1957–58 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1957–58 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions
SEC regular season champions
ConferenceSoutheast Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 14
APNo. 9
Record23–6 (12–2 SEC)
Head coach
Assistant coachHarry Lancaster
CaptainEd Beck
Home arenaMemorial Coliseum
Seasons
1957–58 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 9 Kentucky 12 – 2   .857 23 – 6   .793
No. 16 Auburn 11 – 3   .786 16 – 6   .727
No. 15 Mississippi State 9 – 5   .643 20 – 5   .800
Alabama 9 – 5   .643 17 – 9   .654
Tennessee 8 – 6   .571 16 – 7   .696
Georgia Tech 8 – 6   .571 15 – 11   .577
Vanderbilt 7 – 7   .500 14 – 11   .560
Ole Miss 6 – 8   .429 12 – 12   .500
Florida 5 – 9   .357 12 – 9   .571
Tulane 3 – 11   .214 8 – 15   .348
LSU 3 – 11   .214 7 – 18   .280
Georgia 3 – 11   .214 7 – 19   .269
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

The 1957–58 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented University of Kentucky. The head coach was Adolph Rupp. The team was a member of the Southeast Conference and played their home games at Memorial Coliseum. This squad was often nicknamed the "Fiddlin' Five".[2]

Roster

1957–58 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 40 Earl Adkins 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr — Ashland, KY
C 34 Ed Beck (C) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 188 lb (85 kg) Sr — Fort Valley, GA
G/F 12 Billy Ray Cassady 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 191 lb (87 kg) Sr — Inez, KY
G 10 Lincoln Collinsworth 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr — Salyersville, KY
F 24 Johnny Cox 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Hazard Hazard, KY
F 32 John Crigler 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Hebron Hebron, KY
G 52 Vernon Hatton 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Lafayette Lexington, KY
F/C 20 Dick Howe 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr — Carbondale, IL
G 10 Lowell Hughes 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So — Prestonburg, KY
F/C 14 Phil Johnson 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr University Lexington, KY
C 54 Don Mills 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Berea Berea, KY
G/F 33 Harold Ross 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr — Hickman, KY
G 50 Adrian Smith 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 178 lb (81 kg) Sr — Farmington, KY
F 88 Bill Smith 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr — Walton, KY
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: 2016-Jan-22

Schedule and results

Date
time, TV 		Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
December 2*
 Duke W 78–74  1–0
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
December 4*
 at Ohio State W 61–54  2–0
 Ohio Expo Center Coliseum 
Columbus, OH
December 7*
 Temple W 85–83 3OT 3–0
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
December 9*
 at Maryland L 62–71  3–1
 Cole Field House 
College Park, MD
December 14*
 No. 3 at No. 9 St. Louis W 73–60  4–1
 Kiel Auditorium 
St. Louis, MO
December 16*
 No. 3 at SMU L 64–65  4–2
 Moody Coliseum 
University Park, TX
December 20*
 No. 5 No. 8 West Virginia
UK Invitation Tournament 		L 70–77  4–3
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
December 21*
 No. 5 No. 10 Minnesota
UK Invitation Tournament 		W 78–58  5–3
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
December 23*
 No. 5 Utah St W 92–64  6–3
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
December 30*
 No. 9 Loyola-Chicago W 75–42  7–3
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
January 4
 No. 10 Georgia Tech W 76–60  8–3
(1–0) 		Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
January 6
 No. 10 at Vanderbilt W 86–81  9–3
(2–0) 		Memorial Gymnasium 
Nashville, TN
January 11
 No. 9 LSU W 97–52  10–3
(3–0) 		Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
January 13
 No. 9 Tulane W 86–50  11–3
(4–0) 		Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
January 18
 No. 9 No. 13 Tennessee W 77–68  12–3
(5–0) 		Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
January 27
 No. 9 at Georgia Tech L 52–71  12–4
(5–1) 		Alexander Memorial Coliseum 
Atlanta, GA
January 29
 No. 8 at Georgia W 74–55  13–4
(6–1) 		Alexander Memorial Coliseum 
Atlanta, GA
January 31
 No. 8 at Florida W 78–56  14–4
(7–1) 		Florida Gymnasium (7,000)
Gainesville, FL
February 8
 No. 12 Ole Miss W 96–65  15–4
(8–1) 		Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
February 10
 No. 12 No. 17 Mississippi St W 72–62  16–4
(9–1) 		Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
February 15*
 No. 12 at Loyola-Chicago L 56–57  16–5
 Alumni Gym 
Chicago, IL
February 17
 No. 12 Vanderbilt W 65–61  17–5
(10–1) 		Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
February 22
 No. 13 at Alabama W 45–43 OT 18–5
(11–1) 		Garrett Coliseum 
Montgomery, AL
February 24
 No. 13 at Auburn L 63–64  18–6
(11–2) 		Municipal Auditorium 
Birmingham, AL
March 1
 No. 12 at Tennessee W 77–66  19–6
(12–2) 		Alumni Memorial Gym 
Knoxville, TN
March 14*
 No. 9 vs. Miami (OH)
NCAA tournament 		W 94–70  20–6
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
March 15*
 No. 9 vs. No. 8 Notre Dame
NCAA Tournament 		W 89–56  21–6
 Memorial Coliseum 
Lexington, KY
March 21*
 No. 9 vs. No. 5 Temple
National Semifinal – Final Four 		W 61–60  22–6
 Freedom Hall 
Louisville, KY
March 22*
 No. 9 vs. No. 18 Seattle
National Championship Game 		W 84–72  23–6
 Freedom Hall 
Louisville, KY
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
ME=Mideast.

[3][4]

NCAA Championship

Main article: 1958 NCAA University Division basketball championship game

The 1958 NCAA Championship game was played in Louisville, Kentucky, before a then NCAA finals record crowd of 18,803, at the newly completed Freedom Hall. Seattle was Kentucky's opponent, led by the great Elgin Baylor. Baylor, a Consensus First Team All-American, was the nation's second-leading scorer (32.5) behind Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson (35.1).

The Chieftains led Kentucky by 11 points in the first half on two occasions. In fact, Seattle was still leading by a score of 60–58 with seven minutes to go in the game. However, led by the sharp shooting of Vernon Hatton and Johnny Cox, Kentucky mounted a strong rally at the end, eventually winning the game by a final score of 84–72. Hatton led Kentucky with 30 points, Cox followed him with 24 points for the Wildcats, while Seattle was led by Baylor, who scored 25 points before fouling out. The victory sealed Kentucky's 4th NCAA Championship.

Statistics

[5]

Awards and honors

Johnny Cox

  • All-SEC (1st Team – Coaches, 2nd Team – AP)
  • All-NCAA Regional Team
  • All-NCAA Final Four Team

John Crigler

  • All-SEC (3rd Team – AP)

Adrian Smith

  • All-American (1st Team – Converse, Helms)
  • All-SEC (1st Team – Coaches, 2nd Team – AP)
  • All-NCAA Regional Team
  • All-NCAA Final Four Team

[6]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round Pick Player NBA Club
2 10 Vernon Hatton Cincinnati Royals
3 28 Johnny Cox New York Knicks
15 85 Adrian Smith Cincinnati Royals

[7]

References

  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1957-58 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ Nelli, Bert; Nelli, Steve (November 21, 2021). The Winning Tradition: A History of Kentucky Wildcat Basketball. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-8823-2.
  3. ^ 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball media guide Archived 2014-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Apr-11.
  4. ^ "1957-58 Kentucky Wildcats Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  5. ^ 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball media guide Archived 2014-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Apr-11.
  6. ^ BigBlueHistory.net. Retrieved 2016-Jan-22.
  7. ^ "1958 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2012.