1975–76 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team


The 1975–76 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1975–76 season. The team played its home games in the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference. Under the direction of head coach Johnny Orr, the team finished second in the Big Ten Conference.[1]

1975–76 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Runner Up
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 9
APNo. 9
Record25–7 (14–4 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPRickey Green
CaptainWayman Britt
Home arenaCrisler Arena
Seasons
1975–76 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Indiana 18 0   1.000 32 0   1.000
No. 9 Michigan 14 4   .778 25 7   .781
Purdue 11 7   .611 16 11   .593
Michigan State 10 8   .556 14 13   .519
Iowa 9 9   .500 19 10   .655
Minnesota 8 10   .444 16 10   .615
Illinois 7 11   .389 14 13   .519
Northwestern 7 11   .389 12 15   .444
Wisconsin 4 14   .222 10 16   .385
Ohio State 2 16   .111 6 20   .231
Rankings from AP Poll

The team lost to all four ranked opponents it played during the regular season.[1] However, the team earned the third of four consecutive NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament invitations,[2] and it defeated the first three ranked opponents that it faced in the tournament.[1] Wayman Britt served as team captain, and Rickey Green earned team MVP.[3] As a team, it led the conference in scoring offense with an 85.8 average in conference games as well as in field goal percentage with a 52.1%.[4][5]

The team began the season ranked sixteenth and peaked at ninth, where it finished the season in the Associated Press Top 20 Poll. It was ranked for a total of 16 out of 17 weeks during the season.[6] The team also ended the season ranked ninth in the final UPI Coaches' Poll.[7]

That season, Hubbard set the current school record for single-season rebounds by a freshman of 352.[8] The team set a new school record by totaling 2753 points over the course of the season. The record would last for eleven seasons.[9] The team set the school single-season total assist record of 600.[10]

On January 12, 1976, the team began a 22-game home winning streak against Ohio State that continued through a November 30, 1977, victory over Eastern Michigan. This surpassed the 17-game streak from December 1, 1964 – January 29, 1966, and stood as the longest home winning streak in school history until a 24-game streak that started on January 5, 1985.[11]

In the 32-team 1976 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Michigan reached the championship game by winning the Midwest region. In so doing they defeated the Wichita State Shockers 74–73, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 80–76 and the Missouri Tigers 95–88. Then in the final four, the team defeated the previously unbeaten Rutgers Scarlet Knights 86–70 before losing in the championship game to the unbeaten Indiana Hoosiers 86–68.[12][13]

Regular season edit

The team set the school record by totaling 2753 points during its 32-game season. The record lasted until 1987.[9] The team also set the school record for field goal percentage (.510, 1138-for-2231), which would last for five seasons.[14]

Schedule edit

1975-76 Overall: 25-7 Big Ten: 14-4 (2nd)[15] Postseason: NCAA (Midwest) (Final Four; Runner-up) Head Coach: Johnny Orr Staff: Bill Frieder & Jim Boyce Captain: Wayman Britt Home Arena: Crisler Arena (13,609)

Date Rk Opponent H/A W/L Score +/-
12/2/1975 #16 Vanderbilt H W 90-63 +27
12/6/1975 #16 at #9 Tennessee A L 81-82 -1
12/10/1975 #18 South Carolina H W 91-82 +9
12/13/1975 #18 Dayton H W 106-80 +26
12/19/1975 #16 Southern Illinois H1 W 74-49 +25
12/20/1975 #16 Miami (Ohio) H1 W 90-76 +14
12/29/1975 #16 vs. LaSalle N2 W 86-71 +15
12/30/1975 #16 vs. #10 UNLV N2 L 94-108 -14
1/3/1976 #17 at Northwestern+ A W 82-72 +10
1/5/1976 #17 #16 Minnesota+ H W 95-72 +23
1/8/1976 #19 at Wisconsin+ A W 106-81 +25
1/10/1976 #19 #1 Indiana+ H L 74-80 -6
1/12/1976 #19 Ohio State+ H W 84-81 +3
1/17/1976 #16 Michigan State+ H W 66-63 +3
1/24/1976 #17 at Purdue+ A W 84-80 +4
1/26/1976 #17 at Illinois+ A L 75-76 -1
1/31/1976 #15 Iowa+ H W 104-95 +9
2/2/1976 #15 Wisconsin+ H W 107-86 +21
2/7/1976 #16 at #1 Indiana+ (OT) A L 67-72 -5
2/9/1976 #16 at Ohio State+ A W 90-66 +24
2/14/1976 #16 at Michigan State+ A W 81-64 +17
2/16/1976 #16 Eastern Michigan H W 94-76 +18
2/21/1976 #15 Purdue+ H W 92-81 +11
2/23/1976 #15 Illinois+ H W 90-75 +15
2/28/1976 #13 at Iowa+ A W 88-74 +14
3/1/1976 #13 at Minnesota+ A L 79-81 -2
3/6/1976 #11 Northwestern+ H W 80-77 +3
3/13/1976 #14 vs. Wichita State N3 W 74-73 +1
3/18/1976 #9 vs. #7 Notre Dame N4 W 80-76 +4
3/20/1976 #9 vs. #14 Missouri N4 W 95-88 +7
3/27/1976 #9 vs. #4 Rutgers N5 W 86-70 +16
3/29/1976 #9 vs. #1 Indiana N5 L 68-86 -18

(1) Michigan Invitational, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Arena) (2) Las Vegas Holiday Classic, Las Vegas, Nev. (L.V. Convention Center) (3) NCAA Tournament, Denton, Texas (North Texas Coliseum) (4) NCAA Tournament, Louisville, Ky. (Freedom Hall) (5) NCAA Tournament, Philadelphia, Pa. (The Spectrum)

Statistics edit

The team posted the following statistics:[16]

Name GP GS Min Avg FG FGA FG% 3FG 3FGA 3FG% FT FTA FT% OR DR RB Avg Ast Avg PF DQ TO Stl Blk Pts Avg
Rickey Green 32 32 266 542 0.491 -- -- 106 135 0.785 118 119 3.7 132 4.1 88 1 638 19.9
Phil Hubbard 32 31 208 381 0.546 -- -- 66 113 0.584 5 347 352 11.0 36 1.1 129 10 482 15.1
John Robinson 32 31 173 302 0.573 -- -- 102 123 0.829 7 255 262 8.2 74 2.3 83 1 448 14.0
Wayman Britt 32 32 153 326 0.469 -- -- 42 55 0.764 0 135 135 4.2 123 3.8 109 9 348 10.9
Steve Grote 32 29 134 265 0.506 -- -- 69 95 0.726 3 93 96 3.0 112 3.5 116 8 337 10.5
Dave Baxter 32 3 80 164 0.488 -- -- 46 56 0.821 0 45 45 1.4 62 1.9 54 0 206 6.4
Joel Thompson 28 1 42 86 0.488 -- -- 10 17 0.588 0 63 63 2.3 17 0.6 37 0 94 3.4
Alan Hardy 29 0 41 83 0.494 -- -- 10 19 0.526 0 44 44 1.5 18 0.6 17 0 24 92 3.2
Tom Bergen 29 0 24 43 0.558 -- -- 15 17 0.882 0 35 35 1.2 8 0.3 33 0 3 63 2.2
Tom Staton 22 0 14 52 0.269 -- -- 6 10 0.600 0 13 13 0.6 9 0.4 20 0 8 34 1.6
Lloyd Schinnerer 11 1 17 1.6 1 3 0.333 -- -- 4 6 0.667 0 4 4 0.4 1 0.1 3 0 5 6 0.6
Bobby Jones 5 0 5 1.0 2 2 1.000 -- -- 1 2 0.500 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 2 0 0 5 1.0
Len Lillard 5 0 5 1.0 0 0 -- -- 0 0 0 3 3 0.6 0 0.0 1 0 0 0 0.0
Donald Johnston 1 0 2 2.0 0 0 -- -- 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 1 0 0.0
TEAM 32 123 123 3.8
Season Total 32 1138 2249 0.506 477 648 0.736 1278 1294 40.4 592 18.5 692 29 2753 86.0
Opponents 32 1005 2132 0.471 -- -- 446 635 0.702 1224 1224 38.3 514 16.1 625 25 2456 76.8

Rankings edit

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415Final
AP Poll[6]1616181616171916171516151311149

NCAA tournament edit

  • Midwest
    • Michigan 74, Wichita State 73
    • Michigan 80, Notre Dame 76
    • Michigan 95, Missouri 88
  • Final Four
    • Michigan 86, Rutgers 70
    • Indiana 86, Michigan 68

[17]

Awards and honors edit

Team players drafted into the NBA edit

Seven players from this team were selected in the NBA draft.[18][19][20][21]

Year Round Pick Overall Player NBA Club
1976 4 9 60 Wayman Britt Los Angeles Lakers
1977 1 16 16 Rickey Green Golden State Warriors
1977 3 11 55 Steve Grote Cleveland Cavaliers
1977 5 22 110 John Robinson Los Angeles Lakers
1978 3 17 61 Dave Baxter Seattle SuperSonics
1978 4 3 69 Joel Thompson Houston Rockets
1979 1 15 15 Phil Hubbard Detroit Pistons

References edit

  1. ^ a b c 2007-08 Men's Basketball Media Guide. University of Michigan. 2007. p. 198.
  2. ^ 2007-08 Men's Basketball Media Guide. University of Michigan. 2007. p. 12.
  3. ^ "All-Time Accolades". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. pp. 9–10. Archived from the original on September 1, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  4. ^ "Big Ten Basketball 2009-10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 36. Archived from the original on July 3, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  5. ^ "Big Ten Basketball 2009-10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 37. Archived from the original on July 3, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  6. ^ a b "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 68–83. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  7. ^ "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 85. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  8. ^ 2007-08 Men's Basketball Media Guide. University of Michigan. 2007. p. 166.
  9. ^ a b "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 2. Archived from the original on April 1, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  10. ^ "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 16. Archived from the original on April 1, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  11. ^ "Through The Years". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 7. Archived from the original on September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  12. ^ "1976 Men's College Basketball Bracket". CBS Sports. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  13. ^ "1976 NCAA basketball tournament Bracket". databaseSports.com. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  14. ^ "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 10. Archived from the original on April 1, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  15. ^ "University of Michigan Basketball: All-Time Records" (PDF). MoGoBlue.com. August 8, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  16. ^ "Men's Basketball Statistic Archive Query Page". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 18, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  17. ^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
  18. ^ "1976 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  19. ^ "1977 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  20. ^ "1978 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  21. ^ "1979 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014.