Top Ten Memorable Sweet Sixteen Games in Kentucky Basketball History
By J Bill Sosh
No. 7 – 1985 – St. Johns 86 Kentucky 70
After reaching the 1984 Final Four with a senior-laden squad, most Kentucky Basketball fans realized the 1984-1985 could be a drop off. And in fact, the Cats did struggle, going 16-11 in the regular season and losing in the first round of the conference tournament. This was despite the efforts of Kenny Walker. The junior forward from Roberta, Georgia emerged as a star, averaging 23 points per game and winning SEC Player of the Year Honors. Before and during the season there were occasional whispers that this season would be Coach Joe B. Hall’s last, but the head man itself gave no credence to that talk.
In the first year of the expanded 64 team field, Kentucky Basketball entered the NCAA tournament as a 12-seed. They proceeded to upset the #5 and #4 seeds, Washington and UNLV, in Salt Lake City. That earned them a trip to the West Regionals in Denver to face top-seeded St. Johns on March 22nd. SJU was led by All-American Chris Mullin, the following season’s Wooden Award POY winner Walter Berry and future long-time pros Chris Jackson and Bill Wennington.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 18-13 lead. But then came one of the more famous injury incidents in UK lore, involving the two biggest stars on the court. Mullin swiped at the ball on defense. His missed the ball but made solid contact with Walker’s right eye. Kentucky’s leading man was forced to the bench and the Redmen got back in the game. Walker eventually returned and led the Cats with 23 points. But the St. Johns’ edge in talent combined with that momentum swing was too much for the Cats to overcome.
The Legend of Cawood Ledford
The biggest reason this game earns a spot on the list is for what happened immediately afterward. During his post-game radio show with legendary Voice of the Wildcats Cawood Ledford, Joe B shocked the Wildcat faithful. He announced that this had indeed been his last game as head coach and he was stepping down after 13 seasons at the helm.
A tipoff to Kentucky fans should have been his clothing choice. Adolph Rupp was famously known as “The Man in the Brown Suit” for the apparel he wore at virtually every game during his 42 year reign.
As a native Kentuckian and having served under Rupp as an assistant, Hall had a keen sense of the big shoes he as trying to fill. One small way he tried to establish his own identity was to never don the same kind of suit for a game as the founder of the Kentucky Basketball dynasty. Joe B almost always wore a blue blazer and khaki’s for a game. You never saw him wearing brown. That is, until that this last game in Denver versus St. Johns. He wore brown that night. A nice homage to Kentucky Basketball tradition.
Box score courtesy of Jon Scott, with additional information from William C. Rhoden, New York Times