1973–74 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team

The 1973–74 North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball team represented North Carolina State University during the 1973-74 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wolfpack played their home games at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina, and competed as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. While losing only one game throughout the season, the team finished undefeated in the ACC conference play, and went on to win the 1974 ACC men's basketball title. The Wolfpack then won the NCAA tournament, finishing the season as the national champions.

1973–74 North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball
NCAA tournament National Champions ACC tournament champions ACC regular season champions
National Championship Game, W 76–64 vs. Marquette
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	30–1 (12–0 ACC)
Head coach	Norm Sloan (8th season)
Assistant coaches	Ed Biedenbach Sam Esposito Art Musselman
Captain	Game captains
Home arena	Reynolds Coliseum
Seasons ← 1972–73 1974–75 →

1973–74 ACC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 NC State †	12	–	0		1.000			30	–	1		.968
No. 4 Maryland	9	–	3		.750			23	–	5		.821
No. 12 North Carolina	9	–	3		.750			22	–	6		.786
Virginia	4	–	8		.333			11	–	16		.407
Clemson	3	–	9		.250			14	–	12		.538
Wake Forest	3	–	9		.250			13	–	13		.500
Duke	2	–	10		.167			10	–	16		.385
† 1974 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Season summary

NC State had several highly rated players, including star high-jumping forward David Thompson, 7-foot-4 center Tom Burleson, point guard Monte Towe, and several complementary players, including guard Moe Rivers and forward Phil Spence. The Wolfpack began the season ranked #2 in the nation, behind John Wooden's UCLA. On December 15, 1973, the two top-ranked teams met in St. Louis, with UCLA beating NC State by 84–66 after trailing by one at halftime. It would be the only loss for the Wolfpack that season. NC State later met and defeated the Bruins 80–77 in two overtimes in the NCAA tournament semi-final game, ending UCLA's streak of seven straight national championships. Two nights later, NC State won its first NCAA championship by beating Marquette, 76–64.

Roster

1973–74 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown C 24 Tommy Burleson 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Sr Newland, North Carolina C 50 Mike Buurma 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Willard, Ohio G 32 Bruce Dayhuff 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr Walkerton, Indiana F 14 Greg Hawkins 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Huntington, West Virginia G 22 Dwight Johnson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Raleigh, North Carolina G 34 Craig Kuszmaul 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 181 lb (82 kg) Jr Warren, Ohio C 35 Bill Lake 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Carmel, Indiana G 40 Mark Moeller 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Canfield, Ohio F 52 Steve Nuce 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Rockville, Maryland G 10 Moe Rivers 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Jr Brooklyn, New York F 30 Phil Spence 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) So Raleigh, North Carolina F 42 Tim Stoddard 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr East Chicago, Indiana F 44 David Thompson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Shelby, North Carolina G 25 Monte Towe 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 145 lb (66 kg) Jr Converse, Indiana	Head coach Norm Sloan (NC State) Assistant coach(es) Art Musselman (The Citadel) Sam Esposito (Indiana) Eddie Biedenbach (NC State) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

^[1]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
December 5*	No. 2	East Carolina	W 79–47	1–0	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
December 7*	No. 2	Vermont	W 97–42	2–0	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
December 15* ABC	No. 2	vs. No. 1 UCLA	L 66–84	2–1	St. Louis Arena  St. Louis, MO
December 18*	No. 5	Georgia	W 94–60	3–1	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
December 28*	No. 5	vs. Villanova Sugar Bowl Tournament	W 97–82	4–1	Municipal Auditorium  New Orleans, LA
December 29*	No. 5	vs. No. 18 Memphis State Sugar Bowl Tournament	W 98–83	5–1	Municipal Auditorium  New Orleans, LA
January 4*	No. 5	No. 4 North Carolina Big Four Tournament	W 78–77	6–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
January 5*	No. 5	vs. Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	W 91–73	7–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
January 12	No. 4	Clemson	W 96–68	8–1 (1–0)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
January 13	No. 4	No. 3 Maryland	W 80–74	9–1 (2–0)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
January 17	No. 3	at Virginia	W 90–70	10–1 (3–0)	University Hall  Charlottesville, VA
January 19*	No. 3	UNC Charlotte	W 104–72	11–1	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
January 22	No. 3	at No. 4 North Carolina	W 83–80	12–1 (4–0)	Carmichael Auditorium  Chapel Hill, NC
January 26*	No. 3	at Purdue	W 86–81	13–1	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
January 30	No. 2	at No. 6 Maryland	W 86–80	14–1 (5–0)	Cole Field House  College Park, MD
February 2	No. 2	Virginia	W 105–93	15–1 (6–0)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
February 4	No. 2	at Duke	W 92–78	16–1 (7–0)	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
February 8*	No. 2	vs. Georgia Tech North-South Doubleheader	W 98–54	17–1	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, NC
February 9*	No. 2	vs. Furman North-South Doubleheader	W 111–91	18–1	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, NC
February 13*	No. 2	Davidson	W 105–78	19–1	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
February 16	No. 2	Wake Forest	W 111–96	20–1 (8–0)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
February 20	No. 1	Duke	W 113–87	21–1 (9–0)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
February 23	No. 1	at Clemson	W 80–75	22–1 (10–0)	Littlejohn Coliseum  Clemson, SC
February 26	No. 1	No. 4 North Carolina	W 83–72	23–1 (11–0)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
March 2	No. 1	at Wake Forest	W 72–63	24–1 (12–0)	Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum  Winston-Salem, NC
ACC tournament
March 8*	No. 1	vs. Virginia ACC tournament	W 87–66	25–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
March 9*	No. 1	vs. No. 4 Maryland ACC tournament	W 103–100 OT	26–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
NCAA tournament
March 14*	No. 1	vs. No. 5 Providence NCAA tournament • Regional semifinals	W 92–78	27–1	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
March 16*	No. 1	vs. No. 13 Pittsburgh NCAA tournament • Regional Final	W 100–72	28–1	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
March 23*	No. 1	vs. No. 2 UCLA NCAA tournament • National semifinals	W 80–77 2OT	29–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
March 25*	No. 1	vs. No. 3 Marquette NCAA tournament • National Championship	W 76–64	30–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East.

^[2]

Rankings

Main article: 1973–74 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	2	2	2	5	5	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Coaches	Not released		2	6	5	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	Not released

ACC tournament

The 1974 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was held in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Coliseum from March 7 to 9. NC State defeated Maryland 103–100 in overtime to claim the championship.

The final featured two of the top teams in the country. It has been regarded by many to be the greatest ACC game in history — and one of the greatest college games ever.^{[citation needed]} The game was instrumental in forcing the expansion of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship to 32 teams, allowing more than one bid from a conference.

NCAA tournament

1974 NCAA tournament championship Game Box Score
Player	Min	FG	FT	REB	AST	PF	PTS
D. Thompson	40	7–12	7–8	7	2	3	21
M. Towe	37	5–10	6–7	3	2	1	16
T. Burleson	36	6–9	2–6	11	0	4	14
M. Rivers	40	4–9	6–9	2	5	2	14
T. Stoddard	25	3–4	2–2	7	2	5	8
P. Spence	19	1–2	1–2	3	3	2	3
M. Moeller	3	0–0	0–0	0	0	0	0
Totals	200	26–46	24–34	34	14	17	76

• East
  • North Carolina State 92, Providence 78
  • North Carolina State 100, Pittsburgh 72
• Final Four
  • North Carolina State 80, UCLA 77
  • North Carolina State 76, Marquette 64^[3]

Awards and honors

• Tommy Burleson, ACC tournament MVP.
• David Thompson, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[4]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	3	Tommy Burleson	Seattle SuperSonics

^[5]