1977–78 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1977–78 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
National Champions SEC Regular Season champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, National Championship Game, W 94–88 vs. Duke
Conference	Southeast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#1
AP	#1
1977–78 record	30–2 (16–2 SEC)
Head coach	Joe B. Hall
Assistant coach	Dick Parsons
Assistant coach	Leonard Hamilton
Assistant coach	Joe Dean, Jr.
Captain	Jack Givens Rick Robey
Home arena	Rupp Arena

The 1977–78 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team were coached by Joe B. Hall. The team finished the season with a 30–2 record and SEC Championship and won the 1978 NCAA Championship over the Duke Blue Devils, 94–88. Hall remarked before the title game that "This season was without celebration for us." ^[1]

Season Summary

Those who witnessed it call Jack Givens' 41 point game against Duke in the 1978 NCAA championship game one of the finest performances in the game's history. Givens made 18-of-27 shots in leading Kentucky to its fifth national championship and first in 20 years. This team also had a pair of bruising frontcourt players in Mike Phillips and Rick Robey and a great point guard in Kyle Macy. The Wildcats went on exhibition tour of Japan in June following the season's end.

Schedule

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site City, State
November 26*	#2	SMU	W 110–86	1–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
December 5*	#1	Indiana	W 78–64	2–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
December 10*	#1	at #19 Kansas	W 73–66	3–0	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, KS
December 12*	#1	South Carolina	W 84–65	4–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
December 16*	#1	Portland State UK Invitation Tournament	W 114–88	5–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
December 17*	#1	St. John's UK Invitation Tournament	W 102–72	6–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
December 23*	#1	Iona	W 104–65	7–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
December 31*	#1	#4 Notre Dame	W 73–68	8–0	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
January 2	#1	Vanderbilt	W 72–59	9–0 (1–0)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
January 7	#1	at Florida	W 86–67	10–0 (2–0)	Gainesville, FL
January 9	#1	at Auburn	W 101–77	11–0 (3–0)	Auburn, AL
January 14	#1	LSU	W 96–76	12–0 (4–0)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
January 16	#1	Ole Miss	W 76–56	13–0 (5–0)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
January 21	#1	at Mississippi State	W 75–65	14–0 (6–0)	Starkville, MS
January 23	#1	at Alabama	L 62–78	14–1 (6–1)	Tuscaloosa, AL
January 30	#1	Georgia	W 90–73	15–1 (7–1)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
February 4	#1	Florida	W 88–61	16–1 (8–1)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
February 6	#1	Auburn	W 104–81	17–1 (9–1)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
February 11	#1	at LSU	L 94–95 ^OT	17–2 (9–2)	Baton Rouge, LA
February 13	#1	at Ole Miss	W 64–52	18–2 (10–2)	Oxford, MS
February 15	#3	Tennessee	W 90–77	19–2 (11–2)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
February 18	#3	Mississippi State	W 58–56	20–2 (12–2)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
February 20	#3	Alabama	W 97–84	21–2 (13–2)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
February 25	#2	at Tennessee	W 68–57	22–2 (14–2)	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, TN
February 27	#2	at Georgia	W 78–67	23–2 (15–2)	Athens, GA
March 4*	#1	UNLV	W 92–70	24–2	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
March 6	#1	at Vanderbilt	W 78–68	25–2 (16–2)	Nashville, TN
March 11*	#1	vs. #13 Florida State NCAA Tournament	W 85–76	26–2	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, TN
March 16*	#1	vs. #19 Miami (OH) NCAA Tournament	W 91–69	27–2	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, OH
March 18*	#1	vs. #4 Michigan State NCAA Tournament	W 52–49	28–2	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, OH
March 25*	#1	vs. #5 Arkansas NCAA Tournament	W 64–59	29–2	Checkerdome St. Louis, MO
March 27*	#1	vs. #7 Duke NCAA Tournament	W 94–88	30–2	Checkerdome St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[2]

Statistics

Jack Givens (6-4, Sr, F) 18.1 ppg
Rick Robey (6-10, Sr, F) 14.4 ppg
Kyle Macy (6-3, So, G) 12.5 ppg
James Lee (6-5, Sr, F) 11.3 ppg
Mike Phillips (6-10, Sr, C) 10.2 ppg
Truman Claytor (6-1, Jr, G) 6.9 ppg

^[2]

Awards and honors

Jack Givens, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[3]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	3	Rick Robey	Indiana Pacers
1	16	Jack Givens	Atlanta Hawks
2	39	James Lee	Seattle SuperSonics

^[4]

References

↑ "A Season Without Celebration: Hall." Schenectady Gazette. 1978 Mar 27. Retrieved 2015-May-24.
1 2 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball media guide. Retrieved 2015-May-24.
↑ "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
↑ http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1978

Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball

Venues	State College Gymnasium (1903–1914) Buell Armory Gymnasium (1910–1924) Alumni Gymnasium (1924–1950) Memorial Coliseum (1950–1976) Rupp Arena (1976–present) Joe Craft Center (practice)

Rivalries	Centre College (historical) Florida Georgetown College (historical) Indiana Louisville North Carolina Tennessee Transylvania (historical)

Culture & lore	Basketbowl Champions Classic Fabulous Five "The Shot" The Unforgettables History under Adolph Rupp The Rivalry: Red v. Blue 2011 game vs. Indiana

People	Head coaches Honored players Honorees NBA draftees Players Recruiting history

Seasons	1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 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 1999–00 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

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics

Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball 1977–78 NCAA Champions

4 Kyle Macy 20 Dwane Casey 21 Jack Givens MOP 22 Truman Claytor 32 James Lee 50 Chuck Aleksinas 53 Rick Robey 55 Mike Phillips Head Coach Joe B. Hall Assistant Coaches Leonard Hamilton Dick Parsons

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball champions

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A&M
1946: Oklahoma A&M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: CCNY
1951: Kentucky
1952: Kansas
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State
1961: Cincinnati
1962: Cincinnati
1963: Loyola (IL)
1964: UCLA
1965: UCLA
1966: Texas Western
1967: UCLA
1968: UCLA
1969: UCLA
1970: UCLA
1971: UCLA
1972: UCLA
1973: UCLA
1974: NC State
1975: UCLA
1976: Indiana
1977: Marquette
1978: Kentucky
1979: Michigan State
1980: Louisville
1981: Indiana
1982: North Carolina
1983: NC State
1984: Georgetown
1985: Villanova
1986: Louisville
1987: Indiana
1988: Kansas
1989: Michigan
1990: UNLV
1991: Duke
1992: Duke
1993: North Carolina
1994: Arkansas
1995: UCLA
1996: Kentucky
1997: Arizona
1998: Kentucky
1999: Connecticut
2000: Michigan State
2001: Duke
2002: Maryland
2003: Syracuse
2004: Connecticut
2005: North Carolina
2006: Florida
2007: Florida
2008: Kansas
2009: North Carolina
2010: Duke
2011: Connecticut
2012: Kentucky
2013: Louisville
2014: Connecticut
2015: Duke

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