Purdue basketballDon’t turn up the sound. There is none.
This video, however, should be of great interest to Purdue basketball fans, or college basketball fans in general. It provides a look at the game as it was played in 1969 and includes what is probably the most famous game-winning shot in Purdue’s history.
Rick Mount hit just 11-of-32 shots, but his jumper just ahead of the buzzer gave Purdue a 75-73 victory over Marquette and sent it to the final four (it wasn’t copyrighted or capitalized at that time), where it trounced North Carolina and then was trounced by UCLA in the championship game.
Notice the introduction of the starting lineups. The Purdue player with the separated shoulder is 7-foot center Chuck Bavis, who had been injured in the regional semifinal game against Miami of Ohio two days earlier. His presence certainly would have made a difference in the final four as he had played UCLA’s center Lew Alcindor (as he was called then) well in two previous games. It probably wouldn’t have made up for UCLA’s 20-point margin of victory, however.
Bavis’ replacement in the starting lineup, junior Jerry Johnson, grabbed 16 rebounds. Purdue also was dealing with another significant injury, as star forward Herm Gilliam had missed the four previous games with a sprained ankle. He played limited minutes off the bench but finished with seven points, three rebounds and two steals. His replacement in the starting lineup, Larry Weatherford, made crucial contributions as well.
Purdue’s lineup included future pros Mount, Gilliam and Billy Keller. Marquette’s roster includes future pros Dean Meminger and George Thompson. Purdue, however, received a wider range of contributions from those who didn’t go on to play professionally.
Aside from Johnson and Gilliam, sophomore Larry Weatherford hit two crucial free throws with 19 seconds left and Keller scored 17 points before fouling out. And aside from Mount’s game-winning basket, the biggest plays were made by George Faerber. Purdue’s rugged forward. He grabbed the rebound of Mount’s missed jumper and scored on a post move in the final minute of regulation and then dove on the floor to strip the ball from a Marquette ballhandler to get the ball back for Purdue. That led to Weatherford’s two foul shots.
Marquette, meanwhile, blew chances to win the game at the foul line. It had the ball and a three-point lead in the final minute of regulation play but lost three potential points on free throws – missing the front end of a one-and-one opportunity and then the second of two opportunities with two seconds left that would have won the game.
It was the classic “total team effort” for the Boilermakers.
“Purdue is no one-man team,” Marquette coach Al McGuire said.
The game was played on a Saturday, but Lafayette’s afternoon newspaper, the Journal and Courier, did not publish on Sunday at the time. It had to wait until Monday afternoon to report on the game.
NOTE: One-on-One episodes with Mount, Keller and Bavis can be found on this site. I wish I could have done one with Gilliam, who had the longest pro career of all the players in this game, but he passed away in 2005.
Here’s a link to the box score of the game:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1969-03-15-marquette.html
And here’s the video of the entire game, silent and shot with a single camera but in color:
You need to login to listen.
You need to login to read the rest of the story.
Please Login. Not a Member? Join Us
