| # | Name | Pos | Class | Ht. | Wt. | Hometown (School) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | Forest Sale (L) | C-F | Jr. | 6-4 | - | Harrodsburg, KY (Kavanaugh (Lawrenceburg)) | All-American [Consensus (1st), Converse (1st), Helms, College Humor (1st)]; |
| #00 | John DeMoisey (L) | C-F | So. | 6-4 | 170 | Walton, KY (High) | (Ineligible part of year due to academics); |
| - | Darrell Darby (L) | F | Jr. | - | - | Ashland, KY (High) | - |
| - | Howard Kreuter (L) | F | So. | - | - | Newport, KY | - |
| - | Ellis Johnson (L) | G | Jr. | 6-0 | - | Ashland, KY (High) | All-Southern Conference; |
| - | Charles Worthington (L) | G | Jr. | - | - | Louisville, KY | - |
| #9 | Crittenden Blair | F | So. | - | - | Ewing, KY | - |
| - | James Hughes | C | - | - | - | Georgetown, KY | - |
| - | Ercel Little (L) | G | Sr. | - | - | Crab Orchard, KY | - |
| - | William Kleiser (L) | F | Sr. | - | - | Lexington, KY (Henry Clay) | - |
| - | Cecil Bell | F | Sr. | - | - | Paris, KY (Millersburg Military Institute) | - |
| - | Gordon George | F | So. | - | - | Betsy Layne, KY | - |
| - | George Skinner | G | Jr. | 6-1 | - | Lexington, KY (Henry Clay) | - |
| #13 | Berkley Davis | F | So. | - | - | Lewisport, KY | - |
| - | Harvey Mattingly | G | So. | 6-0 | 185 | Bardstown, KY (High) | - |
| #8 | Evan Settle | G | So. | - | - | Crab Orchard, KY | - |
| - | * McGuire | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Schedule | Player Statistics |
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1931-32 Squad |
Front Row (l to r): Cecil Bell, Ercel Little, Gordon George, Harvey Mattingly, Evan Settle, William Kleiser |
Season Review -Varsity Basketball by Marvin C. Wachs (Kentuckian)
Undoubtedly one of the greatest aggregations of basketball players ever to wear the blue and white suits of the University of Kentucky raged, romped, and doggedly fought its way through 17 games, two of them being tournament frays; emerged victorious in all but two, and lost these by one point margins during the last 30 seconds. A team that averaged 43 points per game or better than a point a minute, that hung up 745 points to 456 for its opponents, that tripped up some of the best teams in the Southern Conference by overwhelming scores, finally found itself defeated; not by any basketball team, but by the insidious perniciousness of ill health. Fortune, trusting, passed the cut, and fate dealt from a stacked deck. While prepping for the last game of the season with Vanderbilt, with just a week to get ready for it. Sale and DeMoisey took the "flu" on successive days, and the third day Worthington, veteran first-string guard, came out for practice with a heavy cold. Sale and DeMoisey weren't able even to practice, and the Wildcat offense was disintegrated. It was with the team in this deplorable condition that they were forced to face the Commodore machine, and the Southern Conference tournament.
Too much cannot be said about the Wildcat coach, Adolph Rupp. This man, acknowledged to be one of the greatest coaches any Southern Conference team has ever had, is experienced in handling men, knows what he wants done, and better than all, is able to get across to his men what this is, and how it should be accomplished.
Kentucky, 66; Georgetown 24
The Wildcats opened the season by Walloping the Georgetown Tigers 66-24. Until this game there had been more than one wrinkled brow among those who were attempting to figure the Cats. Three All-Southern players had been lost to the squad by graduation, and Yates, All-Southern center was unable to play because of illness. This left a team of doubtful strength to cope with a strenuous schedule. The guards were the only regulars on the team, although Darby had played some the previous year.
Carey Spicer, one of Rupp's 1931 team, an All-Southern forward, brought his Bengals into town and turned them loose in the gym. When the dust and smoke had cleared away, and the final gun had sounded, the fans knew that they had seen a team in action that could really play basketball: Wildcats who played as if they had been playing together all their lives. They had an offense that was a treat for Kentucky supporters, and a defense that was uncannily perfect. Every man on the squad received a chance to show his wares, and the fans recognized a classy ball club.
Sale was high-point man of the game with 12 points, closely followed by DeMoisey who rang up 11 markers.
Kentucky 36; Carnegie Tech 34
The 'Cats then met the strong Carnegie Tech Tartans for their first real opposition. Tech was ceded a victory before the game started. They had just hung a top-heavy defeat on Kentucky Wesleyan, and looked to do the same with Kentucky. The Wildcats said NO, and made it stick. Johnson, Kentucky's stellar guard and captain, twice an All-American scholastic guard, was opposed to the Carnegie forward, Jagnow, himself a former All-American scholastic choice, and Jagnow and his mates came off the second best.
This victory helped assure those doubting Thomases who had thought that perhaps Kentucky had either played over their heads in the Bengal game, or that the Tigers weren't much of a team. The team which had as yet been looked on as an outsider was now regarded as perhaps a possible contender for championship honors.
Kentucky 52; Berea 27
Berea was taken in the 'Cats stride. The game can best be remembered for the combination of very good, and very sloppy playing. The score being 29 to 4 at the half, Berea came back to hit the 2 point hole from every place on the floor. The Blue team was able, however, to hold its own in the point making, with the final result of 52-27, Kentucky.
Kentucky 46; Marshall 16
Marshall, too, only served as a stepping stone toward more coordinated team play for the Kentucky team. Working new plays during the first half, and putting up excellent defensive playing, the Marshall quintet was unable to produce a single field goal. A few were garnered during the second half, but most of the Marshall points came from foul shots.
Kentucky 43; Clemson 24
This was the Wildcat's last game before their southern trip, their first southern conference game, and was considered to be their first crucial game. Clemson with four of the five men back who had beaten the Blue team the year before, came to Lexington firmly convinced that they could win a basketball game with little or no trouble. To make matters worse, "Plymouth" DeMoisey, the "free-wheeling" expert from Walton, was declared ineligible. This left a forward post open with only a rather erratic Kreuter to fill the position. The rest of the team, however, was able to cope with the situation, and the final result was 43-24, Kentucky. The Clemson team that had expected to find an easy team composed of youngsters who were untried sophomores and juniors, returned to their home town, sadder, but with a good bit more wisdom about what this Coach Rupp could do with a team.
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THE SOUTHERN TRIP
Two weeks elapsed between the first Clemson battle and the second. These two weeks were spent by Rupp in getting "Dutch" Kreuter groomed for a regular position at forward. With DeMoisey definitely out of the game until the second semester, the Wildcat mentor was hard put to it to round up someone who could stand the gaff of a flock of hard basketball games, and not fold up. Kreuter was the man; but Kreuter was, at the same time, rather rusty. At the end of these two weeks, Kreuter was playing basketball with the rest of the team as if he had never done anything else.
Kentucky 30; Clemson 17
The first game of the southern trip was a return meet with Clemson. The Tigers still were of the opinion that with a little ironing out of some wrinkled spots they could beat the 'Cats. Again to the tune of 30-17, Kentucky demonstrated that it is a good idea when you can't make a lot of 'em, to keep the ball where they can't make 'em either. It worked quite well.
Kentucky 30; Sewanee 20
The second night, after another train ride, the Big Blue stopped off at the University of the South. There, Sale gave an exhibition on how to get himself two points from any place with the foul line, and the brilliance of the Kentucky passing attack and the sensational guarding of Johnson and Worthington both baffled and surprised the Sewanee players. The game, however, was tough enough to keep Coach Rupp from using more than three of his substitutes, with the result that the first string players were considerably tired before the game ended. But it finally ended, as all games do, with Kentucky on the top of a 30 to 20 score.
Kentucky 29; Tennessee 28
The third night out after another train ride the team dragged leg-weary and train-sick bodies onto the Tennessee floor. The Vols, anxious to get even for a few football and basketball upsets were all set to hand the tired Wildcats a few pointers and to annex a victory.
The score at the half, 22 to 13, Kentucky, gave the audience the impression that perhaps Kentucky would have something to say about all that, despite their weariness. But then Kentucky's legs and arms began to show the strain of the trip, and Tennessee points began to filter through. Greenblatt, of Tennessee, began to sink shots from places a fresh team would never have let him get.
But again foul shots won a game for the Blue team. They sank 11 of the charity tosses to six for the Volunteers. The last two by Charlie Worthington put the game on ice. After the final whistle, a team that almost had to be carried from the floor made its way to the train which was to take it home -- a tired but happy team, and a tired but happy coach who had seen his charges come through in a way that would make any coach love them like his own sons.
Sale was high point man in the southern trip with 29 points followed in turn by Darby, Kreuter, and Johnson with 22, 17 and 10 points respectively.
Kentucky 51; Chattanooga 17
Kentucky's eighth consecutive victory was at the cost of the Dixie loop basketball champions, Chattanooga. The 'Noongans started the game as if they were very apt to give the Blue team an argumentative evening but after the first few minutes they were willing to settle down and gather their few points at the odd intervals that the Wildcat let down from their terrific pace. Darby featured this game by looping baskets from any place on the floor. He was a working model of Rupp's basketball concept No. 1: "Shoot 'em from the locker room." As usual, the Blue team flashed a floor game that was beautiful to watch. The 'Cats, once they had taken the lead, were never in danger, and were still forging ahead when the game ended. Captain Johnson was high-point man with 13 points; everyone got himself a few.
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Kentucky 48; Washington and Lee 28
The W. and L. Generals, always a threat to anybody's team, stormed into Lexington, feeling that it was up to a dark horse to prove that Kentucky had really been rated too high, that one good General team was better than one good Kentucky team. But when the score was added up they found that they were just 20 points points off. They had only another grievance to add to the string that Kentucky has been chalking up in basketball and football the last few years. But they were beaten and the score stood: 48-28 Kentucky.
Kentucky, 61; Vanderbilt, 37
About this time basketball sportdom of the Southern Conference began to realize that Kentucky really had a basketball team that was an actual threat for Southern Conference honors. They had met and defeated the best teams in the South. They now set out for Nashville to meet, for the first time, the Commodore's of Vanderbilt, the team that in the second engagement kept the Wildcats from having a perfect season. The game turned out to be somewhat of a combination track meet and football game. One foul was called in the first half, and very few in the second. DeMoisey, back in uniform after his long lay-off, treated himself to the rough tactics of the Commodores and "ate it up." He rang the bell for a total of 29 points. The twist shot exponent, although used quite roughly by the Vandy quint, had them wondering what it was all about when the game ended. In Lexington, he had acquired the nick-name "free-wheeling" and in Nashville, a sportswriter suggested that they rename him "floating-power." Johnson and Worthington brought praises to themselves for their floor generalship in this game by the way they brought the ball down the floor in spite of the "rough house" the Commodores were staging. And again Kentucky hung up another win, 61-37.
Kentucky 37; Duke 30
Duke came up to Kentucky equally as full of youthful enthusiasm as the teams who had preceded them, but they, too, were treated in the same fashion. They served only to bring the 'Cat's consecutive wins up to 12. The Blue team remembered a recent football game that Duke had taken onto themselves, and although the Blue Devils fought gamely even as did the 'Cats in the football game, they went down to an even more ignominious defeat. The Wildcats seemed almost certain of an undefeated season, now. They felt that if they could get the Alabama game, they had an undefeated season in the bag.
Kentucky, 50; Alabama, 22
Four thousand, five hundred people, the greatest crowd ever to witness a Wildcat basketball game at home, packed the Alumni gymnasium, and saw Kentucky trip up the Crimson Tide by the one-sided score of 50-22. As usual, the Wildcats, although the individual stars are among the most brilliant luminaries of the south, worked together so well that the Tide was engulfed in the deluge of shots which the guards worked the ball into position for the center and forwards to convert into points.
At the beginning of the second hall the Tide came out bent on evening things up, but the Kentucky defense wasn't the redoubtable defense it was supposed to be, for nothing. The Alabama offensive was smothered before it was really started, and the Blue team continued to score points. It was at this time that Johnson cinched his position on the All-Southern Conference team, and Worthington showed that he too was of the same calibre.
Kentucky 41; Tennessee 27
Again playing to a house on which the S. R. 0. sign had been hung long before game time, the Kentucky quintet outfought the Tennessee Volunteers for their 14th straight win. The Vols had blood in their eyes when they trotted out on the floor, and the game was nearly over, before the red got out and a more placid color took its place, but for the second time Kentucky sent the Vols back home on the short end of the score.
During the first half, the game see-sawed between each team until the last minute of play. Kentucky, leading by one point, started firing 'em from all angles. Sale, Johnson. and DeMoisey started an offensive that made fans wander if it had started raining basketballs and when the gun ended the half, the score was 20 to 14, Kentucky.
The second half saw the Vols again boring in with a meaning look on their features. Greenblatt found a weakness in the 'Cat forward wall, and soon had shortened the Kentucky advantage down to four points. Soon after this Stafford took to the showers via the personal foul route. After that, the question was merely how many points Kentucky could get before the final gun.
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Kentucky 31; Vanderbilt 32
'Tis but too true, the Wildcats found, that it is a long road that has no turning. With a week to go, and a team that they had already beaten decisively to finish the season, "flu" curtailed the usefulness of the two Kentucky stars, DeMoisey and Sale, and a heavy cold kibitzed on Worthington, so that that stellar guard had a head feeling like the "Akron." The team fought almost to a victory, only to see it wafted away on the breeze of a long shot during the last 30 seconds. The sick and disabled Kentuckians played their hearts out, but the Capricious Lady was looking the other way when that last shot, was turned loose. It went in for two points and the game. It was an almost perfect season, spoiled during the last minute of the last game.
THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
Kentucky 50; Tulane 30
Conceded to be one of the teams most apt to win the championship, the Wildcats, three of them scarcely able to be about, entrained for Atlanta, and the Southern Conference tournament. In their first tilt, fourth on the card, they met and defeated Tulane, 50 to 30. In this game, Sale showed that his rating had not been false, for, although greatly handicapped by his illness, the Wildcat center scored 21 points to head the Big Blue column. Playing apathetically during the first half, he found himself shortly after the second half started, and collected seven field goals and five charity tosses to get himself a total of 11 points for the second stanza.
Kentucky 42; North Carolina 43
To lose one game by one point in the last minute is bad; but when a team losses two of them that way, it is getting a bit thick. Rated as without a doubt, the best and most consistent team in the tournament, the Wildcats met an inspired quintet of North Carolina Tarheels, and again found that, when she was needed. Lady Luck was out in the field picking daisies.
Either that or she was just taking her seat atop the ball when it was batted by a Tarheel hand wildly and with a prayer, and the young man had undoubtedly lived in virtuous life, because the ball settled and dropped through as the gun went off. It was a great game; fought for by ten basketball giants. Kentucky lost.
Lettermen of the Wildcat squad elected Forest "Aggie" Sale, Lawrenceburg, as captain of the net team for 1933.
Freshman Basketball
BY SUNNY DAY
When Coach Elmer "Baldy" Gilb's Kittens turned in their uniforms at the close of the 1931-32 basketball season, they had a record of which to be proud. They had decisively defeated every foe they had met, and had totaled 464 points to 175 for their adversaries in the 10 games. This means that they more than tripled the score on their opponents with an average of better than a point a minute. Yes sir, Coach Gilb developed a fierce aggregation of Kittens.
Although the score was not close in any of the games every member of the team handled himself and the ball so dexterously that the games were always interesting to watch. Bill Davis, Jack Tucker, and Dave Lawrence ran practically a dead heat for the high scoring honors, and Amos Taylor was not tar behind. Wilbur Odor, the remaining member of the first team, did not score much, but he was as good a guard as you will find. Odor hawked the ball so closely that Kentucky's opponents scored only one goal during the entire season on a rebound.
At the basketball banquet given in honor of the teams, 13 numerals were granted to the following: Amos Taylor, William Davis, Jack Tucker, Dave Lawrence, Wilbur Odor, Charles Gates, J. W. Biggerstaff, Joe Rupert, George Alexander, William Singleton, Fritz Kreuger, Vernon Nugent, and John Morris. Gates and Biggerstaff were the principal substitutes, but all of these men saw plenty of action.
Kentucky, 38; Georgetown, 17
The Kittens opened their season on the home floor December 15, in company with the Wildcats. The Bengals and Bengal Cubs were both swamped revealing that both Frosh and Varsity would be bad medicine during the season.
Kentucky, 51; Smith-Watkins, 17
In the first game after the holidays, the Frosh demonstrated that they had not forgotten any of their basketball ability. They completely submerged Smith-Watkins January 9, in the U. K. gymnasium. As in the first game Coach Gilb was enabled to use practically his entire squad.
Kentucky, 47; Louisville 25
On January 16 the Frosh met the Louisville Cardinals in the Euclid Avenue gymnasium, and conquered them with very little trouble. Dave Lawrence, All-American from Corinth, took high scoring honors with 20 points.
Kentucky, 44; Eastern Normal 24
Eastern Normal boasted a very good team, but was vanquished January 20 in the U. K. gymnasium just as the other foes of the Kittens had been. However, it was only after a struggle that they were completely subdued.
Kentucky, 39; Louisville 10
The Frosh invaded "Falls City" February 3 in a return engagement, and easily emerged victorious. In this contest Davis, former Hazard star, collected a total of 13 points from his guard position to win high scoring honors.
Kentucky, 49; Lee's College 20
Lee's College has no separate freshman and varsity teams. Nevertheless that school could in no way halt the U. K. frosh, February 5. Eleven minutes of the first half had elapsed before the visitors had scored at all, and Gilb used his second team during almost all of the second hall. Tucker was high point man with 13 points.
Kentucky, 42; Georgetown 10
The Georgetown Bengals suffered about the same experience February 10 when the Kittens visited their territory as they had at the first of the season, but the result was 11 points worse for them.
Kentucky, 36; Eastern Normal 18
The Eastern "first year teachers" again found themselves on the short end of a rather long score when they met the U. K. frosh on their own floor in Richmond, February 16.
Kentucky, 68; Lee's College, 17
Kentucky's "Wild-kittens" literally ate up the Lee's College basketeers when they engaged them in the final battle of the season, at Jackson, February 19.
