The 1958–59 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team represented

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

in the 1958–59 season. Coached by

Fred Schaus Frederick Appleton Schaus (June 30, 1925 – February 10, 2010) was an American basketball player, head coach and athletic director for the West Virginia University Mountaineers, player for the National Basketball Association's Fort Wayne Pisto ...

and led by

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

guard

Jerry West Jerry Alan West (May 28, 1938 – June 12, 2024) was an American basketball player and executive. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

, the Mountaineers, then a member of the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

, lost in the final of that year's NCAA tournament to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Season Summary

West Virginia wasn’t a one-man team, far from it, but guard

was the star of the show, as he proved after leading the mountaineers to the final four. He scored 38 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in a semifinal win over Louisville, then scored 28 points and snared 11 boards against California in the title game. That effort wasn’t enough to prevent the Bears from winning, by a single point, 71–70.

NCAA basketball tournament

*East ** West Virginia 82, Dartmouth 68 ** West Virginia 95, St. Joseph’s, Pennsylvania 92 ** West Virginia 86, Boston 82 *Final Four ** West Virginia 94, Louisville 79 ** California 71, West Virginia 70

Team players drafted into the NBA

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1958-59 West Virginia Mountaineers Men's Basketball Team West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball seasons

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

Southern Conference men's basketball champion seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

West Virginia Mountaineers men's b West Virginia Mountaineers men's b