Tonight, for the first time since January 31, 1988, the Kentucky Wildcats will play Notre Dame in Louisville's Freedom Hall. From 1960 to 1981, of course, this game took place in Louisville every year. Now that was a series I liked. In 22 matchups at Freedom Hall from 1960 to 1981, UK had a record of 18-4.
In honor of that history, here is a clip showing one of Dwight Anderson's most famous plays, which took place in December 1978. I actually remember this game quite well, because we were down (having lost all our guys from the national title the year before). Notre Dame -- who had gone to the Final Four the year before -- had their guys back and were loaded (ranked number 2 in the nation going into this game). Plus, Joe Hall and Digger had sniped at each other during the Final Four in March, with Digger claiming that UK was a dirty team that took basketball too seriously, and Joe Hall pointing out that we won the national title and the Irish came in fourth. Plus, UK was riding a four-game winning streak over Digger. So Notre Dame had every incentive to paste us, and they were favored to do so. But in fact, UK won this game 81-76, and I can still remember how happy I was about the result. Anderson scored 17 points in only 19 minutes in this game, and he has been one of my all-time favorite UK players ever since.
Bonus points for anyone who knows why the letters "KFEC" were painted in the center circle at Freedom Hall in that Dwight Anderson clip.
i don't know about the kfec acronym but will be excited to learn.
ReplyDeleteDwight Anderson was so great. his performance as a freshman in the sec tournament just threw me for a loop. honestly, on march 1, 1979, i must've been absolutely convinced that the biggest nba stars of the 1980s would be Dwight Anderson, Jack Givens, Kyle Macy and Rick Robey. maybe Kevin Grevey, too. he was in just his third season with the bullets, who had just won the 1978 championship and were rolling again in the atlantic division again in the spring of 1979.
later that month, Magic Johnson would beat Larry Bird in the ncaa-championship game.
Dwight Anderson in the 1979 SEC Tournament:
ReplyDeleteAgainst Ole Miss: 6-8 FGs, 13 pts (UK won this game 82-77; John Stroud scored 39 pts for Ole Miss)
Against Alabama: 7-11 FGs, 19 pts (UK won this game 101-100; Reggie King scored 38 points for Alabama -- this was one of the all-time great UK games)
Against LSU: 1 minute played -- leg broken due to thuggish play by LSU; I never forgave Dale Brown for this incident (UK won the game 80-67)
Against Tennessee: couldn't play (w/o Anderson, UK lost in OT 75-69); this was the only time UK missed the NCAA tournament between 1976 and 1989.
As a kid, I spent years trying to understand the mysterious "KFEC" in the center circle at Freedom Hall. I kept wanting it to be a radio or TV station, but this didn't make sense because Louisville is east of the Mississippi River. Finally, I figured out it was:
ReplyDeleteKentucky
Fair and
Exposition
Center
VERY good, GoHeath! thank you.
ReplyDeletekentucky's loss to clemson in the first round of the 1979 nit were two of the most deadening hours of my life.