1975–76 Centenary Gentlemen basketball team

The 1975–76 Centenary Gents basketball team represented Centenary College of Louisiana as an NCAA Division I Independent during the 1975–76 college basketball season. The team was coached by Larry Little and played their home games at Gold Dome in Shreveport, Louisiana. Led by senior center Robert Parish, future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and College Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, the Gents were ranked in the Associated Press poll a total of 11 (of 17) weeks that season. Centenary finished with an overall record of 22–5 and a No. 19 ranking in the final AP poll.

1975–76 Centenary Gentlemen men's basketball
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
APNo. 19
Record22–5
Head coach
  • Larry Little (5th season)
Home arenaGold Dome
Seasons
1976–77 →
1975–76 NCAA Division I men's basketball independents standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 4 Rutgers   31 2   .939
No. 3 UNLV   29 2   .935
No. 2 Marquette   27 2   .931
North Texas State   22 4   .846
No. 19 Centenary   22 5   .815
UNC Charlotte   24 6   .800
Pan American   20 5   .800
No. 7 Notre Dame   23 6   .793
St. John's   23 6   .793
Florida State   21 6   .778
Oral Roberts   20 6   .769
Georgetown   21 7   .750
Virginia Tech   21 7   .750
George Washington   20 7   .741
Illinois State   20 7   .741
Creighton   19 7   .731
Northeast Louisiana   18 7   .720
Detroit   19 8   .704
South Florida   19 8   .704
New Orleans   18 8   .692
No. 17 DePaul   20 9   .690
Syracuse   20 9   .690
Holy Cross   22 10   .688
Seton Hall   18 9   .667
South Alabama   18 9   .667
South Carolina   18 9   .667
Providence   21 11   .656
Stetson   17 9   .654
UC Santa Barbara   17 9   .654
Air Force   16 9   .640
VCU   16 9   .640
St. Peter's   19 11   .633
Portland State   17 10   .630
St. Bonaventure   17 10   .630
Mercer   15 10   .600
Villanova   16 11   .593
Niagara   17 12   .586
Long Island   15 12   .556
Colgate   13 11   .542
Xavier   14 12   .538
West Virginia   15 13   .536
Georgia State   12 11   .522
Indiana State   13 12   .520
Dayton   14 13   .519
Hardin–Simmons   14 13   .519
Jacksonville   13 13   .500
Manhattan   14 14   .500
St. Francis (PA)   14 14   .500
St. Francis (NY)   13 13   .500
Marshall   13 14   .481
Duquesne   12 13   .480
Northeastern   12 13   .480
Fairfield   12 14   .462
Utah State   12 14   .462
Butler   12 15   .444
Denver   12 15   .444
Pittsburgh   12 15   .444
Army   11 14   .440
Iona   11 15   .423
Milwaukee   11 15   .423
Southern Miss   11 15   .423
Navy   10 14   .417
Fairleigh Dickinson   9 13   .409
Georgia Southern   11 16   .407
Hawaii   11 16   .407
Penn State   10 15   .400
Buffalo   10 16   .385
Loyola (IL)   10 16   .385
Canisius   10 17   .370
Boston College   9 17   .346
Oklahoma City   9 18   .333
Portland   9 18   .333
Fordham   7 19   .269
Cleveland State   6 19   .240
Houston Baptist   5 21   .192
Baptist   3 23   .115
Samford   3 23   .115
Rankings from AP Poll

Roster

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1975–76 Centenary Gentlemen men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown
C 00 Robert Parish 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Woodlawn HS Shreveport, Louisiana
Nate Bland
Sr
Barry McLeod
Sr
John Pitts
Jr
Bobby White
So
Head coach
  • Larry Little
Assistant coach(es)

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

[1]

Schedule and results

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Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Site
city, state
Regular Season
Nov 29, 1975*
at South Alabama W 82–68  1–0
 23  Bland   19  Parish         Jaguar Gym 
Mobile, Alabama
Dec 4, 1975*
NW Louisiana State W 82–67  2–0
 31  Parish   21  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Dec 6, 1975*
at McNeese State W 87–70  3–0
 25  Bland   23  Parish         Lake Charles Civic Center 
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Dec 9, 1975*
at Southwestern Louisiana W 97–80  4–0
 21  Pitts   14  Parish         Blackham Coliseum 
Lafayette, Louisiana
Dec 11, 1975*
South Alabama L 72–74  4–1
 18  Bland   14  Pitts         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Dec 13, 1975*
Texas W 87–79  5–1
 29  Parish   19  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Dec 16, 1975*
Virginia Commonwealth W 94–69  6–1
 28  Parish   19  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Dec 20, 1975*
at Northern Illinois W 99–84  7–1
 24  Parish   24  Parish         Chick Evans Field House 
DeKalb, Illinois
Dec 23, 1975*
No. 19 т at Illinois State W 76–72  8–1
 25  Bland   15  Parish         Horton Field House 
Normal, Illinois
Dec 28, 1975*
No. 19 т vs. Bowling Green
All-College Tournament
W 82–69  9–1
 20  Bland   14  Parish         Frederickson Fieldhouse 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Dec 29, 1975*
No. 18 vs. Utah State
All-College Tournament
W 89–73  10–1
 24  Parish   14  Parish         Frederickson Fieldhouse 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Dec 30, 1975*
No. 18 vs. Long Island University
All-College Tournament
L 78–80  10–2
 28  Parish   21  Parish         Frederickson Fieldhouse 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Jan 3, 1976*
No. 18 at Texas W 75–70  11–2
 32  Parish   14  Parish         Gregory Gym 
Austin, Texas
Jan 5, 1976*
UNC Charlotte W 73–71  12–2
 27  Bland   19  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Jan 6, 1976*
Hawaii W 89–82  13–2
 27  Tied   19  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Jan 10, 1976*
Louisiana Tech W 101–78  14–2
 29  Parish   23  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Jan 15, 1976*
No. 18 at Northeast Louisiana L 57–59  14–3
 22  Parish   27  Parish         Fant-Ewing Coliseum 
Monroe, Louisiana
Jan 19, 1976*
No. 18 at NW Louisiana State W 84–82  15–3
 21  Parish   14  Parish         Prather Coliseum 
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Jan 27, 1976*
at East Texas Baptist W 89–75  16–3
 33  Parish   23  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Jan 31, 1976*
No. 19 at Houston Baptist W 123–90  17–3
 32  Parish   9  Pitts         Sharp Gymnasium 
Houston, Texas
Feb 5, 1976*
No. 18 Hardin-Simmons W 133–94  18–3
 25  Parish   19  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Feb 7, 1976*
No. 18 Southern Mississippi W 87–67  19–3
 26  Parish   20  Parish         Gold Dome 
Shreveport, Louisiana
Feb 14, 1976*
No. 19 at No. 7 Nevada-Las Vegas L 92–121  19–4
 22  Parish   11  Parish         Las Vegas Convention Center (6,257)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Feb 17, 1976*
No. 20 at Hardin-Simmons W 95–84  20–4
 29  Bland   22  Parish         Taylor County Expo Center (1,300)
Abilene, Texas
Feb 21, 1976*
No. 20 Houston Baptist W 110–95  21–4
 36  Parish   17  Parish         Gold Dome (3,500)
Shreveport, Louisiana
Feb 28, 1976*
No. 19 at UNC Charlotte L 78–79  21–5
 30  Parish   17  Parish         Belk Gymnasium (11,666)
Charlotte, North Carolina
Mar 1, 1976*
No. 19 at Virginia Commonwealth W 98–94  22–5
 28  Parish   20  Parish         Franklin Street Gym (3,202)
Richmond, Virginia
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

[2]

Rankings

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Awards and honors

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1976 NBA draft

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Round Pick Player NBA Club
1 8 Robert Parish Golden State Warriors

[3]

References

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  1. ^ "1975–76 Centenary (LA) Gents Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  2. ^ "Centenary Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Centenary Gentlemen. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  3. ^ "1976 NBA Draft". Basketball Reference. Retrieved February 20, 2021.