WKU claimed its second consecutive Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship with a win over FIU Monday night, capping WKU's second-straight run through the league tournament by winning four games in four days to advance to the NCAA Tournament. No other team has ever accomplished that feat in consecutive years.
Sophomore T.J. Price was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament after having played well in the Toppers’ three wins leading up to the finals.. Classmate George Fant of Warren Central, who was MOP last year as a freshman, was named the top player of the finals with 17 points,13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. He played 37 of the 40 minutes. Senior point guard Jamaal Crook had 17 points, 3 steals and 2 assists. Brandon Harris came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers.
Cameron Bell led the Panthers with 15 points. Malik Smith scored 14, Jerome Frink 13 and Ty Murphy 11. Deric Hill had 6 assists.
FIU enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in its first year with former Louisville and Florida assistant coach Richard Pitino as coach. FIU knocked off prohibitive league favorite Middle Tennessee in the semifinals, ending the Blue Raiders’ 17-game win streak. Watching the championship game was legendary Louisville coach Rick Pitino, the FIU coach’s dad. He has seen WKU play in person three times this year, twice against FIU and once against his own Cardinals, who are projected as a number one seed in the NCAA Tournamnent.
With the win, WKU (20-15, 10-10) earns the Sun Belt Conference's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Hilltoppers will learn their fate on Sunday, March 17, at 5 p.m. when the brackets for the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships are released during the Selection Show broadcast on CBS.
It will mark the 23rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament for WKU, including the fourth in the last six years. WKU has four wins in the tournament in its last three appearances with at least one win in each of the last three appearances.
For the second consecutive year, the Hilltoppers won four games in four days to win the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The Sun Belt Tournament title is the ninth in school history for the Hilltoppers, who made the school's 13th championship game appearance tonight.
With the Sun Belt Conference Tournament moving from Hot Springs, Ark., after this season, WKU concludes five postseason tournaments in Hot Springs with a 15-2 record and three championships.
Head coach Ray Harper continues his late season success in leading WKU to his second consecutive conference tournament title. Harper is now 8-0 in Sun Belt Conference Tournament games. Harper's eight Sun Belt Conference Tournament wins are the second most by a WKU coach, trailing only the 12 wins registered by Dennis Felton during his time as the head coach of the Hilltoppers.
With its 20th win of the season, WKU has posted the 41st 20-win season in program history.
Both the WKU men and women have reached the 20-win mark in the same season for the first time since 2009-10.
During the Ray Harper era, WKU is 14-2 in games played on Feb. 21 or later. The only losses have come to No. 1 Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament and Middle Tennessee. In his career as an NCAA head coach, he is 74-11 in games played on or after Feb. 20.
WKU would become the first school this year to join a club that includes automatic bids to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament in both 2011-12 and 2012-13 alongside a 2012 football bowl berth. The only other schools that can join the club are Ohio, Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Louisville and Florida State if they are able to claim automatic bids to this year’s NCAA Tournament