THE WEEK
EAST
Penn ran off a 15-1 lead and left Manhattan for dead, 91-68, but St. Joseph's was a livelier problem for the Quakers. The Hawks cut a 12-point Penn lead to one before Guard Steve Bilsky, basketless for the first 36 minutes, scored twice and St. Joe's sophomores made four mistakes to lose 62-58.
"Fordham who?" the Temple Owls asked, and caught the Bronx gunners napping 67-66. Temple's 3-2 zone closed the driving lanes and forced Fordham outside, where the Rams' shooting percentage is mediocre. Center Lee Tress swept the boards and scored 19 points for Temple.
La Salle buried Western Kentucky, which had built its 12-1 record primarily against small colleges. Ahead 73-44 at one point, the Explorers finished off the outlanders 91-76. Ken Durrett set a Palestra record for a Big Five player by scoring 45 points. "The only thing Durrett did wrong all game," said Western Coach John Oldham, "was not get the opening tap."
"I don't believe in holding the ball in a visiting gym," De Paul Coach Ray Meyer said. So visiting De Paul ran with Villanova and made the home fans happy by losing 99-59. Niagara, however, forced Villanova into two overtime periods before the Wildcats finally staggered in with an 82-79 win. The Purple Eagles' 2-3 zone pushed Villanova's Howard Porter out of his favorite shooting angles and Wayne Jones dogged Porter in the corner. "It was a great basketball game," said Niagara's Frank Layden. "I really feel sorry for the people who stayed home."
1. PENN (13-0)
2. LA SALLE (10-1)
MIDWEST
Marquette blasted Notre Dame 71-66 and New Mexico State 65-53 without playing its best game (page 32), and so did Notre Dame—against Detroit. Austin Carr, for one, hit only three of his first 15 shots, and the Irish shot 26% in the first half before winning 93-79. Their best move may have been begging off a scheduled game with Kansas, and Oklahoma City's worst move may have been taking the game instead. The Chiefs had spent 10 days in Florida "lying on the beach watching the girls in bikinis and drinking orange juice" because a Virgin Islands playing tour had fallen through. "After that," said Coach Abe Lemons, "my players will be surly when they've found I'm taking them to Kansas." Surly or not, they were so unstrung by the Jayhawkers' full-court press that they got only one basket in the first 9½ minutes and committed 14 turnovers in the first half. Ahead 25 points late in the game, Kansas began fouling to get the ball and break 100. It did: 101-77.
Four o'clock in the afternoon before the Wisconsin game, Illinois Coach Harv Schmidt showed his team the film of last season's memorable encounter. For Rick Howat and the Illini it was like a replay of Doomsday. They were leading the Big Ten with a 5-0 record, had won 18 in a row at the Assembly Hall and were ahead of Wisconsin by 10. But suddenly the lead was down to one point with seconds left and Howat was at the line for a one-and-one. He missed, and Wisconsin made a layup just ahead of the buzzer. Illinois then lost its next four games. Tuesday night's contest was almost a rerun. An 11-point Illinois lead dwindled to two points in the waning minutes, and—yessiree—here came Howat with a one-and-one. He sank both shots, and the Badgers couldn't believe it. They fouled Howat three more times, so Howat dropped in six more free throws for an Illinois win 84-82. Later, in another tight one, the Illini beat Michigan State 69-67.
Indiana, led by George McGinnis' 31 points and 19 rebounds, downed Minnesota 99-73 but lost to Michigan 92-81. Jovon Price of Purdue, who has a wingspread of 84 inches, used every inch to beat Minnesota. With the score tied 92-92 in overtime, Price blocked a shot, controlled the ball in midair and dribbled in for a layup. Purdue won 97-92.
1. MARQUETTE (13-0)
2. KANSAS (11-1)
SOUTH
Kentucky Guard Kent Hollenbeck, who had played against Tennessee Captain Jimmy England in high school in Knoxville, kept talking to him. "They're not going to go in like that all day," he told England after every shot. But they did. England hit 10 of 17 from the field and led all scorers with 25 points as Tennessee beat Kentucky 75-71. A reserve 5'8" guard, Dick Johnston, sank all eight of his critical one-and-one foul shots down the stretch. Earlier the Volunteers gunned Florida 85-75 by hitting 61% from the floor.
Kentucky did better against Georgia, the SEC's last-place team, but Adolph Rupp was forced to use a 1-3-1 zone to combat a slowdown before the Wildcats could beat the Bulldogs 79-66 behind Forward Tom Parker's 23 points. "It would not be fair to the boys not to give them an opportunity to try to win," Georgia Coach Ken Rosemond said of his tactics afterward.
Barry Parkhill has had a recurring dream: big game, time running out, his team one point behind. Here comes the pass, floating into his hands. He shoots. It's up! It's in! It's true! Awake and jumping from 15 feet out, the Virginia sophomore really did sink a shot, with five seconds left, and what was left of South Carolina was destroyed 50-49. The Cavaliers made 17 of 26 shots from the field to pull off their big upset and hand South Carolina its third straight conference defeat. Gamecock Coach Frank McGuire was left shouting about an ACC conspiracy against his team. "This is some kind of setup," he said.
North Carolina beat Clemson routinely enough but lost a chance to rise in the rankings by falling to Wake Forest 96-84, thereby enabling Virginia to move into a tie for the ACC lead. Charlie Davis' 35 points insured the Deacons' victory.
Jacksonville tromped on Oklahoma City 95-67 just as OCU Coach Lemons had expected. His scouting report on Jacksonville was a blank sheet of paper decorated by one word in five-inch-high letters: HELP! Manhattan, 67-40 loser of a stalling game against Jacksonville ("What did you want us to do, lose by 50 or 60 points?" Coach John Powers asked), found all the fun was at its expense. Near the end of the game the playful Dolphins used a one-man defense, 7'2" Artis Gilmore guarding the goal alone while his four teammates stood at the opposite end of the court and cheered him on. Gilmore blocked one shot and prevented two others as it took Manhattan a full 60 seconds to score.
Georgia Tech's coach has been called "mild-mannered John Hyder" so long that he signs his checks that way, but last week Hyder had three technicals in one game, as Tech won once and lost twice.
1. TENNESSEE (11-2)
2. W. KENTUCKY (12-2)
WEST
It is the coachly way, sometimes, to praise the winning opponent as unbeatable. Consider, then, the quandary of California and Stanford. Both lost to UCLA and USC, and those two teams will meet twice before the season is over. One has to lose and probably, decided the coaches, it will be USC, even though the Trojans beat them by larger scores. "I don't know who can stop that tremendous Bruin front line," said Stanford's Howie Dallmar after losing to UCLA 58-53. Said Cal's Jim Padgett after a 94-76 loss: "That Sidney Wicks is by far the best we've seen. He drives, rebounds, shoots, plays defense and may even sell popcorn." Stanford did, however, hold UCLA to its lowest score of the year. Meanwhile, all the overlooked Trojans did was defeat Stanford 71-51 and Cal 90-66.
Utah State also continued to agonize the enemy. Now 13-2 for the season, the Blue left footprints on the backs of three opponents: Portland 90-67, Seattle 104-81 and Montana State 86-70. Perhaps to keep up interest during such routs, Coach LaDell Andersen is platooning. He alternates a tall three-forward offense—Marvin Roberts, Nate Williams, Bob Lauriski—with a fast two-guard model employing Terry Wakefield and Ron Hatch. Against Portland, the fast men beat the big men 52-38, the better contest of the night.
New Mexico's Willie Long tossed in 25 points and got 14 rebounds as the Lobos stopped UTEP 65-53. Arizona State beat Arizona 112-83 but lost to Hawaii 94-87 on a Holiday spree, Dwight Holiday's that is. He got 28 points on 14 of 20 for Hawaii.
Weber State, which has won four games with all-America Willie Sojourner either out or at half speed, dumped Seattle 106-77.
1. UCLA (13-0)
2. USC (14-0)