1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

The 1950–51 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. Two members of this team eventually returned to Kentucky as athletic director: Cliff Hagan from 1975 to 1988, and Charles Newton from 1989 to 2000.

1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions SEC regular season champions
National Championship Game, W 68–58 vs. Kansas State
Conference	Southeast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	32–2 (14–0 SEC)
Head coach	Adolph Rupp
Assistant coach	Harry Lancaster
Captain	Walter Hirsch
Home arena	Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1949–50 1951–52 →

1950–51 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Kentucky	14	–	0		1.000			32	–	2		.941
Vanderbilt †	10	–	4		.714			19	–	8		.704
Alabama	10	–	4		.714			15	–	8		.652
Tulane	8	–	6		.571			12	–	12		.500
Auburn	6	–	8		.429			12	–	10		.545
Georgia	6	–	8		.429			13	–	11		.542
Florida	6	–	8		.429			11	–	12		.478
LSU	6	–	8		.429			10	–	14		.417
Georgia Tech	6	–	8		.429			8	–	19		.296
Ole Miss	5	–	9		.357			12	–	12		.500
Tennessee	5	–	9		.357			10	–	13		.435
Mississippi State	2	–	12		.143			3	–	16		.158
† 1951 SEC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Roster

1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown C 6 Cliff Hagan 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Owensboro Owensboro, Kentucky F 19 Walter Hirsch 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Northridge Dayton, Ohio F 11 Shelby Linville 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Middletown Middletown, Ohio G/F 35 Charles Newton 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale, Florida C 77 Bill Spivey 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Macon Jordan Warner Robins, Georgia G 7 Guy Strong 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Irvine, Kentucky G 38 Bobby Watson 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Jr Owensboro, Kentucky G 32 Lucian Whitaker 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Sarasota, Florida	Head coach Adolph Rupp (Kansas) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
NCAA tournament
Mar 20, 1951*	No. 1	vs. Louisville	W 79–68	29–2	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Mar 22, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 9 St. John's	W 59–43	30–2	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Mar 24, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 5 Illinois National Semifinal	W 76–74	31–2	Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, New York
Mar 27, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 4 Kansas State National Championship game	W 68–58	32–2	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, Minnesota
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

NCAA basketball tournament

• Mideast
  • Kentucky 79, Louisville 68
  • Kentucky 59, St. John's, New York 43
• Final Four
  • Kentucky 76, Illinois 74
  • Kentucky 68, Kansas State 58

^[2]

Rankings

Main article: 1950–51 NCAA men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

• Bill Spivey – consensus first-team All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

• No one from the Wildcats men's team was selected in the 1951 NBA draft.^[3]

References

1. sports-reference.com 1950-51 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
2. "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
3. "1951 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2009.