt Basketball tournament, earning an automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.SBC 2016-17 Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 28 April 2020 One of the highlights of the season was a victory over in-state rival, 4th ranked Kentucky. Marcus missed 17 games this season due to an ankle injury. David Boyden and Derek Robinson were named to the All SBC team. Marcus and Patrick Sparks made the SBC All-Tournament team and Robinson was the tournament MVP.2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020 Schedule 2001-02 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 29 April 2020 2001-02 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings 2002 |- !colspan=6| Regular season 11/15/2001 yes yes Kentucky 4 Rupp Arena Lexington, KY NABC Classic 21,104 64–52 1–0 |- 11/16/2001 yes yes George Washington Rupp Arena Lexington, KY NABC Classic 16,193 73–48 2–0 11/20/2001 yes 21 Evansville E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 7,322 90–64 3–0 11/24/2001 yes 21 Murray State E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 8,117 101–77 4–0 11/27/2001 yes yes 17 Creighton Omaha Civic Auditorium Omaha, NE 7,287 91–94 2OT 4–1 12/2/2001 yes yes 17 Vanderbilt Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, TN Marcus out with injury 12,271 75–80 4–2 12/3/2001 yes yes 25 Akron James A. Rhodes Arena Akron, OH 2,524 78–68 5–2 12/8/2001 yes yes 25 Austin Peay Dunn Center Clarksville, TN 2,517 77–75 6–2 12/15/2001 yes West Alabama E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 4,658 103–40 7–2 12/19/2001 yes Creighton E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 6,267 95–61 8–2 12/22/2001 yes yes Southern Mississippi Reed Green Coliseum Hattiesburg, MS 2,855 74–50 9–2 12/28/2001 yes yes New Orleans Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA 2,270 90–76 10–2 (1–0) 12/30/2001 yes South Alabama Mitchell Center Mobile, AL 1,479 58–61 10–3 (1–1) 1/2/2002 yes FIU Ocean Bank Convocation Center University Park, FL 306 65–54 11–3 (2–1) 1/5/2002 yes Austin Peay E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 6,764 75–73 12–3 1/10/2002 Louisiana–Lafayette E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 4,757 63–62 13–3 (3–1) 1/13/2002 New Mexico State E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 8,178 83–67 14–3 (4–1) 1/16/2002 yes Middle Tennessee Murphy Center Murfreesboro, TN 4,116 55–45 15–3 (5–1) 1/19/2002 yes Denver Magness Arena Denver, CO 1,741 86–59 16–3 (6–1) 1/24/2002 Arkansas–Little Rock E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 6,239 95–85 17–3 (7–1) 1/27/2002 Arkansas State E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 5,465 45–42 18–3 (8–1) 1/31/2002 FIU E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 6,410 66–64 19–3 (9–1) 2/3/2002 yes Morris Brown E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY Marcus returns 4,319 92–53 20–3 2/7/2002 yes Arkansas–Little Rock Alltel Arena North Little Rock, AR 6,012 83–79 OT 21–3 (10–1) 2/9/2002 yes Arkansas State Convocation Center Jonesboro, AR 6,437 50–46 22–3 (11–1) 2/16/2002 North Texas E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 8,192 100–76 23–3 (12–1) 2/19/2002 yes 24 Kentucky State E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 5,051 100–63 24–3 2/23/2002 24 Middle Tennessee E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY 8,325 65–61 25–3 (13–1) |- !colspan=6| 2002 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament 3/2/2002 yes 20 1E North Texas 4W Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA Second Round 4,943 82–68 26–3 3/4/2002 yes 18 1E New Mexico State 2W Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA Semifinals 4,052 73–72 27–3 3/5/2002 yes 18 1E Louisiana–Lafayette 1W Lakefront Arena New Orleans, LA Championship 4,203 76–70 28–3 |- !colspan=6| 2002 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 3/14/2002 yes yes 19 9 MW Stanford 24 8 MW Edward Jones Dome St. Louis, MO First Round 26,612 68–84 28–4 AP Poll (M#) during NCAA Tournament is seed with Region https://wkusports.com/documents/2014/4/24/2001-02.pdf 2001-2002 Men's Basketball Statistics WKU Sports Rankings 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings References Western Kentucky Category:Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball seasons Western Kentucky Western Kentucky Basketball, Men's Western Kentucky Basketball, Men's Category:Long stubs with short prose