1972-73 UCLA Team Profile

All week, we will be profiling the seven undefeated NCAA Champions ...

1972-73 UCLA (30-0)

Click here for their game-by-game results

Location: Los Angeles, Calif.

Conference: Pacific-8 (Pacific-12).

Bid: Automatic.

Opponents' Final Record: 468-334 (.584).

NCAA Tournament/Through 1972-73 Season: 39-9 (9 Titles, 11 Final Fours).
NCAA Tournament/Since 1972-73 Season: 65-31 (2 Titles, 7 Final Fours).

Head Coach: John Wooden
Through 1972-73 season — School: 566-140 (25 yrs.). Overall: 610-155 (27 yrs.).
Career — School: 620-147 (27 years). Overall: 664-162 (29 years).

Title Game Starters, Pos., Hgt. , Yr., Pts., Reb., FG%, FT%
Keith Wilkes, F, 6-6 1/2, Jr., 14.8, 7.3, 57.0, 65.2
Larry Farmer, F, 6-5 , Sr., 12.2, 5.0, 51.1, 70.1
Bill Walton, C, 6-11 , Jr., 20.4, 16.9, 65.0, 56.9
Larry Hollyfield, G, 6-4 1/2, Sr., 10.7, 2.9, 46.6, 49.2
Greg Lee, G, 6-4 , Jr., 4.6, 1.3, 47.3, 79.0

Key Subs
Tommy Curtis, G, 5-11 , Jr., 6.4, 1.7, 51.2, 66.7
Dave Meyers, F, 6-7 , So., 4.9, 2.9, 47.7, 75.6
Swen Nater, C, 6-11 , Sr., 3.2, 3.3, 45.9, 65.2

About the Bruins: Backup center Nater may have been the second-best center in the country, as well as on his team. He never started a college game, yet was drafted in the NBA's first round (No. 16 overall) ... Set NCAA record with their 61st consecutive victory on Jan. 27, with an 82-63 win at Notre Dame, the same place the streak would end at 88 a year later ... The season culminated in Walton's unreal 21-for-22, 44-point performance against Memphis State in the championship game. (He was just 2-for-5 from the foul line.) Memphis as a team made just 24 field goals. UCLA pulled away for a 87-66 victory after being tied at 39 at intermission ... Walton and classmates were denied a third consecutive NCAA title by North Carolina State the next season, when the Bruins suffered an 80-77, double-overtime loss in the national semifinals ... Wilkes played Nathaniel "Cornbread" Hamilton in the basketball-themed "Cornbread, Earl and Me" (1975). Extra points if you knew that Earl (Carter) was played by Tierre Turner or that the "me" was Laurence Fishburne's first movie role, as Wilford Robinson.