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1948-49 National Champions

Front Row (l to r): Head Coach Adolph Rupp, Jim Line, Cliff Barker, John Stough, Ralph Beard, Joe Hall, Garland Townes, Asst. Coach Harry Lancaster Back Row: Dale Barnstable, Walt Hirsch, Wallace Jones, Alex Groza, Bob Henne, Roger Day, Manager Humzey Yessin

NCAA Championship #2
KENTUCKY 46, OKLAHOMA A&M 36
March 26,1949
Seattle

Season Recap

With a familiar four starters returning from the Fabulous Five, the 1948-49 Kentucky men’s basketball team appeared poised to make a second consecutive title run.  The Wildcats raced through the regular season with only one loss, and only three teams throughout the year came within even 10 points of Kentucky. Alex Groza led the team in scoring in 13 of its last 15 games and he broke a UK and Southeastern Conference record with 38 points in a 95-40 win over Georgia on Feb. 21.

The team concluded the regular season with a 70-37 win over Vanderbilt at Alumni Gym, including a last-second 65-foot shot by Cliff Barker. The Cats again swept through the SEC Tournament in nearby Louisville, winning their opening-round game over Florida, 73-36. Kentucky outscored its SEC Tournament opponents by a total of 123 points in a four-game span, including a 68-52 win over Tulane in the conference final.

After being surprisingly upset in the first round of the NIT Tournament, the Wildcats had no trouble in NCAA play.  Kentucky defeated Villanova, 85-72, and Illinois, 76-47, to advance to the national title game. Groza, Ralph Beard and WahWah Jones were all named All-America and Groza was named the tournament’s MVP.

It was no surprise that when the first-ever Associated Press poll was released the following year, the Cats were ranked preseason No. 1.

Championship Game

Paced by Alex Groza’s 25 points and a defense that limited the Aggies to a mere nine field goals, the Wildcats were crowned NCAA champions for the second straight year. Groza, a unanimous selection as the “Player of the Tournament,” scored more than twice as many points as any other player. A&M’s Jack Shelton was the game’s only other player to score in double figures. He finished with 12 points. The Aggies, coached by Hank Iba, led 5-2, but the Wildcats scored seven straight points, five by Groza, and never trailed again as they took a 2 5-20 first-half lead. UK extended the lead to 31-21 early in the second half and coasted the test of the way.

Boxscore

KENTUCKY

PLAYER    FG  FTM  FTA  PF  TP
Jones      1    1    3   3   3
Line       2    1    2   3   5
Groza      9    7    8   5  25
Beard      1    1    2   4   3
Barker     1    3    3   4   5
Barnstable 1    1    1   1   3
Hirsch     1    0    0   1   2

TOTALS    16   14   19  21  46
OKLAHOMA A&M

PLAYER    FG  FTM  FTA  PF  TP
Yates      1    0    0   1   2
Bradley    0    5    5   5   3
Harris	    3    1    1   5   7
Parks      2    3    4   5   7
Shelton    3    6    7   4  12
Jaquet     0    1    2   0   1
McArthur   0    2    2   1   2
Pilgrim    0    2    2   1   2
Smith      0    0    0   1   0

TOTALS     9   18   23  21  36

HALFTIME:
UK 25, Oklahoma A & M 20

 

Most Outstanding Player: Alex Groza – finished with 25 points and nine made field goals
 
 

1949 NCAA Tournament Bracket

1949 NCAA tournament bracket

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.