1961–62 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team

1961–62 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball
1961–62 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball
Big Ten Champions; NCAA tournament, runner-up
National Championship Game, ; L 59-71 vs. Cincinnati
Conference	Big Ten
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	26–2 (13–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Fred Taylor;
Home arena	St. John Arena

1961–62 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1	13	–	1	.929	26	–	2	.929
Wisconsin	10	–	4	.714	17	–	7	.708
Purdue	9	–	5	.643	17	–	7	.708
Illinois	7	–	7	.500	15	–	8	.652
Indiana	7	–	7	.500	13	–	11	.542
Iowa	7	–	7	.500	13	–	11	.542
Minnesota	6	–	8	.429	10	–	14	.417
Michigan	5	–	9	.357	7	–	17	.292
Michigan State	3	–	11	.214	8	–	14	.364
Northwestern	3	–	11	.214	8	–	15	.348

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1961–62 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team represented Ohio State University. The team's head coach was Fred Taylor.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	3	Mel Nowell	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sr	East	Columbus, Ohio
G	5	John Havlicek	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Bridgeport	Bridgeport, Ohio
F/C	11	Jerry Lucas	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Sr	Middletown	Middletown, Ohio
F	24	Bob Knight	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Sr	Orrville	Orrville, Ohio

Head coach

Fred Taylor

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-Conference Regular season
December 2*	No. 1	Florida State	W 72–57	1–0	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
December 6*	No. 1	at Pittsburgh	W 99–79	2–0	Pittsburgh, PA
December 8*	No. 1	Wichita State	W 85–62	3–0	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
December 9*	No. 1	at No. 3 Wake Forest	W 84–62	4–0	Winston-Salem, NC
December 16*	No. 1	Loyola (IL)	W 92–72	5–0	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
December 18*	No. 1	at Saint Louis	W 61–48	6–0
December 23*	No. 1	Penn State	W 92–49	7–0	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
December 27*	No. 1	vs. Washington LA Holiday Classic	W 59–49	8–0	Los Angeles
December 28*	No. 1	vs. UCLA LA Holiday Classic	W 105–84	9–0	Los Angeles
December 30*	No. 1	vs. USC LA Holiday Classic	W 76–66	10–0	Los Angeles
Big Ten Regular season
January 6	No. 1	at Northwestern	W 85–62	11–0 (1–0)	Evanston, IL
January 13	No. 1	Michigan	W 89–64	12–0 (2–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
January 20	No. 1	at Minnesota	W 90–76	13–0 (3–0)	Minneapolis, MN
January 22	No. 1	Purdue	W 91–65	14–0 (4–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
January 29	No. 1	at Purdue	W 94–73	15–0 (5–0)	West Lafayette, IN
February 3	No. 1	Northwestern	W 97–61	16–0 (6–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
February 5	No. 1	Iowa	W 89–63	17–0 (7–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
February 10	No. 1	Minnesota	W 91–66	18–0 (8–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
February 12	No. 1	at Michigan	W 72–57	19–0 (9–0)	Ann Arbor, MI
February 17	No. 1	at Michigan State	W 80–72	20–0 (10–0)	East Lansing, MI
February 24	No. 1	Illinois	W 102–79	21–0 (11–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
February 26	No. 1	at Iowa	W 72–62	22–0 (12–0)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
March 3	No. 1	at Wisconsin	L 67–81	22–1 (12–1)	Madison, WI
March 10	No. 1	Indiana	W 90–65	23–1 (13–1)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
NCAA Tournament
March 16*	No. 1	vs. Western Kentucky NCAA tournament Mideast Regional semifinal	W 93–73	24–1	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
March 17*	No. 1	vs. No. 3 Kentucky NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional final	W 74–64	25–1	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
March 23*	No. 1	vs. Wake Forest NCAA Tournament National semifinal	W 84–68	26–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
March 24*	No. 1	vs. No. 2 Cincinnati NCAA tournament championship game	L 59–71	26–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ME=Mideast.

^[2]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
AP	1	—	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Coaches	Not released	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

^[3]^[4]

Awards and honors

John Havlicek, First Team All-Big Ten
Jerry Lucas, All-America selection
Jerry Lucas, Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball
Jerry Lucas, First Team All-Big Ten
Jerry Lucas, USBWA College Player of the Year^[5]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	6	Jerry Lucas	Cincinnati Royals
1	9	John Havlicek	Boston Celtics
12	90	Mel Nowell	Chicago Zephyrs

^[6]

References

^ "1961-62 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference.
^ 2014-15 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball guide Archived 2015-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Jul-21.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 697–698. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "1961-62 College Basketball Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
^ "The Oscar Robertson Trophy - Past Oscar Robertson Trophy Winners". Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
^ "1962 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 31, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2009.

[1] "1961-62 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference.

[2] 2014-15 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball guide Archived 2015-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Jul-21.

[ESPN-3] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 697–698. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[4] "1961-62 College Basketball Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 28, 2020.

[5] "The Oscar Robertson Trophy - Past Oscar Robertson Trophy Winners". Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2008.

[6] "1962 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 31, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2009.

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Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball
Venues	The Armory (1897–1918) Fairgrounds Coliseum (1918–1956) St. John Arena (1956–1998) Value City Arena (1998–present)
Rivalries	Michigan
Culture & lore	Brutus Buckeye Buckeye Nuthouse WBNS WBNS-FM Ohio State Sports Network
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 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 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 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
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics