"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

McCray’s 46 points in 1960 game remains UA scoring record

By Javier Morales

All you need to know about the UA basketball program with 46 days remaining until the Wildcats’ season-opener with NAU at McKale Center:

Ernie McCray
• Ernie McCray‘s school scoring record of 46 points against Cal State-Los Angeles on Feb. 6, 1960 at Bear Down Gym, stands to this day. McCray made 16 field goals and 14 free throws and grabbed 14 rebounds. The 50th anniversary of that achievement will fall during this season. Unfortunately, the UA plays at Washington State that evening. The UA should honor McCray’s scoring record five days later at McKale Center when the Wildcats host Oregon. It’s the least the UA can do with all that McCray did for the program, especially at a time when racial tension made his college experience difficult. McCray, a retired school principal in San Diego remains an avid supporter of the program. Arizona Daily Star sports columnist Greg Hansen included a poem written by McCray about Lute Olson after the Olson retirement ceremony in August.
• Olson’s 46 NCAA tournament victories are the fifth-most in NCAA history. Olson trails Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (71), North Carolina’s Dean Smith (65), North Carolina’s Roy Williams (55), and UCLA’s John Wooden (47). Olson still has more NCAA tournament wins than Bobby Knight (45), UConn’s Jim Calhoun (43), Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (42), Eddie Sutton (37) and Georgetown’s John Thompson (34). Sean Miller compiled six in his five years at Xavier.
• What was up with the baskets during the 1945-46 season? Were they smaller than the basketball? The UA shot a school record-low 57.8 percent from the free-throw line that season. However, opponents shot worse at 53.2 percent, also a school record for opponent futility at the line. How’s this for irony?: Maybe it was a good thing that opponents did not foul the UA much that season. Opponents committed a record-low in personal fouls against the Wildcats, averaging only 12.8 fouls per game that season.
• Trivia question: Who has the most steals in a Pac-10 season for the Wildcats? If you guessed Jason Terry, you are wrong. Mike Bibby and Hassan Adams share the record of 46 steals. Bibby did it during the 1998 Pac-10 slate, while Adams achieved it in 2005.
• The prestigious 1946 National Invitational Tournament at season’s end featured Arizona’s first matchup with Adolph Rupp‘s Kentucky team. Arizona lost the game in New York City, 77-53.

FOLLOW US BY CLICKING ON THE LOGOS:

Please help this site keep going: Please remember to visit the ads on this site. Thanks.

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

Tags: Ernie McCray, Hassan Adams, Lute Olson, Mike Bibby, Sean Miller

WILDABOUTAZCATS.com (RSS) Feeds