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Forty Years Ago Today

3/02/03
by John C. Thomas

Saturday, March 2, 1963 vs. Wichita State at Chicago Stadium

The final game of the regular season pitted #8 Wichita State vs. #3 Loyola in the first game of a Chicago Stadium doubleheader, followed by a contest between Bradley and Notre Dame. Future Hall of Fame Coach Ralph Miller's aptly-named Shockers had earned a place in the AP Top 10 with a stunning one-point victory over #1 Cincinnati a week and a half earlier, ending Cincinnati's 37-game winning streak and hopes for an undefeated season. But Wichita had also notched wins against #4 Arizona State, and #5 Ohio State. Coming into the game at 18-7, Wichita was ticketed for the top seed in the NIT.

The Shockers were led by 6'7" junior All-American Dave "The Rave" Stallworth and 6'10" sophomore center Nate Bowman. Both were future first round NBA draft picks, and Stallworth picked up a championship ring as a member of the 1969-70 New York Knicks.

With a packed house of 18,778 screaming fans, undersized Loyola traded baskets with the Shockers in the first half. The Ramblers had 6'2" Jerry Harkness giving away five inches on Stallworth, and 6'7" center Les Hunter matched against the 6'10" Bowman. In the backcourt, however, the Ramblers appeared to have the upper hand with superior scoring from Ron Miller and John Egan. When the buzzer sounded at halftime, the Shockers held a 30-28 lead over the Ramblers in a contest that certainly looked to go down to the final seconds-if the Ramblers could stay out of foul trouble.

The second half began with the two teams trading baskets to tie the score five times. But when Vic Rouse made two baskets and Miller added another, Loyola took a 44-38 lead. After a long-range bomb from Egan just a few seconds later, Loyola grabbed their biggest lead of the game at 49-41. But the Shockers answered right back with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 51-all.

Just minutes later, Hunter fouled out with 6:27 left to play, and half a minute later Rouse joined him on the bench with his fifth foul. Instead of caving in, the Ramblers fought harder and actually took a 68-66 advantage with 2:10 remaining on a basket by Miller and a free throw from Hunter's replacement, Chuck Wood.

Then came the play that outraged Ramblers fans. "Ernie Moore was a little fast guard," Egan recalls. "We pressed full court, so after watching him the whole game, you sort of get an idea as to what his m.o. is. [I know that] he is going to fake [left], and come back to his right. So he comes and he does the left fake, and I fake going for the fake, and just wait for him. And he comes right into me. There's no question in my mind that it's a charge. Certainly at home, it's a charge. And they call a foul on me at home. I was genuinely shocked-- not so much that it was obvious because all charge calls are hard-but that it was late in the season, we're ranked #3 in the country, and the call came at home. I was making my free throws that night, and I knew that if I got to the line we would have won the game. And then the crowd erupted."

Moore made his free throws, and Wichita converted on two more free throws in the final minute to seal the 73-72 victory.

According to the Chicago Tribune, as the Shockers jubilantly ran off the court at the buzzer, a few Loyola fans went charging onto the court "apparently trying to fight the winners." Roy Damer, the Tribune's beat writer, wrote that Loyola fans scuffled with the Andy Frain ushers for a few seconds before order was restored. There was no mention of the alleged tussle in any of the other Chicago newspapers.

"I was at that game, and I don't remember that," said James Hackett, a Loyola senior at the time. "I remember that it was a controversial finish, but I can't remember any kind of tussle or melee, just disappointment."

Wichita State earned a 29-26 advantage at the foul line-- with five of those chances coming in the final two minutes of the game-but the Shockers won by thoroughly dominating Loyola on the backboards. The Shockers out-rebounded the Ramblers, the third-best rebounding team in the nation, 52-38.

Stallworth led all scorers with 28 points, and Bowman added 11 points for the Shockers to go with his game-high 13 rebounds. Harkness led the Ramblers with 17 points, and Miller led Loyola with 10 boards.

In the AP poll released on the Tuesday following the loss to Wichita State, the Ramblers fell to their lowest ranking of the year-- #5-behind Arizona State, Ohio State, Duke, and Cincinnati. Wichita State's road win against the Ramblers had vaulted them into the #6 spot.

Since losing their two best bench players, Loyola had struggled mightily. After averaging 97.9 points per game and an average margin of victory of 29.6 points per game in their first 20 contests, the Ramblers averaged 80.8 points in their final six games. After going undefeated in their first 20 games, Loyola struggled to the finish line losing two of their final six games and being forced to overtime in another. Meanwhile, the entire Loyola bench scored a total of 15 points combined in the final six games of the regular season. Five Loyola starters fouled out in those six games, including two in the home loss to Wichita State and one in the loss at Bowling Green. How in the world could a team expect to go very far in the tournament with the bench providing only 2.5 points per game, and an average of almost one player fouling out per game?

Another disturbing pattern had emerged: The Ramblers didn't have enough big bodies, experience, or fouls to give against teams with one or more big dominating front court players. That was what spelled defeat against Bowling Green and Wichita State and forced overtime against Marquette. With the tallest starting player at 6'7", and an average size among the starters of 6'3", the numbers didn't bode well for the Ramblers. The tallest player with any significant experience off the bench was Chuck Wood at 6'4".

If the Ramblers were playing against ordinary teams, they had enough talent in the starting five to hold their own even without any contributions from the bench. But every game from here on out would be against conference champions and the top-ranked teams in the nation in Loyola's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. Every game would be do-or-die for the four juniors and the senior. Every game would be played at a neutral court, under the spotlight of national media attention. If Hunter or Rouse-- Loyola's only starters over 6'2"-- fouled out in a close game, it would likely spell the end of the season, because Loyola's offensive attack relied so heavily on outlet passes from defensive rebounds. There was absolutely no margin for error on either end of the court-not to mention inside their heads and hearts.