UNC 1961-1962 Roster, Schedule, and Season Overview

Season Overview (from wikipedia)

Pre Season[edit]

At the conclusion of the 1960–61 season, North Carolina hired Dean Smith to replace Frank McGuire as head coach. McGuire was North Carolina Men's Basketball Head Coach from 1953–1961, but was forced to resign by Chancellor William Aycock due to the program's placement on NCAA probation in 1960.^[3] Aycock, however, hired Smith, one of McGuire's assistants and who had been at North Carolina for two seasons already. Smith, who was only 30 at the time, was instructed by Aycock to run a clean program and represent the University well. Wins and losses were an afterthought to the Chancellor.^[4] However, in Smith's first season he was faced with a number of challenges, including a limited game schedule and the loss of two key players.

Prior to the start of the 1961 season, the ACC experienced a point shaving scandal. Four N.C. State players were accused of altering the score of several games and one UNC player was found to be involved with a gambler.^[5] As a result of this, the Dixie Classic was abolished and William Friday, the President of the University of North Carolina system, also de-emphasized basketball by allowing only sixteen regular season games. Therefore, Smith was limited to only two games against out of conference opponents. Smith kept the two most challenging opponents on the schedule, Notre Dame and Indiana, both games which would be played in North Carolina, one in Greensboro and the other in Charlotte, respectively.^[6]

The 1961–62 squad should have included Ken McComb and Yogi Poteet, both projected starters, but they were ruled academically ineligible before the season started. This was a big blow for the Tar Heels since they also had to withstand the lost of two All-Americans, Doug Moe and York Larese, to graduation.^[1] As a result, Smith's first team was young and inexperienced.

Season summary[edit]

Dean Smith's illustrious career started on December 2, 1961 with a victory against Virginia in Chapel Hill. The Heels and Smith rolled to their first victory, defeating the Cavaliers 80–46. UNC won their next game at Clemson by a narrow margin, 54–52. They split their next two games against out-of-conference opponents, Indiana and Notre Dame. Despite the betting odds in Notre Dame's favor, the Heels dominated the Fighting Irish, 99–80.^[7] Through January, the Heels had an accumulated a 6–2 record, but the rest of the season was not as successful. In February, they lost four straight games, all to Tobacco Road opponents (Duke, Wake Forest, and North Carolina State), before rebounding to win two of their last four games, with victories against Clemson and Maryland. Their season ended with a two-point loss to South Carolina in the ACC Tournament, which placed the Heels in a tie for fourth place with South Carolina in the final ACC standings.

Junior guard Larry Brown and senior center Jim Hudock led the Heels to an 8–9 overall record and a 7–7 ACC record. Brown averaged 16.5 points per game, eighth in the league, and shot 79.5% from the foul line, third in the league. Hudock averaged a double double over the season, with 14.9 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per game, fourth in the league. Both were named to the All-ACC Second team.^[8] Donnie Walsh led the ACC in field-goal percentage for the season, shooting 55.9% from the field.^[2]

Despite the challenges faced by Smith's first squad, he credits them as being one of the most hard-working teams in his 36 seasons at North Carolina. They also set North Carolina single-season record for highest field-goal percentage.^[9] However, they were the least successful, setting a record for most regular-season conference losses in a single-season (7) and their record against Tobacco Road opponents was only (1–5).^[10]

Post Season[edit]

Jim Hudock was drafted in the sixth round of the NBA by the Philadelphia Warriors, which ironically was coached by former North Carolina head coach, Frank McGuire.^[11] Donnie Walsh and former Tar Heel, Ken McComb were also drafted by the Warriors in the 11th and 10th round respectively.^[12] These former Tar Heels went on to enjoy limited success as players in the NBA. However, Donnie Walsh went on to enjoy various coaching stints in the NCAA and the NBA and is currently the president of the New York Knicks.^[13]

After Smith's first season, Adolph Rupp, Kentucky's head coach, called him requesting to set up a ten year home-and-home series with UNC. Rupp demanded that North Carolina would play at Kentucky six times and home only four times. Despite North Carolina's disadvantage, the Heels won seven of those ten games.^[14]

Season Roster

Name	Height	Year	Hometown [2]
Bruce Bowers	6–8	Sophomore	Wellesley Hills, MA
Larry Brown	5–11	Junior	Long Beach, NY
Charlie Burns	6–2	Junior	Wadesboro, NC
Peppy Callahan	6–2	Junior	Smithtown, NY
Mike Cooke	6–2	Sophomore	Mt. Airy, NC
Jim Donohue	6–8	Senior	Yonkers, NY
Jim Hudock	6–7	Senior	Tunkhannock, PA
Harry Jones	6–7	Senior	Charlotte, NC
Art Katz	6–7	Sophomore	Williston Park, NY
Dieter Krause	6–5	Junior	Norfolk, VA
Bryan McSweeney	6–5	Sophomore	Hewlett, NY
Charlie Shaffer	6–3	Sophomore	Chapel Hill, NC
Richard Vinroot	6–7	Sophomore	Charlotte, NC
Donnie Walsh	6–0	Senior	Riverdale, NY

Season Schedule and Scores

Date	Opponent	Location	Score[15]
December 2	Virginia	Chapel Hill, NC	W, 80–46
December 5	Clemson	Clemson, SC	W, 54–52
December 11	Indiana	Greensboro, NC	L, 70–76
January 6	Notre Dame	Charlotte, NC	W, 99–80
January 10	Wake Forest	Wake Forest, NC	L, 72–91
January 13	Virginia	Greensboro, NC	W, 100–71
January 15	South Carolina	Chapel Hill, NC	W, 83–72
January 17	North Carolina State	Chapel Hill, NC	W, 66–56
February 3	Duke	Durham, NC	L, 57–79
February 6	Maryland	College Park, MD	L, 62–79
February 10	Wake Forest	Chapel Hill, NC	L, 80–87
February 14	North Carolina State	Raleigh, NC	L, 57–85
February 16	Clemson	Charlotte, NC	W, 69–59
February 17	South Carolina	Charlotte, NC	L, 82–97
February 19	Maryland	Chapel Hill, NC	W, 70–67
February 24	Duke	Chapel Hill, NC	L, 74–82
ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
March 1	South Carolina (First Round)	Raleigh, NC	L, 55–57

Season Statistics

Player	GP	FGM	FGA	Pct.	FTM	FTA	Pct.	Pts.	Avg.	Hi[16]
Larry Brown	17	90	204	0.441	101	127	0.795	281	16.5	26
Jim Hudock	17	98	215	0.456	57	89	0.640	253	14.9	26
Donnie Walsh	17	85	152	0.559	57	95	0.600	227	13.4	22
Bryan McSweeney	17	43	91	0.473	41	60	0.683	127	7.5	22
Mike Cooke	17	41	106	0.387	17	27	0.630	99	5.8	13
Charlie Shaffer	9	35	55	0.636	24	36	0.667	94	10.4	25
Jim Donohue	14	31	74	0.419	13	20	0.650	75	5.4	14
Dieter Krause	10	16	28	0.571	9	21	0.429	41	4.1	11
Art Katz	11	3	7	0.429	6	8	0.750	12	1.1	6
Charlie Burns	8	6	8	0.750	0	0	0.000	12	1.5	6
Peppy Callahan	9	1	10	0.100	4	7	0.571	6	0.7	3
Harry Jones	5	1	8	0.125	0	1	0.000	2	0.4	2
Richard Vinroot	5	0	1	0.000	1	4	0.250	1	0.2	1
Totals	17	450	959	0.469	330	495	0.667	1230	72.4	–

1961-1962 UNC Basketball Schedule

Coach: Dean Smith

Date	Game	Result	Notes
12/2/1961	UNC vs. Virginia	W 80-46
12/5/1961	UNC @ Clemson	W 54-52
12/11/1961	UNC vs. Indiana	L 70-76	Greensboro, NC
1/6/1962	UNC vs. Notre Dame	W 99-80	Charlotte, NC
1/10/1962	UNC @ Wake Forest	L 72-91
1/13/1962	UNC vs. Virginia	W 100-71	Greensboro, NC
1/15/1962	UNC vs. South Carolina	W 81-73
1/17/1962	UNC vs. N.C. State	W 66-56
2/3/1962	UNC @ Duke	L 57-79
2/6/1962	UNC @ Maryland	L 62-79
2/10/1962	UNC vs. Wake Forest	L 80-87
2/14/1962	UNC @ N.C. State	L 57-85
2/16/1962	UNC vs. Clemson	W 69-59	North-South Doubleheaders - Charlotte, NC
2/17/1962	UNC vs. South Carolina	L 82-97	North-South Doubleheaders - Charlotte, NC
2/19/1962	UNC vs. Maryland	W 70-67
2/24/1962	UNC vs. Duke	L 74-82
3/1/1962	UNC vs. South Carolina	L 55-57	ACC Tournament - Raleigh, NC
		Record: 8-9