1973-1974 Men's Basketball Season

The 1973 - '74 Basketball Season
by Alice I. Chen

Ending “The Streak”

     UCLA Men’s Basketball dominated the ’71–’72 and ’72–’73 season; winning back-to-back NCAA championships with perfect 30-0 records. The start of the 1974 basketball season looked promising. It was senior All-American center Bill Walton’s (pictured right) last season at UCLA and the team already had an 88-game win streak, a UCLA record that still remains undefeated. The 1974 season was going well for the Bruins thus far with an incredible perfect record prior to the game they were going play on Saturday, January 19, 1974. In a Saturday away match against Notre Dame, UCLA lost, 71-70.

     “It was disbelief,” said John Sandbrook, ‘67. UCLA lost an 11-point lead in the last three minutes and thirty seconds of the game, and Notre Dame scored the final point that won the game in the last 29 seconds. “There was something about the game that we had lost it, not that they had won it.”

     After the game, chaos broke. Notre Dame’s home crown erupted in cheers, holding up slogans that read, “Dear John Wooden— God did make Notre Dame #1.” Even Wooden’s wife, Nell was harassed. “There were the handful of semi-insane rooters pointing their fingers in Nell Wooden’s face, shouting ‘We’re number one.’ The coach’s wife was so upset she asked for police protection, ” wrote Ed Burgart, Daily Bruin Sports Editor, in a Monday issue of the Daily Bruin following the game.

     No doubt, the loss came as a shock to many people. Marc Dellins, a Daily Bruin sports writer at the time, called the 88-game win streak, “the greatest achievement in the history of sports, something every college basketball coach dreams of ending.” And that’s just what Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps did. “In 10 years,” he said, “when people think about the streak, they wont remember the details of the game, just the team that ended it.”

Wooden's Reactions

     Wooden left the court neither “mad or glad” about the end of the Streak. “I think it will add advantage on us. I think we will get a better measure of the game this week. If we do not struggle at home, then I would say that UCLA is the better team on a neutral court," he said.

     The following week, UCLA faced Notre Dame again, but this time on the Bruin's home court. Many compared the loss to a similar situation in 1967, when the Bruins lost at an away game against Houston, 71-69. However, after the loss in the ’67 game, UCLA came back and won 101-69 in a rematch. Many predicted the same for the game against Notre Dame that coming Saturday. Who knew they would actually be correct?

     On January 28, 1974, Daily Bruin headlines read “Bruins Exorcise Irish, 94-75.” The team defeated Notre Dame.

     “They outplayed us, out-hustled us, and out shot us. UCLA deserved to win,” said Notre Dame coach Phelps, “They played a perfect game tonight. As far as our win last week is concerned, you can’t take that away from us. That is a part of history now, and the impact felt across the nation was unbelievable.” However, Phelps (pictured below with John Wooden) acknowledged that UCLA had done well, “ They were inspired tonight. UCLA is always a very, very good team, and their shooting tonight was unbelievable. We stuck with the same game plan we used last week, but things just didn’t go right for us.”

     UCLA continued their season, but lost two more games before they went to the national semifinals against North Carolina State. The two teams went into double overtime; UCLA with a 7 point lead. However, the Bruins lost that lead in the last two minutes due to a foul, losing the game by three points, and their 10th NCAA championship.

To read about the 1974 - 1975 season and Wooden's retirement, click here.