# 1975–76 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

The 1975–76 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona in the 1975-76 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Coached by fourth year head coach Fred Snowden and led by junior center Bob Elliott, the Wildcats made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 25 seasons (and second appearance all-time), advancing to the Elite Eight. The Wildcats played their home games for the fourth season at the McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona competing as members of the Western Athletic Conference.

## Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 1974-75 season 22-7 overall, 9-5 in WAC play to finish in a 3rd place in the conference, a three win improvement from the season before. While beginning the season ranked pre-season #15, the team finished the season unranked and failed to make a postseason appearance for the 24th consecutive season.

## Roster

Source

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 28, 1975* | No. 11 | Oregon State | W 96-67 | 1-0 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| December 3, 1975* | No. 11 | Idaho | W 88-62 | 2-0 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| December 6, 1975* | No. 11 | Northern Arizona | W 98-81 | 3-0 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| December 8, 1975* | No. 11 | at No. 18 Kansas State | L 61-71 | 3-1 | Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas |
| December 10, 1975* | No. 10 | at No. 16 UNLV | L 94-98 | 3-2 | Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, Nevada |
| December 12, 1975* | No. 10 | Idaho State | L 82-87 | 3-3 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| December 13, 1975* | No. 10 | SMU | W 83-81 | 4-3 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| December 20, 1975* | | at Illinois | L 60-66 | 4-4 | Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois |
| December 27, 1975* | | vs. No. 6 Cincinnati Rainbow Classic | W 71-64 | 5-4 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii |
| December 29, 1975* | | vs. Iowa Rainbow Classic | L 80-82 | 5-5 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii |
| December 30, 1975* | | at Hawaii Rainbow Classic | W 84-74 | 6-5 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii |
| January 6, 1976* | | Cal State Fullerton | W 85-70 | 7-5 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| January 10, 1976* | | Detroit Mercy | W 106-76 | 8-5 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| January 16, 1976 | | BYU | W 79-78 | 9-5 (1-0) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| January 17, 1976 | | Utah | W 87-77 | 10-5 (2-0) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| January 23, 1976 | | at UTEP | L 42-61 | 10-6 (2-1) | Memorial Gym El Paso, Texas |
| January 24, 1976 | | at New Mexico | W 80-79 | 11-6 (3-1) | The Pit Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| January 27, 1976* | | Portland State | W 114-94 | 12-6 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| January 30, 1975 | | Colorado State | W 94-76 | 13-6 (4-1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| January 31, 1976 | | Wyoming | W 64-57 | 14-6 (5-1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| February 7, 1976 | | at Arizona State | L 63-67 | 14-7 (5-2) | ASU Activity Center Tempe, Arizona |
| February 13, 1976 | | at Utah | W 89-76 | 15-7 (6-2) | Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah |
| February 14, 1976 | | at BYU | L 74-79 | 15-8 (6-3) | Marriott Center Provo, Utah |
| February 20, 1976 | | New Mexico | W 67-65 | 16-8 (7-3) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| February 21, 1976 | | UTEP | W 64-45 | 17-8 (8-3) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| February 27, 1976 | | at Wyoming | W 74-66 | 18-8 (9-3) | War Memorial Fieldhouse Laramie, Wyoming |
| February 28, 1976 | | at Colorado State | W 78-72 | 19-8 (10-3) | Auditorium-Gymnasium Fort Collins, Colorado |
| March 6, 1976 | | Arizona State | W 77-72 | 20-8 (11-3) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| March 13, 1976* | No. 18 | vs. Georgetown Quarterfinals | W 83-76 | 21-8 | ASU Activity Center Tempe, Arizona |
| March 18, 1976* | No. 18 | vs. No. 3 UNLV Sweet Sixteen | W 114-109 $^{OT}$ | 22-8 | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California |
| March 20, 1976* | No. 18 | at No. 5 UCLA Elite Eight | L 66-82 | 22-9 | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain. ||||||
Source

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Final |
| AP | 11 | 11 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 15 |

## Player statistics

Individual player statistics (Final) :
| | | Scoring | Scoring | Total FGs | Total FGs | Total FGs | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Rebounds | |
| Player | GP | Pts | Avg | FG | FGA | Pct | FT | FTA | Pct | Tot | PF |
| Bob Elliott | 33 | 595 | 18.0 | 225 | 406 | 55.4% | 145 | 225 | 64.4% | 341 | 86 |
| Al Fleming | 33 | 527 | 16.0 | 207 | 354 | 58.5% | 113 | 152 | 74.3% | 329 | 108 |
| Jim Rappis | 32 | 383 | 12.0 | 165 | 354 | 46.6% | 53 | 71 | 74.6% | 65 | 82 |
| Herman Harris | 33 | 346 | 10.8 | 162 | 358 | 45.3% | 22 | 42 | 52.4% | 120 | 71 |
| Gilbert Myles | 29 | 273 | 9.4 | 105 | 242 | 43.4% | 63 | 81 | 77.8% | 59 | 73 |
| Len Gordy | 33 | 201 | 6.1 | 80 | 182 | 44.0% | 41 | 59 | 69.5% | 156 | 54 |
| Phil Taylor | 31 | 198 | 6.4 | 87 | 158 | 55.1% | 24 | 41 | 58.5% | 160 | 56 |
| Gary Harrison | 23 | 92 | 4.0 | 40 | 103 | 38.8% | 12 | 19 | 63.2% | 26 | 16 |
| Jerome Gladney | 24 | 54 | 2.3 | 18 | 46 | 39.1% | 18 | 31 | 58.1% | 72 | 25 |
| Sylvester Maxey | 12 | 11 | 0.9 | 3 | 6 | 50.0% | 5 | 6 | 83.3% | 1 | 11 |
| Bob Aleksa | 12 | 8 | 0.7 | 3 | 6 | 50.0% | 2 | 6 | 33.3% | 7 | 2 |
| Larry Demic | 7 | 4 | 0.6 | 2 | 7 | 28.6% | 0 | 0 | - | 5 | 1 |
| Tim Marshall | 10 | 4 | 0.4 | 2 | 10 | 20.0% | 0 | 1 | 00.0% | 4 | 5 |
| Tom Ehlmann | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | - | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 0 | 1 |
| Brian Jung | 6 | 3 | 0.5 | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 4 | 0 |
| Ron Fuller | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 100.0% | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 |
| Mitch Jones | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 3 | 00.0% | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 33 | 2704 | 81.9 | 1101 | 2238 | 49.2% | 502 | 740 | 67.8% | 1475 | 592 |
Source