BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The defending Sun Belt Conference Tournament champion and last season’s league representative to the NCAA Tournament comes to E.A. Diddle Arena Saturday afternoon, as the Hilltoppers break up a stretch of four road games with a 1:00 PM contest against the UALR Trojans.

The Trojans are currently tied for first place in the Sun Belt Conference West Division at 5-1 after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches poll, and the team returns three starters from last year’s team that won four games in four days in Hot Springs and headed to the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.

WKU has defeated UALR in six-straight meetings dating back to the 2006-07 season, and the Hilltoppers are 16-4 at home all-time against the Trojans.

A win on Saturday would end a five-game WKU losing streak and break a stretch that has seen eight losses in the last nine games.

Saturday's game is produced by the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network and will be televised nationally on Fox College Sports and DirecTV channel 617 and locally in Bowling Green on WKYU-PBS. Randy Lee will be doing the play-by-play with Hal Schmitt providing the expert analysis.

The game will be broadcast on the radio on the Hilltopper IMG Sports Network with Lee and Schmitt on the call. WKUSports.com offers a video webcast, audio streaming and live stats for the game.

Hilltopper basketball will be serving free pizza to the first 500 students who enter E.A. Diddle Arena on Saturday, beginning at 11:00 AM.

Tickets for all WKU men's basketball games in 2011-12 can be purchased online at WKUSports.com or at the WKU Ticket Office in E.A. Diddle Arena. Phone orders can also be placed by calling 1-800-5-BIG RED or 745-5222 locally.

Complete game notes are available at WKUSports.com.

GAME 20

WKU (5-14, 1-5 SBC) vs. UALR (8-12, 5-1 SBC)

January 21, 2012 // 1:00 PM (CT)

E.A. Diddle Arena (7,326) // Bowling Green, Ky.

QUICK SHOTS

• WKU’s current five-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak is its first since 1997-98.

• In the last two first halves of games, WKU is allowing an average of 42.0 points, and opponents are shooting 56.6 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from three-point range.

• The Hilltoppers are averaging 12.2 assists per game in the last six, which is up from 10.5 over the previous four.

• Kahlil McDonald has scored in double figures in four of his last five contests and has 11 assists and just four turnovers in the last four games.

• Derrick Gordon ranks sixth in the Sun Belt Conference in rebounds per game this season (6.4), and George Fant is tied for ninth (5.8).

• Derrick Gordon is one of two Sun Belt Conference freshmen to be averaging over 11.0 points per game so far this season.

• Entering this week, the Hilltoppers sit fourth in the nation with 62.2 percent of its scoring coming from freshmen.

• WKU is one of just two teams in the nation with five different freshmen averaging at least 5.0 points per game this season, along with Texas.

• WKU’s last six-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak came during the 1988-89 season.

• The Hilltoppers will log approximately 4,667 miles traveling to and from the current stretch of road games at North Texas, Denver, Florida Atlantic and FIU.

• WKU has lost 10 of its last 12 games away from home.

THE LAST TIME OUT

After a poor first half that saw WKU score just 16 points, the Hilltoppers put up 49 points in the second half and turned a 27-point halftime deficit into a 78-65 loss to the Denver Pioneers Sunday afternoon in Denver, Colo. T.J. Price led WKU with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and he added six rebounds and three assists. Kahlil McDonald added 11, and Nigel Snipes contributed 10 and five rebounds. O’Karo Akamune had a career-best eight rebounds to lead the Hilltoppers on the boards. The Pioneers, who entered the game ranking 18th in the nation in field goal percentage and 11th in percentage from distance, shot 59.6 percent (28-for-47) from the field for the game and 58.8 percent from three-point range (10-of-17).

HILLTOPPER INDIVIDUAL TRENDS

• Derrick Gordon’s 32.9 minutes per game rank him in the top-20 nationally among rookies.

• Jamal Crook is averaging 10.6 points per game in the last 12 games.

• Jamal Crook has had seven 10-plus point scoring games in his last 10 after entering this season with just one in two previous years.

• A freshman has led WKU in scoring in 11-straight contests.

• Nigel Snipes has converted on 10-straight free throws.

• Derrick Gordon has played at least 30 minutes in 16 of the last 18 games.

• George Fant has had nine games of at least six points and six rebounds this season.

• Fifty-seven percent of T.J. Price’s makes this season have been three-pointers (21 of 37).

• In WKU’s 14 losses in 2011-12, Derrick Gordon, T.J. Price and Jamal Crook have combined for 6.4 turnovers per game.

HILLTOPPER TEAM TRENDS
• The Hilltoppers are third in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring and offensive rebounds and second in free throw percentage in conference games.

• After double-digit turnovers in the first 15 games of the season, WKU has had just nine in two of the last four games.

• WKU is 1-5 in its last six regular-season games versus the Sun Belt Conference East Division.

• WKU has started four freshmen eight times this season (2-6 record when doing so).

• Derrick Gordon is the only Hilltopper to have started each of the first 19 games of the year.

• The Hilltoppers have used eight different starting lineups in 19 games played.

• Four different Hilltoppers have missed at least one of the first 19 games of the season due to injury, and three others have been unavailable for games at various points.

• The Hilltoppers have had 16 or fewer turnovers in nine of the last 12 games.

• WKU has scored 60 or fewer points seven times in 19 games played this season, bettering its total from the entire 2010-11 campaign (6).

• Eight different players have led WKU in assists in a game this season and six different players have pulled down the most rebounds in a game for the Hilltoppers.

• Seven different players have led WKU in scoring this season after four did so in 2010-11.

• WKU’s 14 losses in 2011-12 have come by an average of 12.0 points, and its five wins have been by an average of 5.4 per.

• WKU has faced a double-digit deficit at one point in 26 of its last 30 losses dating back to the start of the 2010-11 season.

• Since the start of the 2010-11 season, WKU is 12-5 when Jamal Crook has at least four assists and 7-1 when he and Kahlil McDonald combine to dish out at least eight assists.

• In 51 games since the start of the 2010-11 season, WKU has trailed at halftime 31 times (4-27 in those games).

• The Hilltoppers have advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament seven-straight times and in 20 instances in 29 years as a member of conference dating back to 1983.