1960–61 Utah Redskins men's basketball team

The 1960–61 Utah Redskins men's basketball team represented the University of Utah in the 1965-66 season. Head coach Jack Gardner would lead the Utes to a Mountain States Athletic Conference championship and the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. Their final game of the season, which was a quadruple-overtime third place game against Saint Joseph's University, was later rescinded by Saint Joseph's team and stricken from the record books days after the game was finished due to it being discovered that three of the Hawks' players were discovered to have been involved with the 1961 NCAA University Division men's basketball gambling scandal.^[2] Following that scandal coming to light, it was said that some of Utah's players would testify in court against the main perpatrator of the scandal, former NBA All-Star Jack Molinas.^[3] The team finished with an overall record of 23–8 (12–2 MSAC).

1960–61 Utah Redskins men's basketball
MSAC Champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Mountain States Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
Record	23–8 (12–2 MSAC)
Head coach	Jack Gardner (8th season)
Home arena	Nielsen Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 1959–60 1961–62 →

1960–61 MSAC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 14 Utah	12	–	2		.857			23	–	8		.742
Colorado State	12	–	2		.857			17	–	9		.654
BYU	9	–	5		.643			15	–	11		.577
Montana	7	–	7		.500			14	–	9		.609
Denver	6	–	8		.429			12	–	14		.462
Utah State	4	–	10		.286			12	–	14		.462
Wyoming	3	–	11		.214			7	–	18		.280
New Mexico	3	–	11		.214			6	–	17		.261
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Roster

1960–61 Utah Redskins men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F 12 Billy McGill 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Los Angeles, California F 11 Jim Rhead 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 208 lb (94 kg) Sr Salt Lake City, Utah	Head coach Jack Gardner (USC) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

^[4]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Dec 1, 1960*		at Loyola Marymount	L 64–85	0–1	Loyola Memorial Gym  Los Angeles, California
Dec 3, 1960*		at Stanford	L 56–59	0–2	Old Pavilion  Stanford, California
Dec 7, 1960*		Evansville	W 132–77	1–2	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 9, 1960*		Baylor	W 83–69	2–2	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 10, 1960*		Texas Christian	W 101–55	3–2	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 16, 1960*	No. 18	San Jose State	W 82–48	4–2	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 20, 1960*	No. 18	Saint Mary's	W 70–64	5–2	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 22, 1960*	No. 18	Cal State Los Angeles	W 105–76	6–2	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 27, 1960*		vs. Penn ECAC Holiday Festival	W 72–60	7–2	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Dec 29, 1960*		vs. No. 3 St. Bonaventure ECAC Holiday Festival	L 88–89	7–3	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Dec 31, 1960*		at No. 7 St. John's ECAC Holiday Festival	L 65–73	7–4	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Jan 7, 1961		at Utah State	W 85–70	8–4 (1–0)	Nelson Fieldhouse  Logan, Utah
Jan 12, 1961		New Mexico	W 111–66	9–4 (2–0)	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Jan 14, 1961		Denver	W 95–82	10–4 (3–0)	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Jan 20, 1961		at Brigham Young	L 86–91	10–5 (3–1)	Smith Field House  Provo, Utah
Jan 21, 1961		Montana	W 72–56	11–5 (4–1)	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Jan 28, 1961*		Santa Clara	W 55–51	12–5	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Feb 2, 1961		Colorado State	W 69–58	13–5 (5–1)	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Feb 4, 1961		Wyoming	W 83–71	14–5 (6–1)	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Feb 11, 1961		at Montana	W 76–55	15–5 (7–1)	Dahlberg Arena  Missoula, Montana
Feb 16, 1961		at Denver	W 67–62	16–5 (8–1)	DU Fieldhouse  Denver, Colorado
Feb 18, 1961		at New Mexico	W 77–63	17–5 (9–1)	Johnson Gymnasium  Albuquerque, New Mexico
Feb 23, 1961		Brigham Young	W 95–80	18–5 (10–1)	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Feb 25, 1961		Utah State	W 96–84	19–5 (11–1)	Nielsen Fieldhouse  Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 3, 1961		at Wyoming	W 83–69	20–5 (12–1)	War Memorial Fieldhouse  Laramie, Wyoming
Mar 4, 1961		at Colorado State	L 49–50	20–6 (12–2)	South College Gym  Fort Collins, Colorado
Mar 6, 1961*		vs. Colorado State Skyline Conference Playoff	W 55–51	21–6	Smith Field House  Provo, Utah
NCAA Tournament
Mar 17, 1961*		vs. Loyola Marymount West Regional Final – Sweet Sixteen	W 91–75	22–6	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
Mar 18, 1961*		vs. Arizona State West Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 88–80	23–6	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
Mar 24, 1961*		vs. No. 2 Cincinnati National Semifinal – Final Four	L 67–82[5]	23–7	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 25, 1961*		vs. Saint Joseph's Consolation	L 120–127 4OT	23–8	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, Missouri
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[6][7]

Rankings

Main article: 1960–61 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

• Billy McGill – Consensus Second-Team All-American

References

1. sports-reference.com 1960-61 Mountain States Athletic Conference Season Summary
2. Sauer, Patrick (April 4, 2016). "A Forgotten Classic and the Complicated Legacy of the 1961 St. Joe's Hawks". Vice.com. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
3. "ESPN Classic – Explosion II: The Molinas period". Retrieved June 9, 2024.
4. "1960–61 Utah Utes Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
5. "Ohio State and Cincinnati Gain N.C.A.A. Basketball Final at Kansas City". The New York Times. March 25, 1961. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
6. "1960-61 Utah Utes Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
7. "2021-22 Utah Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Utah Athletics. Retrieved December 27, 2021.