Dec. 15, 1973: 🏀 Worst game of the century

[BleedGopher]

per Axios Sports:

47 years ago today, Tennessee beat Temple, 11-6, in a college basketball game that ESPN later deemed the worst sporting event of the 20th century.

What happened: Owls coach Don Casey, who later coached the Clippers and Nets, determined that the only way to beat the Volunteers was to hold the ball and run out the clock.

• And with the shot clock still 12 years from being installed at the college level, there was nothing to prevent him from doing it.
• One local newspaper reported that Temple held the ball for 32 of the 40 minutes. And yet, Tennessee still managed to come away with the win.

What they said: "Tennessee had a great team," Casey told Basketball Digest in 2003. "We thought this was going to give us the best chance to win."

• "So we took two guys and put them out by the 28-foot line, had them standing about five feet part, and we had them pass the ball back and forth."
• "This was uncharted territory. We didn't know exactly what we were doing."

By the numbers: The Volunteers led 7-5 at halftime. Neither team made a field goal in the second half, but Tennessee made four free throws to Temple's one.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Otis]

And here I thought this thread was about the Gopher-Ohio State game.

 

[HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving]

And here I thought this thread was about the Gopher-Ohio State game.

I was thinking the same thing. I was listening to that game on the radio the night it happened.