1955–56 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball team

1955–56 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball
1955–56 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball
Ohio Valley Conference Co-Champion
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	16–12 (7–3 OVC)
Head coach	Edgar Diddle (34th season);
Assistant coach	Ted Hornback
Home arena	Health & Physical Education Building
	Seasons ← 1954–55 1956–57 →

The 1955–56 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky State College (now known as Western Kentucky University) during the 1955-56 NCAA University Division Basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Edgar Diddle and leading scorer Forest Able.^[1]^[2] Western finished in a three-way tie for the Ohio Valley Conference championship. There was no conference tournament, so a playoff was held to determine which team would advance to the NCAA tournament, which was won by Morehead Sate.^[3]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Ohio Valley Conference Playoff
3/7/1956	vs. Tennessee Tech OVC Playoff	W 84–80	16–11	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
3/8/1956	vs. Morehead State OVC Playoff	L 80–84	16–12	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Venues	Red Barn (1920–1931) Health & Physical Education Building (1931–1963) E. A. Diddle Arena (1963–present)
Culture & lore	Big Red
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1914–15 1915–16 1916–21 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
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics