1975–76 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

The 1975–76 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona in the 1975-76 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Coached by fourth year head coach Fred Snowden and led by junior center Bob Elliott, the Wildcats made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 25 seasons (and second appearance all-time), advancing to the Elite Eight. The Wildcats played their home games for the fourth season at the McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona competing as members of the Western Athletic Conference.

1975–76 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
WAC Champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 12
APNo. 15
Record22–9 (11–3 WAC)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
  • Ken Maxey (3rd season)
  • Dave Toney (1st season)
  • Steve Kanner (1st season)
Home arenaMcKale Center
Seasons
1975-76 WAC men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 15 Arizona 11 3   .786 24 9   .727
UTEP 9 5   .643 19 7   .731
Utah 9 5   .643 19 8   .704
New Mexico 8 6   .571 16 11   .593
BYU 6 8   .429 12 14   .462
Colorado State 6 8   .429 10 14   .417
Arizona State 5 9   .357 16 11   .593
Wyoming 2 12   .143 10 17   .370
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

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The Wildcats finished the 1974-75 season 22-7 overall, 9-5 in WAC play to finish in a 3rd place in the conference, a three win improvement from the season before. While beginning the season ranked pre-season #15, the team finished the season unranked and failed to make a postseason appearance for the 24th consecutive season.[1]

Roster

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1975–76 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 00 Gilbert Myles 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Edison HS Fresno, California
G 11 Sylvester Maxey 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Carver HS Chicago, Illinois
G 12 Gary Harrison 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Willow Run HS Ypsilanti, Michigan
G 14 Tom Ehlmann 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So St. Charles HS St. Charles, Missouri
G 15 Jim Rappis 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Waukesha HS Waukesha, Wisconsin
G/F 21 Len Gordy 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Chester HS Chester, Pennsylvania
F 22 Tim Marshall 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Central HS Pontiac, Michigan
G 23 Greg Lloyd 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Fr Eastern HS Lansing, Michigan
G/F 24 Herman Harris 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Chester HS Chester, Pennsylvania
G/F 25 Ron Fuller 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Fr Southwest HS Atlanta, Georgia
F 32 Larry Demic 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Fr Westside HS Gary, Indiana
C 33 Brian Jung 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Fr Canyon del Oro HS Tucson, Arizona
F 34 Mitch Jones 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So East HS Rochester, New York
C 41 Bob Aleksa 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Jr East HS Aurora, Illinois
F 42 Jay Geldmacher 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Elgin HS Elgin, Illinois
C 44 Jerome Gladney 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr King HS Detroit, Michigan
F 52 Phil Taylor 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) So Manual HS Denver, Colorado
F 54 Al Fleming 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Sr Elston HS Michigan City, Indiana
F/C 55 Bob Elliott 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Pioneer HS Ann Arbor, Michigan
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Source[2][3]

Schedule and results

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Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Regular season
November 28, 1975*
No. 11 Oregon State W 96-67  1-0
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
December 3, 1975*
No. 11 Idaho W 88-62  2-0
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
December 6, 1975*
No. 11 Northern Arizona W 98-81  3-0
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
December 8, 1975*
No. 11 at No. 18 Kansas State L 61-71  3-1
Ahearn Field House 
Manhattan, Kansas
December 10, 1975*
No. 10 at No. 16 UNLV L 94-98  3-2
Las Vegas Convention Center 
Las Vegas, Nevada
December 12, 1975*
No. 10 Idaho State L 82-87  3-3
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
December 13, 1975*
No. 10 SMU W 83-81  4-3
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
December 20, 1975*
at Illinois L 60-66  4-4
Assembly Hall 
Champaign, Illinois
December 27, 1975*
vs. No. 6 Cincinnati
Rainbow Classic
W 71-64  5-4
Neal S. Blaisdell Center 
Honolulu, Hawaii
December 29, 1975*
vs. Iowa
Rainbow Classic
L 80-82  5-5
Neal S. Blaisdell Center 
Honolulu, Hawaii
December 30, 1975*
at Hawaii
Rainbow Classic
W 84-74  6-5
Neal S. Blaisdell Center 
Honolulu, Hawaii
January 6, 1976*
Cal State Fullerton W 85-70  7-5
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
January 10, 1976*
Detroit Mercy W 106-76  8-5
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
January 16, 1976
BYU W 79-78  9-5
(1-0)
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
January 17, 1976
Utah W 87-77  10-5
(2-0)
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
January 23, 1976
at UTEP L 42-61  10-6
(2-1)
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, Texas
January 24, 1976
at New Mexico W 80-79  11-6
(3-1)
The Pit 
Albuquerque, New Mexico
January 27, 1976*
Portland State W 114-94  12-6
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
January 30, 1975
Colorado State W 94-76  13-6
(4-1)
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
January 31, 1976
Wyoming W 64-57  14-6
(5-1)
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
February 7, 1976
at Arizona State L 63-67  14-7
(5-2)
ASU Activity Center 
Tempe, Arizona
February 13, 1976
at Utah W 89-76  15-7
(6-2)
Special Events Center 
Salt Lake City, Utah
February 14, 1976
at BYU L 74-79  15-8
(6-3)
Marriott Center 
Provo, Utah
February 20, 1976
New Mexico W 67-65  16-8
(7-3)
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
February 21, 1976
UTEP W 64-45  17-8
(8-3)
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
February 27, 1976
at Wyoming W 74-66  18-8
(9-3)
War Memorial Fieldhouse 
Laramie, Wyoming
February 28, 1976
at Colorado State W 78-72  19-8
(10-3)
Auditorium-Gymnasium 
Fort Collins, Colorado
March 6, 1976
Arizona State W 77-72  20-8
(11-3)
McKale Center 
Tucson, Arizona
NCAA Tournament
March 13, 1976*
No. 18 vs. Georgetown
Quarterfinals
W 83-76  21-8
ASU Activity Center 
Tempe, Arizona
March 18, 1976*
No. 18 vs. No. 3 UNLV
Sweet Sixteen
W 114-109 OT 22-8
Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, California
March 20, 1976*
No. 18 at No. 5 UCLA
Elite Eight
L 66-82  22-9
Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, California
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Mountain.

Source[4]

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415Final
AP11111015

Player statistics

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Individual player statistics (Final)
Scoring Total FGs Free-Throws Rebounds
Player GP Pts Avg FG FGA Pct FT FTA Pct Tot PF
Bob Elliott 33 595 18.0 225 406 55.4% 145 225 64.4% 341 86
Al Fleming 33 527 16.0 207 354 58.5% 113 152 74.3% 329 108
Jim Rappis 32 383 12.0 165 354 46.6% 53 71 74.6% 65 82
Herman Harris 33 346 10.8 162 358 45.3% 22 42 52.4% 120 71
Gilbert Myles 29 273 9.4 105 242 43.4% 63 81 77.8% 59 73
Len Gordy 33 201 6.1 80 182 44.0% 41 59 69.5% 156 54
Phil Taylor 31 198 6.4 87 158 55.1% 24 41 58.5% 160 56
Gary Harrison 23 92 4.0 40 103 38.8% 12 19 63.2% 26 16
Jerome Gladney 24 54 2.3 18 46 39.1% 18 31 58.1% 72 25
Sylvester Maxey 12 11 0.9 3 6 50.0% 5 6 83.3% 1 11
Bob Aleksa 12 8 0.7 3 6 50.0% 2 6 33.3% 7 2
Larry Demic 7 4 0.6 2 7 28.6% 0 0 - 5 1
Tim Marshall 10 4 0.4 2 10 20.0% 0 1 00.0% 4 5
Tom Ehlmann 2 3 1.5 0 0 - 3 4 75.0% 0 1
Brian Jung 6 3 0.5 1 2 50.0% 1 2 50.0% 4 0
Ron Fuller 1 2 2.0 1 1 100.0% 0 0 - 0 0
Mitch Jones 2 0 0.0 0 3 00.0% 0 0 - 0 1
Total 33 2704 81.9 1101 2238 49.2% 502 740 67.8% 1475 592
Legend
  GP  Games played   GS  Games started  Avg  Average per game
  FG  Field-goals made  FGA  Field-goal attempts   FT Free-Throws made
 FTA Free-Throw attempts    PF Personal fouls   TO Turnovers

Source[3]

References

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  1. ^ "1974-75 Arizona Wildcats Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  2. ^ 1975-76 Arizona Wildcats Basketball Media Guide. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona. 1976. pp. 8–12.
  3. ^ a b "1975-76 Arizona Wildcats Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  4. ^ "1975-76 Men's Basketball Schedule". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 31, 2020.