1982–83 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1982–83 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
1982–83 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
SEC regular season champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 12
Record	23–8 (13–5 SEC)
Head coach	Joe B. Hall (11th season);
Assistant coach	Leonard Hamilton
Home arena	Rupp Arena

1982–83 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 12	13	–	5	.722	23	–	8	.742
LSU	10	–	8	.556	19	–	13	.594
Ole Miss	10	–	8	.556	19	–	12	.613
Vanderbilt	9	–	9	.500	19	–	14	.576
Mississippi State	9	–	9	.500	17	–	12	.586
No. 18 Georgia †	9	–	9	.500	24	–	10	.706
Tennessee	9	–	9	.500	20	–	12	.625
Auburn	8	–	10	.444	15	–	13	.536
Alabama	8	–	10	.444	20	–	12	.625
Florida	5	–	13	.278	13	–	18	.419

† 1983 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1982–83 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented University of Kentucky in the 1982–83 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Joe B. Hall^[1] and the team finished the season with an overall record of 23–8.^[2] Kentucky was invited to the 1983 NCAA Tournament as a #3 seed. After wins vs Ohio and Indiana the Wildcats advanced to the Elite 8 vs their arch rivals the Louisville Cardinals. Kentucky would go on to lose 80–68 and for the 5th straight season fail to reach the Final Four.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Dirk Minniefield	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Lafayette	Lexington, Kentucky
G	20	Jim Master	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Paul Harding	Fort Wayne, Indiana
G	23	Roger Harden	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Fr		Valparaiso, Indiana
F	24	Bret Bearup	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	So		Centerport, New York
F/C	31	Sam Bowie	7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Sr	Lebanon	Lebanon, Pennsylvania
F/C	33	Tom Heitz	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr		Hamilton, Indiana
F	34	Kenny Walker	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Crawford County	Roberta, Georgia
C	54	Melvin Turpin	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jr	Bryan Station	Lexington, Kentucky

Head coach

Joe B. Hall

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
Nov 27, 1982*	No. 4	Butler	W 90–53	1–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 1, 1982*	No. 3	at Notre Dame	W 58–45	2–0	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 4, 1982*	No. 3	No. 4 Villanova	W 93–79	3–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 7, 1982*	No. 2	Detroit	W 83–46	4–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 11, 1982*	No. 2	Illinois	W 76–57	5–0	Rupp Arena (23,872) Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 17, 1982*	No. 2	Duquesne	W 55–42	6–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 18, 1982*	No. 2	Tulane	W 80–61	7–0	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Dec 22, 1982*	No. 2	at No. 5 Indiana Rivalry	L 59–62	7–1	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
Dec 29, 1982*	No. 3	vs. Kansas	W 83–62	8–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 3, 1983	No. 3	Ole Miss	W 72–60	9–1 (1–0)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 5, 1983	No. 3	LSU	W 52–50	10–1 (2–0)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 8, 1983	No. 3	at No. 5 Alabama	L 67–74	10–2 (2–1)	Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Jan 10, 1983	No. 3	at Mississippi State	W 59–53 ^OT	11–2 (3–1)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 15, 1983	No. 6	Auburn	L 67–75	11–3 (3–2)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 17, 1983	No. 11	Florida	W 70–63	12–3 (4–2)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 22, 1983	No. 11	at Vanderbilt	W 82–77 ^OT	13–3 (5–2)	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 29, 1983	No. 10	at Georgia	L 63–70	13–4 (5–3)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Jan 31, 1983	No. 15	at Tennessee	L 63–65	13–5 (5–4)	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee
Feb 5, 1983	No. 15	Alabama	W 76–70	14–5 (6–4)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 8, 1983	No. 13	Mississippi State	W 88–67	15–5 (7–4)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 12, 1983	No. 13	at Auburn	W 71–69	16–5 (8–4)	Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Auburn, Alabama
Feb 14, 1983	No. 11	at Florida	W 73–61	17–5 (9–4)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Feb 19, 1983	No. 11	Vanderbilt	W 82–63	18–5 (10–4)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 26, 1983	No. 10	Georgia	W 81–72	19–5 (11–4)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 27, 1983	No. 10	No. 20 Tennessee	W 69–61	20–5 (12–4)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Mar 3, 1983	No. 7	at Ole Miss	W 61–58	21–5 (13–4)	Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, Mississippi
Mar 5, 1983	No. 7	at LSU	L 60–74	21–6 (13–5)	Maravich Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana
SEC Tournament
Mar 11, 1983*	(1) No. 10	vs. (9) Alabama Quarterfinals	L 64–69	21–7	Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Birmingham, Alabama
NCAA Tournament
Mar 19, 1983*	(3 ME) No. 12	vs. (11 ME) Ohio Second round	W 57–40	22–7	Sun Dome Tampa, Florida
Mar 24, 1983*	(3 ME) No. 12	vs. (2 ME) No. 5 Indiana Mideast Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 64–59	23–7	Stokely Center Knoxville, Tennessee
Mar 26, 1983*	(3 ME) No. 12	vs. (1 ME) No. 2 Louisville Mideast Regional Final – Elite Eight	L 68–80 ^OT	23–8	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ME=Mideast.

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	4	3	2	2	2	3	3	6	11	10	15	13	11	10	7	10	12
Coaches	4	4	2	2	2	4	3	6	13	10	15	12	12	10	6	10	10

^[3]

References

^ "1982-1983 Kentucky Wildcats Roster and Stats". Retrieved November 8, 2013.
^ "1982-1983 Kentucky Wildcats Schedule and Results". Retrieved November 8, 2013.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 899–900. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] "1982-1983 Kentucky Wildcats Roster and Stats". Retrieved November 8, 2013.

[2] "1982-1983 Kentucky Wildcats Schedule and Results". Retrieved November 8, 2013.

[ESPN-3] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 899–900. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[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 1950–51 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 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