1977–78 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

The 1977–78 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were members of the Ohio Valley Conference and led by coach Jim Richards, in his final year at the helm. WKU finished third in the OVC regular season, but won the tournament championship and the conference's automatic bid to the 1978 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, where they advanced to the sweet sixteen. James Johnson and Darryl Turner made the All-OVC Team and Aaron Bryant was selected to the OVC Tournament Team.

1977–78 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
OVC Tournament Champion
NCAA Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	16–14 (9–5 OVC)
Head coach	Jim Richards
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
11/26/1977*		No. 13 Michigan	L 81–87	0–1	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
11/30/1977*		at Evansville	W 82–72	1–1	Roberts Municipal Stadium  Evansville, IN
12/3/1977*		at Bowling Green	W 78–65	2–1	Anderson Arena  Bowling Green, OH
12/5/1977*		Memphis State	L 80–86	2–2	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
12/7/1977*		Butler	L 86–90	2–3	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
12/10/1977*		Wisconsin-Milwaukee	L 70–73	2–4	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
12/17/1977*		Cal Poly-San Lius Obispo	W 72–50	3–4	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
12/28/1977*		at No. 14 Maryland Maryland Invitational	L 78–91	3–5	Cole Field House  College Park, MD
12/29/1977*		vs. St. John’s (NY) Maryland Invitational	L 63–80	3–6	Cole Field House  College Park, MD
1/4/1978*		La Salle	L 64–78	3–7	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1/7/1978		at Eastern Kentucky	L 79–85 OT	3–8 (0-1)	Alumni Coliseum  Richmond, KY
1/9/1978		at Morehead State	W 97–82	4–8 (1-1)	Wetherby Gymnasium  Morehead, KY
1/11/1978*		Jacksonville	W 96–94 OT	5–8	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1/14/1978		East Tennessee	W 98–94 OT	6–8 (2-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1/16/1978		Tennessee Tech	W 86–75	7–8 (3-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1/21/1978		Murray State	W 91–75	8–8 (4-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1/23/1978		at Austin Peay	W 91–83	9–8 (5-1)	Dunn Center  Clarksville, TN
1/25/1978*		Dayton	L 72–80	9–9	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1/28/1978		at Middle Tennessee	L 69–98	9–10 (5-2)	Murphy Center  Murfreesboro, TN
2/4/1978		Morehead State	W 106–69	10–10 (6-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
2/6/1978		Eastern Kentucky	L 74–78 OT	10–11 (6-3)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
2/11/1978		at East Tennessee	L 77–80 3OT	10–12 (6-4)	Memorial Center  Johnson City, TN
2/13/1978		at Tennessee Tech	W 81–69	11–12 (7-4)	Eblen Center  Cookeville, TN
2/18/1978		Austin Peay	L 64–66	11–13 (7-5)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
2/20/1978		at Murray State	W 100–98 OT	12–13 (8-5)	Racer Arena  Murray, KY
2/25/1978		Middle Tennessee	W 87–78	13–13 (9-5)	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1978 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
3/3/1978	(3)	(2) East Tennessee Semifinals	W 79–75	14–13	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
3/4/1978	(3)	(4) Austin Peay Championship	W 77–69 OT	15–13	E. A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
1978 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament
3/11/1978*	(4Q ME)	vs. (2L ME) No. 18 Syracuse First Round	W 87–86 OT	16–13	Stokely Athletic Center  Knoxville, TN
3/7/1980*	(4Q ME)	vs. (1Q ME) No. 4 Michigan State Sweet Sixteen	L 69–90	16–14	UD Arena  Dayton, OH
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.