|
Throughout the offseason HH is running past stories about memorable moments in Hilltopper history. The latest installment is the November 29, 1986 matchup versus the UNLV Runnin' Rebels in the championship game of the Coca-Cola Preseason NIT at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The Toppers earned their way to the Big Apple with an impressive (80-63) road win at Notre Dame, a tough home win (96-90) against defending Southwest Conference champion TCU, and a (68-67) nailbiter against Memphis St. in the NIT semifinals a night earlier.
Picked by everyone to be a contender for the national championship in 1987, UNLV was ranked #5 nationally entering the matchup with the Toppers and would go on to prove the prognosticators correct as the Runnin' Rebels would make it all the way to the NCAA Final Four where they lost 97-93 to eventual national champion Indiana.
The 1986-87 Toppers also had high expectations entering the season due mainly to the monstrous all-senior frontline of 6-8 Clarence Martin, 6-10 Tellis Frank, 6-9 Kannard Johnson and 6-7 Bryan Asberry. After advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament the previous season, Western was ranked in most preseason Top 20 polls and most Western fans knew this was the Toppers' best chance to make a return run at the Final Four. Two major things occurred in the preseason that would greatly affect those chances however....the most important being the loss of Hilltopper legend Clem Haskins who left the Hill to take over the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota. Secondly, was the rule change in college basketball which made the three-point shot a part of the game. And for a team that was deliberately built to physically punish and dominate opponents in the paint, this proved to be a tough obstacle to overcome when facing teams that could and would bomb from beyond the arc, often negating the Toppers distinct and overpowering presence in the paint. And unfortunately the UNLV matchup proved to be the first example of this.
For the first 23 minutes of the game everything went according to plan as the Tops physically dominated UNLV on the inside and built as much as a 22-point lead early in the second half. As the second half wore on however, the Rebels began launching trey after trey and eventually caught up and tied the game with less than seven minutes to play. A see-saw game ensued from there on out and the game eventually went to 2 overtimes where the Tops fell 96-95 after UNLV, who trailed 95-93, hit a three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining in the second OT and Western's Clarence Martin missed a last-second shot for the win.
Western would return home to the Hill and win three straight games including the Wendy's Classic championship over Southern Cal 82-52. The following week Western would move into the nation's Top 10 for the first time in 15 years as they peaked at #8 in the AP poll and #6 in the Sports Illustrated poll. And while the Toppers would go on to have another successful season finishing at 29-9 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, it was also a season characterized by countless cruel twists of fate that once again kept a great Topper team from achieveing its true potential. Turmoil between new coach Murray Arnold and some team members, the aforementioned three-point shot introduction, crushing upset losses to hated rivals UL and UAB at home in the Sun Belt Tourney title game , and being forced to play a second round NCAA Tournament game on the homecourt of its opponent (Eventual national runner-up Syracuse) all contributed to making a season that promised greatness early on falter into yet another "what could have been" scenario for a great Western team.
.
Hilltoppers Unable To Stop Vegas Bombs, Lose in 2 OTs
Courier-Journal
By STAN SUTTON
Staff Writer
RealVideo Clips:
Highlights from the WKU-UNLV Matchup (5 mb)
The Toppers Dominate the Boards (2.2 mb)
Big "C" Hits the Glass (1.4 mb)
November 30, 1986
New York, NY - The first half was almost over and James McNary could keep his poker face no longer.
As Western Kentucky teammate Kurk Lee prepared to shoot a free throw that would give the Hilltoppers a 44-24 lead over No. 5 Nevada-Las Vegas Saturday night, McNary slowly sauntered into the backcourt.
Suddenly his grin was out of control, expanding with each step. McNary finally gave up, clenched his fists and shouted to the rafters.
"I looooove it," he screamed.
But, as fate would have it, Western's high rollers would be like a million others who went up against Las Vegas. By night's end - and it ended after two overtimes - the Hilltoppers had thrown the dice too many times and the crap game was won by Las Vegas 96-95.
It was a bitter defeat for the Hilltoppers, giving the Running Rebels the championship of the Coca-Cola National Invitation Tournament Classic. It also was the first true evidence that the new three-point shot in collegiate ball means no lead ever again will be in the bank.
Nevada-Las Vegas was down 21 points in the first half, 20 with 18 1/2 minutes left in regulation. But the Rebels made 10 of 27 from three-point range, catching Western 65-65 with 6:59 left to play and building a five-point edge that the Kentuckians had to overcome to force the first overtime.
"I think it's a bad rule. I feel for the health of our sport," said Western coach Murray Arnold, whose team got only one three-point shot.
"We were lucky tonight. There's no question about it," admitted UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian. "It was a big comeback for us. I can't recall a better one."
Western trailed 75-70 with 2:18 left in regulation and 77-75 with :28 left, but Clarence Martin followed up misses by Brett McNeal and Tellis Frank to tie the score with 10 seconds left.
Wester (3-1) twice trailed by three in the first overtime, but Frank's driving basket at :14 tied it at 84. The Hilltoppers again were down by three in the second overtime, only to have Kannard Johnson give them a 94-93 lead with a follow-up shot and two free throws.
Western led 95-93 at :49 as Johnson hit 1 of 2 free throws, but Vegas got the winning basket when guard Freddie Banks scored a three-pointer with :13 to play. That gave Banks 31 points for the night, including 5 of 16 from three-point range.
Besides Banks, the NIT's Most Valuable Player, Gary Graham hit 3 of 3 three-pointers in the second half as UNLV shot 59 percent in the period after only 21 percent in the first half.
Western was led by Frank's 25 points and Johnson's 23. Martin, Frank and Johnson had 12, 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively, as athe Toppers won the battle of the boards 53-48.
Frank and Martin made the all-tournament team.
"They're real strong inside," said Tarkanian. "We could not defend them inside with our man to man. They were punishing us inside. I think we were very fortunate to have only been 16 down at halftime. If we had been 20 or 21 down, I don't know what would have happened."
UNLV (4-0) lost four players on fouls as Western made 36 of 52 at the line, shooting twice as many as the Rebels.
Tarkanian moved his Rebels into a zone, which they infrequently use, and that cut down a lot of Western's inside game.
"Sometimes when a team does something you don't have your mind on, it's especially effective," Arnold said on UNLV's zone.
The Runnin' Rebs had been down 10 points to Temple, only to rebound for a win Friday night. But a mere 10 minutes into Saturday night's fray, Western had built an 18-point lead over the team picked by Inside Sports magazine as the nation's best.
Nevada-Las Vegas missed its first 10 shots and paid the price as the Hilltoppers raced ahead 10-0. The only UNLV points in the first six minutes were two free throw by Banks, fouled on a breakaway following a steal.
Johnson scored six of Western's first 10, and the Toppers didn't relax their choke hold until it was 15-2. Martin had seven of those 15 points.
But it was the 6-foot-10 Frank who gave a first-half clinic for the crowd of 9,163 that obviously included a few professional scouts. He ended the half with 15 points and was all over the court.
"Western Kentucky," said Scotty Stirling, general manager of the New York Knicks, "is a very talented basketball team. Everybody talks about Kannard Johnson. Hey, I like Tellis Frank. He showed some people he can play up here."
And now that the NIT is history, it is history that Western can continue chasing. Despite the cruel defeat, people in Bowling Green will tell you that the similarities between this team and the Hilltoppers' team that went to the NCAA Final Four in 1971 are amazing.
The seniors on the 1971 team were mediocre as sophomores, winning only 16 of 26 games. This team finished 14-14 two years ago.
The 1971 team featured a rugged 6-8 forward named Clarence Glover. This team features a rugged 6-8 Center named Clarence Martin.
The 1971 team visited Madison Square Garden for the Holiday Festival, where it defeated St. John's before losing to South Carolina when a tip-in basket at the buzzer was not allowed. This is the first Western team to return to the Garden.
"There's been more anticipation for this season than there's been for any season since 1971," said Jim Richards. Richards was an assistant coach with that team who now serves as the school's director of alumni affairs.
"Even the styles of play are similar," said Richards. "That was a big, strong, powerful, physical team that just beat people to death on the boards. So is this one."
Excitement reigns in Bowling Green. The Hilltoppers have sold more than 8,000 season tickets. About 250 people made the short-notice trip to New York. Another hundred Kentuckians living in the New York area also showed up.
And make a note of this: About 5,000 tickets for Louisville's Dec. 10 visit to Diddle Arena went on sale last Wednesday. Within an hour they were gone.
Western, remember, has not defeated Louisville since 1961. That means, of course, it has never happened in the Denny Crum era. Last year in Freedon Hall the Hilltoppers blew a large lead and lost 73-70.
Strangely, it was a game reminiscent of the NIT Classic Final played at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.
Will the Louisville game be a special occasion in Bowling Green?
"Right now," said James McNary, Western's point guard, "we can't worry about Louisville. We just have to worry about getting back to our winning ways."
And worry about surviving in a world with the three-point shot.
|
