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Forty Years Ago Today
3/22/03
by John C. ThomasFriday, March 22, 1963, vs. Duke at Louisville, KY
The Duke Blue Devils reached the semi-finals with a 27-2 record, ranked #2 in the country. Duke's two losses came in the same week in late December, when they lost to unheralded Miami and Davidson. But since those two defeats, Duke had run the table in the ACC with a 14-0 record and won the ACC tournament. The Blue Devils reached the Final Four by defeating NYU 81-76 in the East Regional semi-finals and beating St. Joseph's 73-59 in the East Regional Final to extend their winning streak to 20 straight games-the longest winning streak in the nation at the time.
Led by Art Heyman, a 6'5", 205-pound All-American forward, Coach Vic Bubbas' crew had accumulated a 69-13 record during Heyman's career in Durham. Heyman averaged 25.1 points per game and 10.9 boards over his career, and was Duke's all-time leading scorer.
Freedom Hall was standing room only with 19,153 in attendance for the 7:30 game between #3 Loyola and #2 Duke. A half an hour after the game, #1 Cincinnati would face unranked Oregon State for a trip to the final. In spite of Duke's higher ranking in the AP Poll, Loyola was a one or two-point favorite over the Blue Devils in what was expected to be a high-scoring game between the first and fourth highest scoring teams in the country.
The Ramblers built a 13-point first-half lead by busting Duke's zone defense with great ball movement and outside shooting from the corners. When Duke defenders drifted out to cover Harkness or Miller shooting from long distance, the outside shooters whip-passed down low to Les Hunter, who rarely missed his jump shots from just outside the paint. Loyola led 44-31 at the break.
But behind their All-American forward Art Heyman, the Blue Devils mounted a second-half comeback. With 4:19 left to play in the game, Duke cut Loyola's lead to 74-71 on a basket by Heyman.
That's when the Ramblers turned on a spectacular show for the Freedom Hall crowd. Ron Miller scored one basket on an outside shot from the baseline, and another on a drive to the basket. After Hunter blocked a shot by Heyman, Harkness scored at the other end on a breakaway. Hunter and then Egan made two free throws apiece, and all of a sudden it was 84-71 Loyola with 1:36 left to play. It was a 10-0 run in 1:43 of crunch time that left the opposition crushed. The Ramblers went on to outscore the Blue Devils 10-4 down the stretch for a 94-75 victory that sent them to the tournament final.
"The crowd was mostly [in favor of] Duke," said Loyola fan Britt Rinehart, who was at the game. "I felt that their hopes were for a Duke-Cincy final. Loyola was the 'unknown' team from Chicago. This was the South, of course. But Egan and company soon changed that, because people in that part of the world truly appreciate good hoops. When we went on that huge run late, you could feel it. This crowd got behind the Ramblers more and more as the steals and the baskets came pouring in. They loved us at the end, pure and simple--all except the Durham crowd, which of course was understandable."
With 42 seconds left in the game, Loyola fans-including some that didn't enter the building as Loyola fans-- began the chant, "We want Cincinnati!"
Chicago Tribune sports writer Roy Damer wrote about the crowd gasping at "one of the most decisive spurts ever seen on a basketball court."
After the game, Harkness told Robert Markus of the Chicago Tribune, "I didn't play too well tonight, felt kind of tight. But you see, we're not a one-man team. If I have an off night or Egan does, then Hunter and Rouse make up for it like they did tonight."
Hunter led the Ramblers with 29 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field, tying Heyman for game-high honors in scoring. Harkness added 20 for Loyola, Miller had 18, Egan had 14, and Rouse had 13.
"They just have fine balance," Duke Coach Vic Bubas told the Chicago Tribune. "Harkness, all of them. They're just a great group of jumpers and tremendous runners. Their board play in the first 10 minutes was too good for us. We got it straightened out, but not in time."
A much taller Duke team out rebounded the Ramblers 47-46, led by 6'10" center Jay Buckley who had 13 boards to pace the Blue Devils. A bad shoulder from Duke's regional final game against St. Joseph's had bothered Buckley, and his replacement was 6'10" Hack Tilson, who had eight boards of his own. But Loyola's 6'7" center Les Hunter backed up his big scoring night with a game-high 18 boards, and 6'2" Harkness snagged 11 more. Loyola gave up several inches at every position, but managed to nearly break even on the boards.
In spite of not making it to the final, Heyman was awarded the NCAA Tournament's Most Valuable Player award. He was also named College Basketball Player of the Year, and selected as the top pick in the 1963 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks.
In the nightcap of the doubleheader, Cincinnati completely demolished Oregon State, 80-46. Cincinnati led by only three points at halftime, 30-27, and Oregon State cut the lead to one with the first basket after the break. But the Bearcats completely dominated the Beavers on the boards, building a 50-33 rebounding margin. The death knell came when 7'0" center Mel Counts fouled out of the game early in the second half. The two-time defending champions made a powerful statement and earned a chance to play for a third straight national championship by outscoring Oregon State 50-19 after the break while getting 11 players into the game.