After the Topper’s 67-63 win against Georgia Tuesday night to cap off a historic three-game stretch, junior guard A.J. Slaughter said he was well aware of the national impact it would have.

“This game showed the nation that we aren’t just a fluke team,” Slaughter said. “We showed that we can go out any night and play with any team in the country. We were coming off an emotional win over Louisville and then only had two days to rest before we had to play again. But like coach said, we just had to be mentally tough and go out and play as hard as we could. I think that is what we did tonight, and that is why we came out with the win.”

Slaughter has been a key part of Western’s performance during the last three games. He’s averaged 18.3 points over the last three wins, including a 25-point outing against Louisville on Nov. 30, who was then ranked third in the nation.

That victory marked the first time the Toppers had beaten a top-three opponent since 1967, when they beat then-third-ranked Indiana.

After the Topper’s 67-63 win against Georgia Tuesday night to cap off a historic three-game stretch, junior guard A.J. Slaughter said he was well aware of the national impact it would have.

“This game showed the nation that we aren’t just a fluke team,” Slaughter said. “We showed that we can go out any night and play with any team in the country. We were coming off an emotional win over Louisville and then only had two days to rest before we had to play again. But like coach said, we just had to be mentally tough and go out and play as hard as we could. I think that is what we did tonight, and that is why we came out with the win.”

Slaughter has been a key part of Western’s performance during the last three games. He’s averaged 18.3 points over the last three wins, including a 25-point outing against Louisville on Nov. 30, who was then ranked third in the nation.

That victory marked the first time the Toppers had beaten a top-three opponent since 1967, when they beat then-third-ranked Indiana.

The Georgia victory was also the first time Western had defeated a Southeastern Conference foe at Diddle since 1985.

“I knew Western Kentucky was playing excellent basketball right now, and we are a very young team with five freshmen and four sophomores,” Georgia coach Dennis Felton said. “So this was clearly our first opportunity to play in this kind of atmosphere. It was really electric, and obviously everyone was rooting against us. It was a heck of a game, but I thought down the stretch that we lost our grip on the game, and we missed a couple of defensive rebounds that we had to get.”

The victory against the Bulldogs, the defending SEC Tournament champions, was the last scheduled game of a four-game series with Georgia. Felton, who spent five years at the helm of Western’s program, said that is was possible but unlikely that the rivalry would be renewed next season.

Those two wins, combined with a 79-70 win over Southern Illinois on Nov. 26, have the Toppers receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 coaches poll and have achieved a rank of 35th.

Slaughter is familiar with the national rankings. The 2007-08 Topper squad finished ranked 22nd in the nation on the strength of a run to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.

Coach Ken McDonald, once an assistant under Felton, said that the team is getting more acclimated to a tournament type of situation.

“We’ve treated these last three games like a survive-and-advance situation,” McDonald said. “I think these guys wanted to win these games, and we took care of it. I’m really happy that the guys know now what it takes. I’m confident, no matter what tournament we’re in, Sun Belt or the NCAA, that this is the type of atmosphere we are going to have to deal with.”

The team looks to continue this momentum into its next game Saturday against Tulane at 2 p.m. in New Orleans.