1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions ; SEC regular season champions
National Championship Game, ; W 68–58 vs. Kansas State
Conference	Southeast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	32–2 (14–0 SEC)
Head coach	Adolph Rupp;
Assistant coach	Harry Lancaster
Captain	Walter Hirsch
Home arena	Memorial Coliseum

1950–51 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1	14	–	0	1.000	32	–	2	.941
Vanderbilt †	10	–	4	.714	19	–	8	.704
Alabama	10	–	4	.714	15	–	8	.652
Tulane	8	–	6	.571	12	–	12	.500
Auburn	6	–	8	.429	12	–	10	.545
Georgia	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Florida	6	–	8	.429	11	–	12	.478
LSU	6	–	8	.429	10	–	14	.417
Georgia Tech	6	–	8	.429	8	–	19	.296
Ole Miss	5	–	9	.357	12	–	12	.500
Tennessee	5	–	9	.357	10	–	13	.435
Mississippi State	2	–	12	.143	3	–	16	.158

† 1951 SEC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented University of Kentucky. The head coach was Adolph Rupp. The team was a member of the Southeast Conference and played their home games at Memorial Coliseum. Two members of this team eventually returned to Kentucky as athletic director: Cliff Hagan from 1975 to 1988, and Charles Newton from 1989 to 2000.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C	6	Cliff Hagan	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Owensboro	Owensboro, Kentucky
F	19	Walter Hirsch	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Northridge	Dayton, Ohio
F	11	Shelby Linville	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Middletown	Middletown, Ohio
G/F	35	Charles Newton	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Fort Lauderdale	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
C	77	Bill Spivey	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Macon Jordan	Warner Robins, Georgia
G	7	Guy Strong	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sr	Irvine, Kentucky
G	38	Bobby Watson	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Jr	Owensboro, Kentucky
G	32	Lucian Whitaker	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Jr	Sarasota, Florida

Head coach

Adolph Rupp (Kansas)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
NCAA tournament
Mar 20, 1951*	No. 1	vs. Louisville	W 79–68	29–2	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Mar 22, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 9 St. John's	W 59–43	30–2	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Mar 24, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 5 Illinois National Semifinal	W 76–74	31–2	Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, New York
Mar 27, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 4 Kansas State National Championship game	W 68–58	32–2	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

NCAA basketball tournament

Mideast
- Kentucky 79, Louisville 68
- Kentucky 59, St. John's, New York 43
Final Four
- Kentucky 76, Illinois 74
- Kentucky 68, Kansas State 58

^[2]

Rankings

Awards and honors

Bill Spivey – consensus first-team All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

No one from the Wildcats men's team was selected in the 1951 NBA draft.^[3]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1950-51 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
^ "1951 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2009.

[1] sports-reference.com 1950-51 Southeastern Conference Season Summary

[2] "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

[3] "1951 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	State College Gymnasium (1903–1914) Buell Armory Gymnasium (1910–1924) Alumni Gymnasium (1924–1950) Memorial Coliseum (1950–1976) Rupp Arena (1976–present) Joe Craft Center (practice)
Rivalries	Arkansas Centre (historical) Florida Indiana Louisville North Carolina Tennessee Transylvania (historical)
Culture & lore	History under Adolph Rupp Fabulous Five Point-shaving scandal Fiddlin' Five Rupp's Runts The Season Without Celebration "The Shot" Unforgettables Untouchables Comeback Cats John Wall Dance Tweakables Pursuit of Perfection 2011 Indiana game Basketbowl Champions Classic CBS Sports Classic The Rivalry: Red v. Blue The Wildcat Scratch Blue "On, On, U of K" "Kentucky Fight" Big Blue Nation Blue blood status
People	Head coaches Honorees NBA draftees Players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics