Top 10 teams countdown No. 3: 1977-78
November 5, 2012
By Les Johns | @KernelJohns
Nineteen years had passed since the last national championship for the Cats, and expectations for the 1977-78 team were at an all-time high.
Head coach Joe B. Hall was leading the team for a sixth year, returning the top three scorers from an Elite Eight team the previous season.
The Cats also added a highly coveted transfer from Purdue University, point guard Kyle Macy.
“When I first decided to transfer, UK was the first school I looked at,” Macy said. “I basically had to re-recruit myself to coach Hall, at that time nobody was really transferring like they do now.”
With Macy running the point, senior forward Jack “Goose” Givens scoring prowess from the wing and senior forward James Lee’s ability to finish with violent dunks, the Cats had multiple offensive options.
What anchored the team, however, was Hall’s first set of “Twin Towers” — 6-foot-10 senior forward Rick Robey and 6-foot-10 senior center Mike Phillips.
The Cats began the season the consensus No. 1 team in the nation and only dropped two games — mid-season SEC road contests against Alabama and LSU.
The experienced senior-laden team was balanced in scoring, with five players averaging double-figures for the season, led by Givens’ 18.1 points per game.
Givens saved his best for last, however, dropping 41 in the national championship 94-88 win over Duke.
“Our whole offense completely changed from a typical zone offense to just finding Jack on the floor,” Macy said.
Duke had wanted to pressure UK’s shooters but also keep the post bottled up, so they played a very spread out zone defense.
“They were very concerned with our outside shooting with Macy, (Truman) Claytor and (Jay) Shidler,” Hall said. “They brought their guards out pretty high.
Then we kept Robey and Phillips at the baseline, which forced their back defenders to stay low. This zone by Duke left the middle unprotected.”
The Cats found an opening in the zone at the free-throw line extended, and Givens connected from mid-range early and often, hitting 18-of-27 from the field.
“Jack was an excellent mid-range jump shooter,” Hall said. “When he got rolling, he was impossible to stop.”
Robey added an almost forgotten about double-double, scoring 20 points and gathering 11 rebounds.
The relatively long time between championships, the high expectations on the team and the pressure on Hall to follow up on the successes of former head coach Adolph Rupp led journalists to characterize the year as the “season without joy,” or “season without celebration.”
Macy said that isn’t completely accurate.
“Our team was just really focused — it was that focus that the team had from the very first day of conditioning all the way through the championship game,” Macy said. “To this day, we still have just about as much fun as anybody.”
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