Great Teams (& Players) of the Distant Past (“What’s a 3?")

[PointGuard]

Game 4: 1962 Cincinnati Bearcats—81, 1980 Louisville Cardinals—77


The entire first half was hard fought by both teams with 10 lead changes and 5 ties. Cincinnati outshot the Cardinals and took a 40-36 advantage to the locker room. PF Rodney McCray had 11 points and 5 rebounds and SF Derek Smith scored 10 points for the Bearcats. Louisville’s top scorer in the first half was SG Tom Thacker with 13 points. Cincinnati held onto a small lead throughout most of the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half, but then defense by both teams totally dominated the next 8 minutes. During a short period of time when both teams had subs primarily on the court, Louisville gained an 8 point lead with 5 minutes to go. The Bearcats quickly decimated that lead. With 2:44 on the clock the score was tied at 69-69. The lead was exchanged 3 times during the next minute of play. Louisville’s SG Darrell Griffith fouled out with 1:13 on the clock and Tom Thacker drilled home both free throws to give Cincinnati a 74-71 lead. Derek Smith sunk a 12 foot jumper to cut the lead a 1 with 54 seconds remaining. After another foul on the Cardinals, SF Ron Bonham dropped in both free throws for the Bearcats. Louisville’s SG Roger Burkman quickly erased the lead when he made a nice cut to get free for a running 14 footer on which he was fouled and converted the 3-point play. With 35 seconds to go, everyone expected Cincinnati to run the 30-second clock down and give Louisville little time to respond. But PG Tony Yates fired a pass outside to Tom Thacker who hit a shot from beyond the key and converted the resulting free throw to give Cincinnati a 79-76 lead with 19 seconds left. Louisville had no time outs remaining. Burkman was fouled but made just one of two shots and the ball went back to the Bearcats with 16 seconds remaining. Louisville quickly fouled…Tony Yates knocked down both foul shots putting the Cardinals down by 4 with 13 seconds to go and giving Cincinnati the victory. Louisville outshot the Bearcats 56% to 47%, but Cincinnati controlled the boards 34-26 and made 3 fewer turnovers.

Cincinnati: SG Tom Thacker—24 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast; C Paul Hogue—15 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 3 blk; SF Ron Bonham—15 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl; PF George Wilson—14 pts, 12 reb, 2 stl; PG Tony Yates—5 pts, 8 ast.

Louisville: PF Rodney McCray—16 pts, 9 reb, 4 blk; SF Derek Smith—16 pts, 4 reb, 2 blk; SG Darrell Griffith—12 pts, 4 ast, 2 stl; SG Roger Burkman—9 pts, 3 ast

[PointGuard]

Game 5: 1972 UCLA Bruins—76, 1954 LaSalle Explorers--60

UCLA scored the first 9 points. LaSalle gamely worked their way back into the game over the next 5 minutes…only to see the Bruins combine an efficient offense (hitting 52% of their shots) with a stingy defense (limiting the Explorers shooting to 42%, but more importantly forcing LaSalle to make 9 turnovers). The result was that UCLA stormed to a 43-25 halftime lead. PF Keith Wilkes and SG Henry Bibby combined to score 23 points for the Bruins. The Explorers’ leading scorer in the half was SF Frank Blatcher with 10 first half points. Throughout the entire 2nd half, UCLA slowed down the action to keep the Explorers from making a run and never let LaSalle get closer than 16 points.

LaSalle: SF Frank Blatcher-18 pts; SG Fran O’Malley-9 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl; PG Francis O’Hara-9 pts; PF John Yodsnukis-5 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast; C Tom Gola-4 pts, 5 reb.

UCLA: PF Keith Wilkes-16 pts, 10 reb, 2 stl; C Bill Walton-12 pts, 9 reb, 2 blk; SG Henry Bibby-12 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl; PG Greg Lee-11 pts; SF Larry Farmer-8 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast.

[PointGuard]

Game 6: 1963 Loyola (IL) Ramblers—97, 1982 North Carolina Tar Heels—75

An outstanding first half by Loyola. They held a small lead for 14 of the first 15 minutes and then pulled away from the Tar Heels in the final 5 minutes to head to the locker room with a solid 50-37 advantage. The Ramblers accomplished this by keeping the ball out of SG Michael Jordan’s and PF James Worthy’s hands, dominating the boards (24 rebounds to just 12 by North Carolina), making just 4 turnovers, and getting great scoring from C Leslie Hunter (18 points plus 7 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks), SF Jerry Harkness (12 points), and PF Vic Rouse (12 points plus 7 rebounds and 3 assists). The only Tar Heels to score much in the first half were C Sam Perkins (15 points) and SF Matt Doherty (8 points). Even though Jordan began getting shots off and putting points on the board, the Ramblers continued to dominate the Tar Heels in the 2nd half, expanding their lead to 22 points with 9-1/2 minutes to go. Loyola completed a complete game beat-down of North Carolina.

Loyola (IL): C Leslie Hunter-26 pts, 14 reb, 5 ast, 5 stl, 3 blk; SF Jerry Harkness-21 pts, 4 reb; PF Vic Rouse-20 pts, 11 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 3 blk; SG Ron Miller-15 pts, 3 stl; PG Pablo Robertson-8 pts, 3 ast, PF Billy Smith-7 pts, 4 reb.

North Carolina: C Sam Perkins-23 pts, 6 reb, 2 stl, 3 blk; SG Michael Jordan-19 pts, 3 ast; SF Matt Doherty-11 pts; PG Jimmy Black-8 pts, 6 ast, 2 stl; PF Chris Brust-7 pts, 6 reb.

[PointGuard]

Game 7: 1974 North Carolina State Wolfpack—69, 1956 San Francisco Dons 1974—68

NC State’s two starting guards (PG Monte Towe and SG David Thompson) scored 19 of the Wolfpacks’ first 21 points, but the team trailed the Dons 23-21 with 9 minutes remaining in the 1st half. All team stats in the half were extremely even except for San Francisco dominating the boards (21-15). The Dons finished the half on top 36-33. The inside duo of C Bill Russell and PF Mike Farmer combined for 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Dons. The outside duo of Towe and Thompson led the Wolfpack by combining for 25 points. The Wolfpack scored the first 10 points of the 2nd half due to the Dons being not only unable to hit field goals, but also bricking 6 straight free throws in the first 5 minutes of the half. San Francisco then began scoring but it was sporadic as the Wolfpack continued to stymie Russell and Farmer. But Bill Russell rallied his team in the final 10 minutes and they finally regained the lead at 64-63 with just 2 minutes to go. NC State recaptured a one point lead with 1:06 on the clock. KC Jones sank a field goal and on the succeeding possession and then hit a single free throw to put the Dons on top by 2 with 18 clicks on the clock. As had been the case the entire game, Towe controlled the ball and found Thompson, who kissed in a 10 footer off the backboard. To San Francisco Coach Phil Woolpert’s consternation, the refs called a foul on the shot. Thompson ignored the loud protests from the Dons' bench and calmly converted the 3-point play to put NC State ahead again by a point. With 11 seconds to go, San Francisco called a time out to set up a play. Jones quickly brought the ball up court and worked the ball to Russell on the right baseline. As time was about to expire, Russell turned and attempted to up a shot from 8 feet…but a fantastic block by C Tommy Burleson sealed the victory for the Wolfpack. The Dons will likely be haunted by both their cold first 5 minutes of the 2nd half and their 12 misses (in 32 attempts) from the charity stripe.

San Francisco: C Bill Russell-18 pts, 12 reb, 3 stl; SF Carl Boldt-11 pts, 2 stl; SG Hal Perry-9 pts; SG Gene Brown-9 pts; PF Mike Farmer-8 pts, 14 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 3 blk; PG KC Jones-8 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl.

North Carolina State: SG David Thompson-30 pts, 7 reb, 3 blk; PG Monte Towe-19 pts, 9 ast, 2 stl; PF Phil Spence-6 pts, 9 reb; C Tommy Burleson-4 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 3 blk.