West No. 4 North Texas (20-10) vs East No. 3 Western Kentucky (16-15)
Hot Springs, Ark. • Summit Arena (6,200)
March 7, 2011 • 6:00 p.m. CST
Radio: KWRD 100.7-FM, KNTU 88.1-FM • Hank Dickenson
TV: SBC Network (Southeast US), ESPN Full Court Package
Mike Morgan (PBP), Dave Odom (Analyst)
Webcast: ESPN3.com
Live Stats: sunbeltsports.org
Series: WKU leads 12-3 • Last: WKU won 87-76 (2/12/11)
Game Notes
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The teams responsible for the last four Sun Belt Conference titles will meet tonight at 6 p.m. to decide which squad gets the right to battle for the 2011 championship.
North Texas, the defending SBC champs, will take on the East's No. 3 seed Western Kentucky in the tournament semifinals. The game can be seen on the Sun Belt Network in most of the southeastern United States, and can be viewed nationwide on ESPN's Full Court Package. The game is also being webcast on ESPN3.com.
North Texas is led by First-Team All-Sun Belt selection Tristan Thompson, who is coming off one of the most amazing performances in college basketball history. The guard scored 36 points on 20-of-20 shooting from the free throw line. Only three players in NCAA history have ever had a more prolific perfect night from the stripe, and the last was Steve Nash (21-of-21) for Santa Clara back in 1995.
Thompson destroyed the North Texas and Sun Belt Tournament free throw records, and the game is tied for the 23rd best scoring performance in Mean Green history.
Western Kentucky and North Texas entered the year having won at least 20 games in each of the last four years - something only 32 teams nationwide can claim. NT clinched its 20th win of 2010-11 on Saturday, and trails only WKU in the Sun Belt in total wins since 2006-07 (110-108).
These two teams have met three times in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and the Hilltoppers have taken all three games (2002, 2008, 2009). WKU went on to win the SBC title in each of those years.
WKU is led by a pair of First-Team All-Sun Belt players in Sergio Kerusch and Steffphon Pettigrew. The combo leads the Hilltoppers with 15.6 and 14.8 points per game, respectively. The pair has teamed up to take 746 shots this year - 41.6 percent of WKU's total shots.
