Sun Belt Sports Blog

No. 5 Illinois (24-9) vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky (24-8)

Time/Site: 9:55 EDT/Portland

The winner gets: The winner of Gonzaga-Akron

Summary: Illinois finished in tie for second in the Big 10 with Purdue and lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament to the Boilermakers. Western Kentucky shared the Sun Belt regular season title with Arkansas-Little Rock but won the conference tournament.

Key Players: Illinois – Demetri McCamey (11.5 ppg), G; Mike Davis (11.2 ppg), F. Western Kentucky – A.J. Slaughter (15.8 ppg), G; Orlando Mendez-Valdez (14.0 ppg), G

Key Stat: Illinois – The Figthing Illini average less than 13 free throw attempts per game. Western Kentucky – The Hilltoppers have 427 assists and 426 turnovers.

Illinois will win: If it can overcome the loss of point guard Chester Frazier who is likely out with a right hand injury and the Illini can find some way to get to the free throw line.

Western Kentucky will win: If the Hilltoppers can hit the 3-pointers. They are averaging 37 percent from beyond the arc.

Prediction: Western Kentucky 73, Illinois 67

One of the winningest programs in college basketball history picked up another win last night. No, we’re not talking about Duke, Kansas, UCLA or North Carolina. We’re talking about the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. WKU, a member of the 2008 NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, advanced to the 2009 NCAA Tournament with a win over South Alabama last night in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
After breaking out to a 35-25 lead at the half South Alabama came back to take a 43-39 lead, but the experienced Hilltoppers made sure not to leave their fate up to a committee by winning the game.

Last season, the 12th-seeded WKU Hilltoppers defeated #5 Drake and #13 San Diego to advance to the Sweet 16 before falling to #1 seed UCLA. Now WKU awaits their future destination and matchup in the 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament.