1978–79 Eastern Kentucky Colonels basketball team

1978–79 Eastern Kentucky Colonels men's basketball
1978–79 Eastern Kentucky Colonels men's basketball
Ohio Valley tournament champions
NCAA tournament
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
	East Division
Record	21–8 (9–3 OVC)
Head coach	Ed Byhre;
Home arena	Alumni Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Eastern Kentucky †	9	–	3	.750	21	–	8	.724
Western Kentucky	7	–	5	.583	17	–	11	.607
Morehead State	7	–	5	.583	14	–	13	.519
Middle Tennessee	7	–	5	.583	16	–	11	.593
Tennessee Tech	7	–	5	.583	11	–	15	.423
Austin Peay	3	–	9	.250	8	–	18	.308
Murray State	2	–	10	.167	4	–	22	.154

† 1979 OVC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978–79 Eastern Kentucky Colonels basketball team represented Eastern Kentucky University during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Colonels, led by second-year head coach Ed Byhre, played their home games at McBrayer Arena within Alumni Coliseum and were members of the East Division of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 21–8, 9–3 in OVC play to finish in first place. They were champions of the OVC tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the opening round to No. 8 seed Tennessee.^[1]

Roster[edit]

1978–79 Eastern Kentucky Colonels men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	5	James Tillman	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Jr	Washington, D.C.

Head coach

Ed Byhre

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

^[2]

Schedule and results[edit]

^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 27, 1978*		Ball State	W 88–86	1–0	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Dec 1, 1978*		at Missouri	L 81–82	1–1	Hearnes Center Columbia, Missouri
Dec 4, 1978*		Dayton	W 72–70	2–1	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Dec 9, 1978*		Butler	W 104–81	3–1	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Dec 16, 1978*		at Charlotte	W 86–80	4–1	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
Dec 20, 1978*		at Nevada	L 84–116	4–2	Centennial Coliseum Reno, Nevada
Dec 21, 1978*		vs. Fresno State	W 84–78	5–2	Centennial Coliseum Reno, Nevada
Jan 3, 1979*		at Toledo	L 57–82	5–3	John F. Savage Hall Toledo, Ohio
Jan 8, 1979*		at Middle Tennessee	W 81–77	6–3	Murphy Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Jan 13, 1979*		Austin Peay	W 82–73	7–3	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Jan 15, 1979*		Murray State	W 73–69	8–3	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Jan 20, 1979*		Tennessee Tech	W 112–84	9–3	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Jan 27, 1979*		Morehead State	W 97–95	10–3	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Jan 29, 1979*		at Western Kentucky	L 65–70	10–4	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, Kentucky
Feb 3, 1979*		Middle Tennessee	W 84–83	11–4	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Feb 5, 1979*		Western Kentucky	L 77–78	11–5	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Feb 10, 1979*		at Austin Peay	W 69–57	12–5	Dunn Center Clarksville, Tennessee
Feb 12, 1979*		at Murray State	W 87–76	13–5	Racer Arena Murray, Kentucky
Feb 15, 1979*		vs. West Virginia	W 93–91	14–5	Charleston Civic Center Charleston, West Virginia
Feb 19, 1979*		at Tennessee Tech	W 100–72	15–5	Eblen Center Cookeville, Tennessee
Feb 24, 1979*		at Morehead State	L 91–98	15–6	Wetherby Gymnasium Morehead, Kentucky
Ohio Valley Conference tournament
Mar 2, 1979*		Middle Tennessee Semifinals	W 90–81	20–7	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Mar 3, 1979*		Western Kentucky Championship game	W 78–77	21–7	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
NCAA tournament
Mar 9, 1979*	(9 ME)	vs. (8 ME) No. 20 Tennessee First round	L 81–97	21–8	Murphy Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll, (#) during NCAA Tournament is seed within region. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ME=Mideast. All times are in Eastern Time.

References[edit]

^ "Hansbrough's double-double helps UNC put away Colonels". ESPN. March 16, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
^ "1978–79 Eastern Kentucky Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
^ "1978-79 Men's Basketball Schedule".

[1] "Hansbrough's double-double helps UNC put away Colonels". ESPN. March 16, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2023.

[2] "1978–79 Eastern Kentucky Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved February 20, 2023.

[3] "1978-79 Men's Basketball Schedule".

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Eastern Kentucky Colonels men's basketball
Venues	Memorial Hall (1920–1922) Red Barn (1923–1931) Weaver Gymnasium (1931–1963) Alumni Coliseum (1963–present)
Culture & lore	The Colonel "Rally Maroon and White"
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25