- Tuesday, February 13 1951 -
Xavier
-
51
(Head
Coach:
Lew
Hirt)
-
[Unranked]
Player | FG | FGA | FT | FTA | PF | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bill Hoffer | 7 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 17 |
Gene Smith | 3 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 9 |
Bill Cady | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Herbert Budde | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Dick Korb | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
Robert Dean | 3 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
Bill Donovan | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
Don Ruberg | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Thomas Simms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 19 | 79 | 13 | 19 | 17 | 51 |
Kentucky
-
78
(Head
Coach:
Adolph
Rupp)
-
[Ranked
1st
by
AP]
Player | FG | FGA | FT | FTA | PF | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Walter Hirsch | 5 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
Shelby Linville | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
Cliff Hagan | 3 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Lou Tsioropoulos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bill Spivey | 16 | 41 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 40 |
Frank Ramsey | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
Bobby Watson | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
Lucian Whitaker | 4 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
Totals | 31 | 112 | 16 | 22 | 17 | 78 |
Prior Game | | | Next Game |
Georgia Tech 75 - 42 | | | Tennessee 86 - 61 |
As Brightly As Beacon Bill Shines, U.K. Frosh Still Refuse To Be Eclipsed
Even thought hey have no Bill Spivey, the University of Kentucky's undefeated freshmen politely decline to admit that they don't know a thing or three about making a basketball hoop rattle with a lot of points.
The varsity's Beacon Bill chose a fogbound night to stand out like a lighthouse above a calm sea under a cloudless sky, equaling the Southeastern Conference tally record he set last year and scoring more than half the Wildcats' points, as Xavier was torpedoed 78-51, but the ruthless and reckless frosh had already done their stint a little earlier Tuesday night.
Spivey's 40 ruddy points looked frightfully big against the ever tenacious Musketeers, but the Kittens could argue that the sum was pale alongside the 100-38 tally they piled up against Xavier's frosh in the preliminary.
Only once in their last seven games have the U.K. frosh been under 90 points (hitting 86 then), and over that stretch they've outblasted their foes by an average of 95.5 points a game against 46.4.
Everybody available was used as the Kittens smothered the crew which had held them to a 55-52 squeak two months ago, but the tally still rocketed, after a 48-17 halftime advantage, until it gave them an 87.1 average for their 10 outings against a mild 48.5 average for their opponents.
Shooting Average Meek
For the varsity fray to say merely that Spivey was the whole show would be a libelous sort of an understatement.
Most of his mates simply took a night off - or else they were taken by an off night.
The Wildcats as a whole left the court blushing because of a meek shooting average of 27.7 per cent out of an avalanche of 112 shots, which might indicate they were giving their eyes a rest, intentionally or others, after some blistering work in recent games.
Whether Coach Adolph Rupp's irritated eye was smarting more or less later under its patch depended certainly on whether he watched Spivey or other performers in blue.
Even Billy the Beacon had to take 41 tries at the ring to cage his 16 field goals (only three less than all the Muskies mustered), but it must be noted that a big percentage of his attempts charged against him were for rebound slaps, efforts made generally when various and sundry small people (relatively speaking) were banging against his slats and snuggling under his armpits.
Busy Rebounding, Too
Not to be overlooked either is the fact that he captured no less than 34 rebounds to show the way, too, in defensive play while he received but negligible help in any department save from Capt. Walt Hirsch and Skippy Whitaker.
Xavier, topped by 67-56 in an earlier clash, stayed with the Cats through a 12-12 knot after some six minutes, but Kentucky broke away from that and moved on to a 36-22 halfway lead. The Muskies never cut the gap appreciably, but hung on doggedly and still were trailing by only 14 points (60-46) after 13 minutes in the second half.
Interest in the contest by that time had shifted completely to Spivey's chances of breaking the school and conference record after the mark for Memorial Coliseum already had been shattered, and his mates made plenty of effort in the closing stages to help the long boy over the hump. Others collected several buckets in the late minutes but passed up many other easy chances in order to pass to Spivey while 12,000 fans watched eagerly and Xavier battled grimly against the design.
The long fellow killed his own chances of setting a new standard by missing two free tosses out of the three in the final half-minute, the last failure coming with but six seconds left on the clock
Hooking accurately with either hand, taking some of his shots from considerable frange, Spivey sank eight field goals from a total of 21 scoring tries in the first half and had a point total of 21 at the intermission. He added only four points during the first 10 minutes of the second period, however, and actually it was quite late in the proceedings, after he had gathered five more baskets, before coaches and players realized he was so near a record.
Mark Set Last Feb. 18
Lou Tsioropoulos was sent in to help scrap for rebounds and feed the ball to the lanky pivotman, but the Muskies made the effort legitimate by battling against the plan and keeping the slot jammed, leaving the free tosses to determine the result.
Spivey had set the school's one-game record for field goals at 16 and for point total at 40 against Georgia Tech on Feb. 18 of last year at old Alumni Gymnasium.
The spree hiked his total for the season to 395, an average of 18.8 for 21 games, and shoved him even farther in front in his race for his second straight Southeastern Conference tally crown.
Shelby Linville (left) and Skippy Whitker (right) double up on Xavier's Bill Donovan
Bill Spivey (#77) shoots a hook over Xavier center Gene Smith (#17)