The 1962–63 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented

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during the 1962–63

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season.

Tommy O'Keefe Thomas Vincent O'Keefe (June 3, 1928 – October 18, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. O'Keefe was selected in the fourth round of the 1950 NBA draft by the Washington Capitols after a collegiate career at Georgetown Univers ...

coached them in his third season as head coach, but Georgetown's head coaching position paid so little that he could only coach part-time and held a full-time job outside of coaching in order to meet his financial obligations, impairing his ability to recruit players. The team was an independent and played its home games at

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on the Georgetown campus in

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It finished with a record of 13–13 and had no post-season play.

Season recap

After a successful 1961–62 season, Georgetown lost a school-record eight seniors to graduation. The departed players had been responsible for 79.9% of the teams scoring. Only two lettermen returned for 1962–63, and the only starter to return was the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

, junior

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

Jim Christy. In order to complete his roster, O'Keefe had to put five walk-ons on the 1962–63 team and rely on six newcomers in all.The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 35. Jim Christy
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/ref> Christy and sophomore

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Jim Barry – newly arrived on the varsity team after a year on the freshman team, and destined to become perhaps the greatest player of Georgetown mens basketballs "Classic Era" (1943–1972) – were the main scoring threats on the team. They scored a combined 1,000 points during the 1962–63 season, and their performance allowed the inexperienced team to avoid a disastrous season in a rebuilding year. Barry made his varsity debut in the first game of the season against St. Joseph's and scored 29 points, which remains the school scoring record for a debut game. Through the first eight games, he averaged 16.5 points per game, the best on the team. Despite his efforts, however, the Hoyas returned home with a record of 2–7 after losing both their games in the Motor City Classic in

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. Barry then began to turn in a lengthy list of high-scoring performances, and Georgetown embarked on a six-game winning streak – the longest Georgetown winning streak since the 1952–53 team opened 6–0 – that pushed its record to 8–7. During the streak, Barry averaged 28.9 points per game and scored 31 points against Loyola and 41 against

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. The winning streak ended with Georgetown losing all three games during a tough road trip in which they visited Niagara,

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, and

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. Barry averaged 25.7 points per game in the three losses. Coming home with an 8–10 record, the Hoyas began another winning streak, winning five straight to move to 13–10 on the year, with Barry scoring 39 points against

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and 21, 22, 25, and 28 points in the other four wins. For his part, Jim Christy appeared in 24 games and scored in double figures in 22 of them. His top games of the year included 26 points against Maryland, 34 against Holy Cross, and 32 against

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. The Hoyas closed out the season with three straight losses, but Barry had one more great performance. In the second-to-last game of the year, Georgetown visited La Salle at the

Palestra The Palestra, often called the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the Penn Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 235 So ...

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, on February 26, 1963. Barry scored 30 points, and Philadelphia-area sportswriters judged it the best performance of the year at the Palestra, exceeding even the accomplishments there of

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and

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s Barry Kramer during the season. Jim Barry ended the season scoring 20 or more points in 16 games and 30 or more points in six games, averaging a school-record 22.8 points per game, fourth among all sophomores in the

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. The team finished with a record of 13–13, the only team that did not have a winning record in O'Keefes six seasons as head coach. However, it was a creditable record against a tough schedule in a rebuilding year that saw them win 11 of their last 17 games. The team was not ranked in the Top 20 in the Associated Press Poll or

Coaches' Poll In the United States, the Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I (NCAA), Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. ...

at any time.sports-reference.com 1962-63 Polls
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Roster

From the 1958–59 season through the 1967–68 season, Georgetown players wore even-numbered jerseys for home games and odd-numbered ones for away games; for example, a player would wear No. 10 at home and No. 11 on the road. Players are listed below by the even numbers they wore at home. Sources

1962–63 schedule and results

Sources2012-2013 Georgetown Men's Basketball Media Guide, p. 61.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1962-63 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball seasons Georgetown Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team