The 1957–58 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. The head coach was

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...

. The team was a member of the

Southeast Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

and played their home games at Memorial Coliseum. This squad was often nicknamed the "Fiddlin' Five".

Roster

Schedule and results

NCAA Championship

The 1958 NCAA Championship game was played in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, before a then NCAA finals record crowd of 18,803, at the newly completed

Freedom Hall Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

was Kentucky's opponent, led by the great

Elgin Baylor Elgin Gay Baylor ( ; September 16, 1934 – March 22, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive. He played 14 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lake ...

. Baylor, a Consensus First Team All-American, was the nation's second-leading scorer (32.5) behind Cincinnati's

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

(35.1). The Chieftains led Kentucky by 11 points in the first half on two occasions. In fact, Seattle was still leading by a score of 60–58 with seven minutes to go in the game. However, led by the sharp shooting of

Vernon Hatton Walter Vernon "Vern" Hatton (born January 13, 1936) is an American basketball player who won a national championship as a player at the University of Kentucky and played professionally in the National Basketball Association. Kentucky career Hatt ...

and Johnny Cox, Kentucky mounted a strong rally at the end, eventually winning the game by a final score of 84-72. Hatton led Kentucky with 30 points, Cox followed him with 24 points for the Wildcats, while Seattle was led by Baylor, who scored 25 points before fouling out. The victory sealed Kentucky's 4th NCAA Championship.

Statistics

17.1 ppg * Johnny Cox 14.9 ppg * John Crigler 13.6 ppg *

Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...

12.4 ppg *Ed Beck 5.6 ppg

Awards and honors

Johnny Cox *All-SEC (1st Team – Coaches, 2nd Team – AP) *All-NCAA Regional Team *All-NCAA Final Four Team John Crigler *All-SEC (3rd Team – AP)

*All-American (1st Team – Converse, Helms) *All-SEC (1st Team – Coaches, 2nd Team – AP) *All-NCAA Regional Team *All-NCAA Final Four Team

Team players drafted into the NBA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1957-58 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball seasons

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

1957 in sports in Kentucky 1958 in sports in Kentucky