Bill Walters

Leroy Chollet, Canisius

More than 17,000 fans saw an exciting contest in which the Tigers come from behind four times.

• Whether it was travel weariness, stage fright, or the skill of the op­ponent, LSU fell behind by 12 points, 30-18, four minutes before halftime. Led by Brian, the Tigers narrowed the margin to 32-23 by halftime.
• With veterans Adcock in the pivot and Bill Walters outside dropping in points, LSU finally pulled ahead for the first time, 45-44, 12 minutes into the second half.
• The game see-sawed back and forth for the next five minutes before Walters canned a long set shot to put the Southerners ahead for good.
• Brian, who led all scorers with 15, ended the Terriers' hopes with a layup in the closing seconds to make the final score 62-57.
• Adcock and Walters tallied 12 each, and Lowther contributed 11 more.

Two nights later, the Tigers took on Canisius, another Catholic college, as part of a doubleheader in Buffalo NY.

• The star of the Canisius team was a New Orleanian, Leroy Chollet, a graduate of Holy Cross High School.
• Leroy had been the leading scorer on Loyola of New Orleans' National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball national champions in 1944- 45.
• Loyola stated that Leroy transferred to Canisius, another Jesuit col­lege, because of academic difficulties. Years later, Leroy told his son that he had to leave Loyola because he cheated on an English paper.
• However, Chollet had a secret that may provide the real explanation - he was one-eighth black.
• Perhaps because his younger brother Hillary, a football star, was the object of a recruiting battle between LSU and Tulane, someone uncov­ered the Chollet secret, and word spread like wildfire throughout seg­regated New Orleans.

Troy Rushing

Dick Holt

Don Sebastian

Joe Fahey

LSU-Louisiana College action 1955

Adolph Rupp opening door to Cadillac he was awarded in 1955

Vern Hatton

The Times-Picayune article the day of the game began like this:

Harry Rabenhorst was beginning his 28th season as LSU coach and his second P.P. (post Pettit).

• The Tigers fell from 22-3 in '52-53 and 20-5 in '53-54, with SEC championships in both seasons, to 6-18 in '54-55.
• Harry brought in several junior college transfers to help his squad's depth behind these starters: 6'3" junior F Roger Sigler, top scorer as a sophomore the year before, 6'4" F Troy Rushing, 6'5" C Dick Holt, 5'10" G Don Sebastian, and either 6' Don Merle or 6' Joe Fahey at the other G.
• W. I. Spencer warned in his TP article: ... the scrappy Wildcats ... have won three tight games already without any losses and might even spoil the Bengals' debut. ... Thursday night's Wildcats could be almost as tough for the Tigers as Kentucky's really great Wildcats as tutored by the fabulous Adolph Rupp.
• Coach Morris Osborn's visitors featured a fast breaking offense that utilized speed rather than height. The starting lineup included three 6'2" cagers and two at 5'10". The Wildcats would test Rabenhorst's theory that he had more speed than in '54-55.

• The Pineville Cats dominated both backboards and gained a 12-point advantage midway through the period.
• LSU managed to cut the lead to 44-36 at the halftime whistle. Neither team shot the ball well, the Wildcats going 14-of-43 (32.4%) while the Tigers hit just 14-of-49 (28.9%).
• LC built another 12-point lead in the second 20 minutes. Along the way, two Tigers fouled out, Rushing and Merle while Sigler and Sebastian racked up four fouls each.
• LSU started to hit with eight minutes left. With Roger on his way to a 36-point evening - the top output for LSU for the entire season, the Tigers cut the lead to three points, 66-63.

From then on, the game developed into a "wild brawl."

• Merle's fast break basket put the Bengals ahead 71-70 with four minutes left, their first lead since making a FT to start the contest.
• After an Wildcat FT, another of Sigler's 14 FGs pushed the margin to 73-71.
• Another Roger southpaw basket offset an LC FT to make it 75-72 LSU with 3:32 left.
• Four more of the visitors' 40 made FTs (out of an astounding 60 attempts) enabled the Wildcats to regain the lead.
• Joe Limbaugh's basket put LC up by three, 78-75, but Sigler matched it to trim the lead back to one with 1:27 on the clock.
• With no shot clock, LSU had to foul to regain possession, but Limbaugh hit both freebies, but Sigler's fielder made it a one-point game again with a minute left.
• Frank Mancil made perhaps the key play of the game when he slipped loose under the goal to lay in a FG to make the scoreboard read 82-79.
• With no three-point FG, LSU had to score twice, but the Cats rebounded the miss. G Max Smith, who led his quintet with 22 points, sank the visitors' 39th and 40th FTs with four seconds left to make the final tally 84-79.

Spencer compared Sigler favorably with LSU's greatest player to that point.

The shocking upset took some gloss off the Tigers' clash with Kentucky two nights later.

• The State-Times used this analogy. Louisiana State's basketball team will be trying to make a comeback tonight but it figures to be sort of like pulling an auto back on the road after sliding into a ditch and promptly running into a high speed freight train.
• As the back end of a home-and-home agreement Rabenhorst and Rupp arranged before the '54-55 season, the game with the #2 Wildcats would not count as an SEC contest.
• Kentucky's 74-58 victory over LSU in Lexington 12/4/54 had extended their winning streak in season openers to 29.
• One source of anxiety for the Tiger fans was the fact that they didn't control the boards against Louisiana College. So how could they compete in that department against the Lexington Wildcats, which deployed a 6'6", 6'7", 6'8" front line?

The Tigers almost did to Kentucky what Louisiana College did to them.

• LSU excited the crowd of 4,000 by leading the touted visitors most of the first half before the Cats settled down and took a 27-23 lead into the locker room.
• With Sigler held to just 11, Rushing took up the scoring slack with 17.
• Rupp's quintet led by 10 with five minutes to play, but Sigler threw in two quick FGs to cut the margin to 53-47.
• Rushing and Ken Martin hit FTs to reduce the margin to four with 3:30 on the clock.
• After the teams traded charity tosses, the Tigers lapsed into ragged play, and Vern Hatton stole the ball and sank a FG to make it 55-49.
• The final score read 62-52.

The Tigers didn't fare nearly as well when they went to Lexington January 14 and got drilled 107-65 in a conference game.

LSU finished the 1955-56 season with a 7-17 mark. Nevertheless, Sigler made all SEC. Rabenhorst would coach one more year, going 6-19 (including a hard fought 51-46 loss to UK in Baton Rouge) to retire with three straight losing seasons.

Bob Pettit in action

Pettit and Bill Russell

• The team improved by seven games, from 26-46 in Milwaukee in '55 to 33-39 in '56.
  I attended one of the Hawks games that season because it was played at Loyola Field House in New Orleans. St. Louis lost to the Fort Wayne Pistons 90-83 despite Pettit's 25 points. My father and I passed Bob as he walked down the long hallway toward the dressing room after the game.
• Bob led the league in FG and FGA, FT and FTA, and scoring (25.7). He also led in rebounds with 1,164. He appeared in his second straight All-Star Game as part of a streak that would continue every season of his NBA career.
• Despite their sub-.500 record, the Hawks made the playoffs. They de­feated the Minneapolis Lakers in the best-of-three first round before losing to the Fort Wayne Pistons, dropping three in a row after win­ning the first two.

• St. Louis gave the 2nd pick in the draft to Boston and received Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan in return. The Celtics used the pick to take Bill Russell. Pettit recalled: I had pretty good success against him, then Red Auerbach made him take the pivot man and he first used Tom Heinsohn, then Jim Loscutoff and finally Tom Sanders to guard me and this is when I began having trouble with Russell. If I would get by Heinsohn or Sanders or Lusky along would come Russell to stop me. What made it difficult was that I never knew where Russell was coming from.
• Pettit again led the NBA in FGA and FG but not in scoring or rebound­ing.
• The 41-31 Hawks made it all the way to the finals, losing to the Cel­tics in seven games.
• Concerned because he was getting pushed around under the basket, Pettit returned to Baton Rouge and worked with Alvin Roy, who was the Olympic weight lifting trainer at Helsinki in 1956.

The Hawks not only made the finals again in 1958, they won the champion­ship.

• Pettit suffered his second broken wrist in as many seasons, the injury costing him the rebounding and scoring titles.
• In the repeat finals against the Celtics, St. Louis led three games to two going into Game 6 at home. Bob scored 50 points, including 19 out of the Hawks' last 21, to edge Boston 120-119.
• Pettit wrote in his autobiography: To this day, Auerbach still needles [Tom] Heinsohn that the Celtics would have won the championship that year too if Tommy had held me to 48 points.

Adolph Rupp

Pete Maravich shoots over Dan Issel in the January 24, 1970, game in Lexington.

Pete shoots during his 69-point effort against Alabama.


Bill Newton

Mike Pratt

Maravich shoots behind Apple Sanders' screen.

Issel launches over Danny Hester.

Press Maravich

Maravich moves against UK.

Pete tosses a no-look pass.

• Dan averaged 25 points and 18 rebounds as a high school senior in Batavia IL. More than a hundred colleges offered him a scholarship. When he chose Kentucky, coach Adolph Rupp called Dan "the best center prospect we've had here in some time. He's a big, strong boy and he moves well."
• Rupp's longtime assistant Harry Lancaster agreed. "He's big enough, strong, fast, and quick. He's also aggressive, highly intelligent, and very mature for his age ..."
• From the word go, Dan made no secret of the fact that he wanted to be an All-American and play pro ball. He accomplished both goals.
• Like Pete, Dan had become his school's all-time leading scorer. He came into the game averaging 32.2 ppg and 13.1 rbg in 1969-70.
• 6'6" sophomore Al "Apple" Sanders from Baton Rouge High, who was battling Georgia's Bob Lienhard for the SEC rebounding crown, would join fellow front court members Bill "Fig" Newton and Danny Hester in trying to stifle Issel.

More than 9,000 were expected at the John F. Parker Agricultural Coliseum, popularly known as "The Cow Palace."

• The 17-6 Tigers needed to win to stay in the SEC race, where they sported a 10-3 mark. They also hoped for an NIT bid to give Pete a chance to showcase his skills in the Big Apple. An upset of the 20-1 Wildcats would practically cement a bid.
• Kentucky beat LSU in Lexington in January 109-96 despite Maravich canning 55.
• The Wildcats held an incredible 31-1 edge over the Tigers alltime. The lone LSU victory came in 1961 in Baton Rouge 73-59.

The game would be televised nationally.

• Eddie Einhorn's Television Sports Network specialized in airing region­al games and held the TV rights for SEC basketball.
• Einhorn started showing SEC games regionally in 1965, and some­times the crowds were so sparse that he asked fans to move to one side of the gym so the camera could see them.
• But Pistol Pete had changed all that, drawing capacity crowds all over the league and generating buzz across the land with his 44ppg ave­rage. His 3,365 points had already set an all-time record.
• Two weeks earlier, TSN had shown LSU's game at Alabama. Pete scored 69, which would prove to be the high of his career, but the Tigers fell 106-104.
• With Kentucky the opponent, Einhorn decided to market the Cat Clash in Baton Rouge nationally. He signed up 206 stations, more than carried the famous UCLA-Houston game from the Astrodome two years earlier. Eddie also set the game at the more attractive 3:30 PM ET slot following regional contests earlier in the day.

• Many tried to hide out in the Coliseum over night, but police made a wee hours sweep. Some took refuge in the bathrooms, standing on toilets to evade detection. By daybreak, the arena was cleared.
• When the gates opened at 11:30, students, many with pillows and sleeping bags in tow, were admitted. When Pete first appeared at 1:49, he received a standing ovation.
• Numerous fans brought homemade signs. "Thanks for coming to LSU, Pete." "Pete for Governor - Bordelonville fans." "Pete for President."
• In the freshman game that opened the doubleheader, the Kentucky Kittens nipped the Baby Bengals 78-77. Gary Simpson of LSU led all scorers with 35 points.

Four Bengals joined Pete in making their final appearance at home - three other starters plus backup G Rich Hickman.

• First, you see only white players on both sides.
• Second, there are only two officials.
• The style of play, with both teams topping the century mark, approxi­mates the NBA of its time rather than the college game of that era. I say the NBA "of its time" because today's play in both pro and college ball is much more physical. A big reason teams in 1970 generally scored more points is that defenders were hardly allowed to touch players, especially those going for a shot.
• Not even the NBA 24-second shot clock was needed. Neither team rarely exceeded 15 seconds in a possession.
• The idea for Kentucky was to pass the ball quickly until you either found Issel in the post or someone moving into position for an open jump shot.
• LSU, of course, put the ball in Pete's hands and let him work for a shot or draw defenders to himself and pass to the open man.
• Pete could be forgiven for relaxing on defense, but occasionally he struck like a cobra, his quick hands deflecting a pass or knocking the ball out of the hands of the opponent.
• Issel doesn't catch your eye right away like Pete but has to be watch­ed over the duration of the game to appreciate him. He works for posi­tion inside, gets putbacks, gets fouled often and sinks the FTs. Not flashy like Pete but very effective.
• Bottom line: Issel had much more scoring help from his teammates than Pete got from his.

The two other players in the LSU Basketball Trinity, Sparky Wade and Bob Pettit, sat among the crowd of 9,000, which didn't quite fill every seat.

• A three-point play by UK's second-leading scorer, Mike Pratt, and an Issel tip-in staked the Wildcats to a 5-0 lead. The Tigers spent the rest of the game trying to catch the Cats but never succeeded.
• When Pete missed his first try, a layup, he complained of being hack­ed. He would shoot 17 FTs, making 13, before the day was over. Pete and his father-coach both thought he should have shot more freebies.
• In the early going, it was Pratt, not Issel, who kept up with The Pis­tol. By the first timeout at 14:32, Mike had seven points and Pete, three buckets.
• With UK on top 17-10, LSU launched a serious run at the lead and, for the first time, got the Wildcats slightly rattled. After the Tigers pulled to within 21-18, Issel made two FTs, but Maravich and Newton scored baskets to close the gap to 23-22. Issel again prevented the Bengals from tacking the lead when he hit a jumper from the corner.
• A few minutes later, with the score 32-28, Kentucky put six in a row on the board for a 10-point advantage.
• In the meantime, men in blue were getting into foul trouble trying to stop Pete. Dinwiddie has two and his replacement, Kent Hollenbeck, quickly collected three. So Mills took a turn at 4:01 with the score­board reading 45-40.
• But the Tigers could get only a point closer before a 6-2 sent the Big Blue into halftime with a 56-48 advantage.
• Maravich led Issel 31-18 in their personal battle. They would both score 33 in the second 20 minutes of action. What hurt LSU was that Pratt tallied 19 in the first 20 minutes.

LSU conducted a special ceremony at halftime.

• The school retired Pete's #23, which also happened to be Sparky Wade's number. Maravich became only the third Tiger athlete whose jersey was retired, joining Bob Pettit and Billy Cannon.
• The Pistol and his three fellow seniors were presented with life-size action photographs of themselves.

The second half started at the same pace.

• The Wildcats upped their lead to 10 several times, the second time at 74-64. At that point, Press called timeout.
• Whatever the elder Maravich told them worked as Pistol Pete and Hester ripped off eight straight between them to pull LSU within two, 74-72, with 11:16 on the clock. That provoked Rupp to call time and switch to a 1-3-1 zone with a trap on Pete.
• When play resumed, Issel and Maravich traded baskets. After anoth­er UK two-pointer, Hester made a basket in close off a feed from Pete. Then the same pattern made it 80-78 when Hickman connected from the side at the 9:17 point.
• Finally, the trap defense forced several turnovers to contribute to ten straight Big Blue points. First, Mills dropped in a 20' jump shot. Soon after, Pete tried to pass inside, but UK intercepted, which led to Mills scoring on a fastbreak layup. With 8:01 left, Dinwiddie fouled Pete as he drove to the basket. But after making his first 14 FTs, the Pistol missed both shots. That led to the first of two straight three-point plays by Issel. Just like that, the visitors had extended their lead to 90-78 with 7:36 remaining.
• To make matters worse for the home team, Sanders and Newton both picked up their fourth fouls. Fig soon fouled out and, after that, there was no stopping Issel. The Tigers could get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
• Several times fans threw ice and paper cups on the floor to protest officials' calls or non-calls.
• With one second left, Pete canned a jumper to finish with 64 points, the most he had ever scored in the Cow Palace, and make the final 121-105.
• Several deputies escorted the refs off the court.
• The two stars ended with these stats:
  Player FGM-A, FTM-A,Reb,TP
  Maravich 23-42, 18-22, 4, 64
  Issel 19-33, 13-1 7, 17, 3, 51
• The Wildcats hit a sizzling 57.3% from the floor. The Tiger Cats did well themselves - 53.2%. Kentucky, beaten on the boards in the earlier matchup in Lexington, won the rebounding battle this time, 51-44.
• Issel got more help from his mates than Pete: Pratt 27, Parker 18, and Mills 14. On the LSU side, Hester threw in 17 and Sanders 11 (with 15 rebounds), but no one else scored in double figures.

Postgame

• Press Maravich: The little things beat us. They've beaten me for four damn years against Kentucky. We shot with them. We rebounded with them. But the ball was always squirting out of our hands, bouncing off our fingertips. And they'd just pick it up and put it in the basket. ... I real­ly thought we could win it when we got real close there in the second half. I thought we'd recover and go over the hump when we were down by two, but Terry Mills killed us with two straight baskets. Press wasn't happy with the officials, saying that an official could take away a team's momentum with a poor call. Concerning the two-minute period when Kentucky scored ten straight after LSU pulled to within 80-78, Press said, I think that if we had tied them, then we would have beaten them. I'm sure of it. We would have had the momentum. It would have turned the game around.
• Rupp: It was just a question of two All-Americas going out there and proving they were All-Americas. I thought we had a more balanced attack with Dan Issel, Mike Pratt, and Tom Parker than they had with Pete Maravich and Danny Hester. Hester was really the only other LSU player to give us any real trouble in scoring although the Sanders boy got up on those boards. I wasn't pleased with our organization out there today, but how do you get organized against a Pete Maravich? ... There's really no effective way of organizing a defense to stop him. You give him an alley, and he's to the basket before you know it. You keep him outside, and he picks off the baskets with ease. There's one consola­tion, however, if you can call it that. He's played against us six times and hasn't beaten us once. That's true of the big LSU All-America Pettit, too. Pettit got a lot of points, but he never beat us. ... When you get down to it, the game wasn't really full of strategy. We knew Maravich would give us trouble; they knew Issel would give them trouble. Our guards commit­ted 12 fouls trying to guard Pete, but who doesn't foul when he guards or tries to guard Pete? ... If both Maravich and Issel don't make All-Ameri­ca again, something's wrong with the selectors.
• Pete delayed as long as possible before speaking to the media. What happened? he said, repeating the reporter's question. Well, for one thing, Kentucky was hot as hell. And for another, it seemed every time I looked up, one of their guards would lose the ball. It would roll through nine pairs of legs and Issel would stick it in for a three-point play. ... Kentucky would still have won the title, even if we had beaten them. But I think it would have been good for the conference if we had beaten them. And it would have given us something to bring into the NIT. That's what we're looking forward to. Asked about his play, Pete replied: No, I really am not completely satisfied. I missed too many easy shots. But I did think I played better defense than I did up at Lexington. We were trying to put more pressure on their guards than we did up there, and it will show up in their turnovers.
  Dick Fenlon wrote in the Louisville Courier-Journal the next day: Pete has never played in Madison Square Garden, site of the National Invita­tional Tournament. But, with a 17-7 record, LSU will certainly be invited this year, even if it loses its four remaining games. The Pistol is too much of an attraction for the promoters to pass up. LSU won three of its final four games, all on the road, and received the NIT invite.

Since LSU had played UCLA earlier in the season (a 133-84 loss in Decem­ber), writers asked the Tigers to compare the top two teams in the nation.

• Pete Maravich: Kentucky, like UCLA, is a true champion. I really can't say who would win if they place in the NCAA. It will be close.
• Sanders had a different view. UCLA would win it. They haven't got any­body like Issel, but they've got a better overall ball club.
• The Wildcats would not meet the Bruins during March Madness. Ken­tucky lost to Jacksonville and C Artis Gilmore 106-100 in the Mideast Regional Final. The Dolphins then lost to UCLA in the finals.

• LSU captured its own invitational tournament with victories over Nicholls State 86-62 and Southern 75-59.
• Now the Tigers would step up in class as they hosted the Maryland Terrapins in a Saturday afternoon clash that would be televised on ABC-TV.
• The Terps of second-year coach Bob Wade came in 5-1, including a win over Ole Miss 77-69. The loss came at the hands of West Virginia 74-45.
• The Tigers would have to contend with 6'10" freshman C Brian Williams, termed "the player who should have the biggest impact of the freshmen to a program" by Street and Smith's Basketball Magazine, which rated the Terrapins' recruiting class #8.
• Brown sent this starting lineup out for the opening tap:
  F Ricky Blanton 6'7" junior
  F Bernard Woodside 6'6" junior
  C Jose Vargas 6'10" senior
  G Fess Irvin 6'1"sophomore
  G Darryl Joe 6'1" senior

The last time LSU appeared on TV was March 22, 1987.

• The Tigers lost to Indiana 77-76 in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament in Cincinnati.
• With 26 seconds left, LSU led 76-75. Freshman G Fess Irvin, a Parade All-Ameri­can from Gonzales LA, stepped to the FT line to shoot one-and-one. He had sparked the Tigers off the bench with 14 points and three assists in 22 minutes. He had made six of seven from the floor, including two of three from 3-point range.
• Fess said afterward: I went to the line with a lot of confidence. I pictured myself making the shot. But I made a mistake. When I released the ball, I started back off the line to get to the defensive end.
• Indiana grabbed the rebound and turned an airball into a basket with seven seconds left to claim the victory.
• Coach Brown after the game: He missed that free throw, but it will make him a better player and a better person because of it. I know he's heartbroken now, but he'll get over it. This is just one game. There will be others for Fess Irvin. He's playing with a lot of confidence right now. He's going to have other opportunities to win important games before he leaves LSU, believe me.
• Fess: I want to take two weeks off, then begin preparing for next year. That free throw didn't fall, but I just have to forget about it and make something positive happen from this negative.

A crowd of 10,222 and the regional TV audience saw an exciting game that went down to the last second.

• LSU started cold, one-of-seven from the field. After trailing briefly, Maryland took control behind the inside scoring of Williams and Derrick Lewis. They led by as many as 11 points in the first half. With 6:49 left in the first half, the Tigers were just 4-of-16 but had pulled to within three, 18-15, thanks to excellent defense.
• Trailing 36-28 with 15:28 to play, LSU went to a 2-3 matchup zone. Maryland missed its next five FG attempts, allowing the Tigers to tie the game at 36 on a steal and basket by Darryl Joe. Maryland edge back in front 42-38 with eight minutes left.
• When Brown went back to man-to-man at that point, the Terps responded by making their next seven shots. But three turnovers down the stretch allowed LSU to take the lead for the first time since early in the game. Vargas did it em­phatically with a slam to make it 51-50 with 2:13 on the clock.
• The lead didn't last long. A three-pointer and a FT put the visitors back in front 54-51 with just over a minute remaining. Maryland grabbed Irvin's miss to get a chance to at least run some clock. But Fess stole the ball.
• LSU called timeout with 50 seconds to go. Brown inserted freshman Kyle Mc­Kenzie and nine seconds after play resumed, he threw up a 3-point attempt that missed from 22'. But he was fouled on the play. He made two FTs to pull LSU within a point.
  McKenzie: Coach Brown has always taught positive thinking. He said, "Go in there and hit it." So that's my job to hit the shot. And I just thought to myself that I would make it.
• UM inbounded and tried to run some clock, but Woodside fouled John Johnson at 0:25. He had made 8 of 11 FTs in the Terps' first six games but hadn't shot one in his two minutes on the court in this game. He missed, and Vargas cleared the rebound.
  Brown: I hope my mike wasn't on the last 25 seconds or so or I might be taking over Jimmy Swaggart Bible College of something. I said, "God help us this last 25 seconds." I don't know if He heard me or not.
• With 10 ticks on the clock, Blanton missed from the baseline, and the rebound bounced long where Woodside beat the Terps to the ball. Bernard started to go to the goal from the right side but was cut off in the lane. Then he saw Irvin and shot a bullet pass out to Fess all alone just to the left of the key.
  As soon as he (Irvin) got set, I knew it was going in, Brown said afterward.
  Fess's 19' jumper went in with 0:02 left.
• Maryland called timeout with a second remaining, but a long inbounds pass ended up in the hands of Vargas, who cradled the ball as the Tigers and their fans celebrated the 55-54 triumph.

• Jose led all scorers with 16 points and also topped the rebounders with 10.
• Williams canned 5-of-8 for 10 points but fouled out with 5:38 left.
• The only other Bengal in double-digits was Blanton with 10.

Postgame

• Irvin on his winning basket: There wasn't any doubt when I let it go. On the 3-pointer that I missed before that, I said to myself, "I know it's going in." But I knew the next one was going in. ... The shot I missed in Cincinnati, it hurt. But it motivated me. I think you saw that today. Sometimes you make it, sometimes you miss. Last year, I thought a missed shot was the end of the world. Now, I realize it's only a game.
• Brown: It was appropriate for Fess that he hit the shot. At the end of the season (against Indiana) when Billy Packer (CBS broadcaster) left his mike on, he said, "Fess choked." Fess didn't choke. He missed a free throw. We lost a chance for a national championship.
• Wade: Today we came out with fire in our eyes. We played the entire game. We just made a few mistakes going down the stretch, but we'll just have to learn by those mistakes. I think we are maturing. The Maryland head man had coached Irvin at the Five Star Basketball Camp two years earlier and was pleased that his former pupil was the one who made the winning shot. Now that the game is over, I'm happy for him. We lost, but I'm happy any time a young man does well, even if he does well against us. But most importantly, he's a gentleman. He has class, and I've always been proud of him.

The '87-88 Tigers finished the regular season 16-13 and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Georgetown 66-63. Fess Irvin left LSU after his sophomore year and transferred to James Madison having never lived up to his Parade All-American billing.

Dale Brown

Brian Williams

Fess Irvin

Jose Vargas

Bernard Woodside