1951–52 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1951–52 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
1951–52 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
SEC regular season and tournament champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Southeast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	29–3 (14–0 SEC)
Head coach	Adolph Rupp;
Assistant coach	Harry Lancaster
Home arena	Memorial Coliseum

1951–52 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 †	14	–	0	1.000	29	–	3	.906
LSU	9	–	5	.643	17	–	7	.708
Vanderbilt	9	–	5	.643	18	–	9	.667
Alabama	9	–	5	.643	13	–	9	.591
Ole Miss	8	–	6	.571	15	–	11	.577
Florida	7	–	7	.500	15	–	9	.625
Tennessee	7	–	7	.500	13	–	9	.591
Tulane	7	–	7	.500	12	–	12	.500
Auburn	6	–	8	.429	14	–	12	.538
Mississippi State	4	–	10	.286	12	–	11	.522
Georgia Tech	2	–	12	.143	7	–	15	.318
Georgia	2	–	12	.143	3	–	22	.120

† 1952 SEC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1951–52 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 in Lexington, Kentucky. The Wildcats finished the season with a 29–3 (14–0 SEC) record.

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)	Jr	Owensboro	Owensboro, Kentucky
F	11	Shelby Linville	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Middletown	Middletown, Ohio
G	38	Bobby Watson (C)	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Sr	Owensboro	Owensboro, Kentucky
G	32	Lucian Whitaker	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sr	Sarasota	Sarasota, Florida

Head coach

Adolph Rupp (Kansas)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Dec 8, 1951*		Washington and Lee	W 96–46	1–0	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 10, 1951*	No. 1	at Xavier	W 97–72	2–0	Schmidt Fieldhouse Cincinnati, Ohio
Dec 13, 1951*	No. 1	at Minnesota	L 57–61	2–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 17, 1951*	No. 2	No. 1 St. John's	W 81–40	3–1	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 20, 1951*	No. 2	DePaul	W 98–60	4–1	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 26, 1951*	No. 1	No. 16 UCLA	W 84–53	5–1	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 28, 1951*	No. 1	vs. Brigham Young Sugar Bowl Classic	W 84–64	6–1	Municipal Auditorium New Orleans, Louisiana
Dec 29, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 12 Saint Louis Sugar Bowl Classic	L 60–61	6–2	Municipal Auditorium New Orleans, Louisiana
Jan 3, 1952	No. 4	vs. Ole Miss	W 116–58	7–2 (1–0)	Owensboro Sportscenter Owensboro, Kentucky
Jan 5, 1952	No. 4	LSU	W 57–47	8–2 (2–0)	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 7, 1952*	No. 4	Xavier	W 83–50	9–2	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 12, 1952	No. 3	at Florida	W 99–52	10–2 (3–0)	Florida Gymnasium Gainesville, Florida
Jan 14, 1952	No. 3	Georgia	W 95–55	11–2 (4–0)	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 19, 1952	No. 3	at Tennessee	W 65–56	12–2 (5–0)	Alumni Memorial Gym Knoxville, Tennessee
Jan 21, 1952	No. 3	at Georgia Tech	W 96–51	13–2 (6–0)	Heisman Gymnasium Atlanta, Georgia
Jan 26, 1952	No. 3	at Alabama	W 71–67	14–2 (7–0)	Foster Auditorium Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Jan 28, 1952	No. 3	at Vanderbilt	W 88–51	15–2 (8–0)	Old Gym Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 30, 1952	No. 1	at Auburn	W 88–48	16–2 (8–0)	Auburn Sports Arena Auburn, Alabama
Feb 2, 1952*	No. 1	vs. Notre Dame	W 71–66	17–2	Chicago Stadium Chicago, Illinois
Feb 4, 1952	No. 1	Tulane	W 103–54	18–2 (9–0)	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 6, 1952	No. 1	Ole Miss	W 81–61	19–2 (10–0)	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 9, 1952	No. 1	Georgia Tech	W 93–42	20–2 (11–0)	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 11, 1952	No. 1	Mississippi State	W 110–66	21–2 (12–0)	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 16, 1952	No. 1	Tennessee	W 95–40	22–2 (13–0)	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 21, 1952	No. 1	Vanderbilt	W 75–45	23–2 (14–0)	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 23, 1952*	No. 1	at DePaul	W 63–61	24–2	Chicago Stadium Chicago, Illinois
SEC Tournament
Feb 28, 1952*	(1) No. 1	vs. (12) Georgia Tech First round	W 80–59	25–2	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 29, 1952*	(1) No. 1	vs. (8) Tulane Second Round	W 85–61	26–2	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 1, 1952*	(1) No. 1	vs. (5) Tennessee Semifinal	W 81–66	27–2	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 1, 1952*	(1) No. 1	vs. (3) LSU Championship Game	W 44–43	28–2	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, Kentucky
NCAA Tournament
Mar 21, 1952*	No. 1	vs. Penn State East Regional semifinal	W 82–54	29–2	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 22, 1952*	No. 1	vs. No. 10 St. John's East Regional Final	L 57–64	29–3	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East.

^[3]

NCAA basketball tournament

East
- Kentucky 82, Penn State 54
- St. John's, New York 64, Kentucky 57

^[4]

Rankings

Awards and honors

Cliff Hagan – Consensus First-team All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Overall	Player	NBA Club
7	64	Skippy Whitaker	Indianapolis Olympians

References

^ sports-reference.com 1951-52 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
^ "1951–52 Kentucky Wildcats Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
^ "2019-20 Kentucky Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). University of Kentucky Athletics. p. 188. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

[1] sports-reference.com 1951-52 Southeastern Conference Season Summary

[2] "1951–52 Kentucky Wildcats Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved September 7, 2020.

[3] "2019-20 Kentucky Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). University of Kentucky Athletics. p. 188. Retrieved September 6, 2020.

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

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[2]

[3]

[4]

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 1950–51 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