# 1976–77 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team

The 1976–77 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1976–77 season. The team played its home games in the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference. Under the direction of head coach Johnny Orr, the team won the Big Ten Conference Championship.

## Season review

The team earned the last of four consecutive NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament invitations. Steve Grote and John Robinson served as team captains, while Phil Hubbard earned team MVP. As a team, they led the conference in scoring offense with an 83.2 average in conference games as well as scoring margin with a 9.4 average. The team began and ended the season ranked number one in the Associated Press Top Twenty Poll and was ranked all seventeen weeks, including eight at number one. The team also ended the season ranked atop the final UPI Coaches' Poll.
On December 29, 1976, Hubbard became the first Wolverine to play 50 minutes in a game against Providence. In 1980, Mike McGee would play 54 minutes in a game. The team's 21 for 22 performance on February 17 against Indiana was the school free throw percentage record until February 21, 1987. The team totaled 17 steals on February 26, 1977, as both Rickey Green and Hubbard had 6 against Michigan State, which lasted as a school record until December 3, 1994. Green had 7 steals on November 27, 1976, against Western Kentucky, which remains unsurpassed in school history.

## Schedule

1976-77 Overall: 26-4 Big Ten: 16-2 (1st | Champions) Postseason: NCAA (Mideast) (Elite Eight) Head Coach: Johnny Orr Staff: Bill Frieder & Jim Boyce Captains: Steve Grote & John Robinson Home Arena: Crisler Arena (13,609)
* Date Rk Opponent H/A W/L Score +/-
* 11/27/1976 #1 Western Kentucky H W 94-70 +24
* 12/4/1976 #1 Fordham H W 78-57 +21
* 12/6/1976 #1 at Vanderbilt A W 97-76 +21
* 12/18/1976 #1 Kent State H W 102-66 +36
* 12/21/1976 #1 Central Michigan H W 104-63 +41
* 12/28/1976 #1 vs. Rhode Island N1 W 95-85 +10
* 12/29/1976 #1 vs. Providence (2OT) N1 L 81-82 -1
* 1/2/1977 #1 at South Carolina A W 90-86 +4
* 1/6/1977 #5 Northwestern+ H W 102-65 +37
* 1/8/1977 #5 Wisconsin+ H W 66-63 +3
* 1/15/1977 #6 at Michigan State+ A W 83-70 +13
* 1/17/1977 #6 at Iowa+ A W 99-75 +24
* 1/20/1977 #5 #19 Purdue+ H W 82-76 +6
* 1/22/1977 #5 Illinois+ H W 66-61 +5
* 1/24/1977 #5 at Ohio State+ A W 92-81 +11
* 1/27/1977 #2 at Wisconsin+ A W 69-64 +5
* 1/29/1977 #2 at Northwestern+ A L 87-99 -12
* 2/3/1977 #7 Indiana+ H W 89-84 +5
* 2/5/1977 #7 Ohio State+ H W 93-72 +21
* 2/7/1977 #7 at #10 Minnesota+ A W 86-80 +6
* 2/13/1977 #5 at Indiana+ A L 64-73 -9
* 2/17/1977 #5 Iowa+ H W 91-80 +11
* 2/19/1977 #5 #12 Minnesota+ H W 89-70 +19
* 2/26/1977 #3 Michigan State+ (OT) H W 69-65 +4
* 3/3/1977 #3 at Illinois+ A W 87-72 +15
* 3/5/1977 #3 at Purdue+ A W 84-79 +5
* 3/6/1977 #3 #19 Marquette H W 69-68 +1
* 3/13/1977 #1 vs. Holy Cross N2 W 92-81 +11
* 3/17/1977 #1 vs. #12 Detroit N3 W 86-81 +5
* 3/19/1977 #1 vs. #17 UNC-Charlotte N3 L 68-75 -7
(1) Providence National Classic, Providence, R.I. (Providence Civic Center) (2) NCAA Tournament, Bloomington, Ind. (Assembly Hall) (3) NCAA Tournament, Lexington, Ky. (Rupp Arena)

## Post season

In the 32-team 1977 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Michigan reached the elite eight in the Mideast region by defeating the Holy Cross Crusaders 92–81 and the Detroit Titans 86–81. The team then fell to the Charlotte 49ers 75–68. In the game against the Detroit Titans on March 17, Hubbard totaled 26 rebounds, which is an NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament single-game record (since 1973).

### NCAA tournament summary

* Mideast
** Michigan 92, Holy Cross 81
** Michigan 86, Detroit 81
** Charlotte 75, Michigan 68

## Roster

* David Baxter
* Tom Bergen
* Thomas Bergen
* Steve Grote (C)
* Rickey Green
* Alan Hardy
* Phil Hubbard
* Robert Jones
* William Lelich
* Len Lillard
* Mark Lozier
* John Robinson (C)
* Thomas Staton
* David Stavale
* Joel Thompson
* Head coach: Johnny Orr
* Assistants: Jim Boyce, Dan Fife, Bill Frieder

## Accomplishments

The team was led by Consensus second team All-Americans Ricky Green and Phil Hubbard. That season, Hubbard set the current school single-season total rebound record of 389, surpassing M. C. Burton, Jr.'s 1959 total of 379. He also surpassed Bill Buntin's 1963 single-season total of 23 point-rebound double doubles with 24. Grote's career assist total of 358 would stand as a school record for 7 seasons until eclipsed by Eric Turner, while Ricky Green's career assist average of 4.05 per game would also be a record until eclipsed by Turner. For the season Green totaled 61 steals for a 2.18 average, which stood as school records until Gary Grant totaled 84 and averaged 2.55 in 1986. Grote's 116 career games played lasted as a Michigan record until 1986 when Richard Rellford totaled 124, while his 108 career starts stood as a record until Mike McGee totaled 112 in 1981. The team set the school single-season free throws made record of 510, which surpassed the 1965 mark of 494 and would last until 1989. The team set the school single-season total steals record of 263 that stood until 1986. Green ended his career with an average of 32.7 minutes per game, which was a school record tied by Phil Hubbard two years later and surpassed by Mike McGee.

### Statistics

The team posted the following statistics:
| Name | GP | GS | Min | Avg | FG | FGA | FG% | 3FG | 3FGA | FT | FTA | FT% | OR | DR | RB | Avg | Ast | Avg | PF | DQ | TO | Stl | Blk | Pts | Avg |
| Phil Hubbard | 30 | 30 | | | 228 | 410 | 0.556 | -- | -- | 132 | 195 | 0.677 | 0 | 389 | 389 | 13.0 | 44 | 1.5 | 109 | 4 | 83 | | | 588 | 19.6 |
| Rickey Green | 28 | 27 | | | 224 | 464 | 0.483 | -- | -- | 98 | 128 | 0.766 | 0 | 81 | 81 | 2.9 | 120 | 4.3 | 59 | 3 | 66 | | | 546 | 19.5 |
| John Robinson | 30 | 29 | | | 124 | 246 | 0.504 | -- | -- | 78 | 104 | 0.750 | 2 | 154 | 156 | 5.2 | 40 | 1.3 | 68 | 1 | 73 | | | 326 | 10.9 |
| Steve Grote | 30 | 30 | | | 118 | 262 | 0.450 | -- | -- | 65 | 90 | 0.722 | 1 | 88 | 89 | 3.0 | 99 | 3.3 | 95 | 3 | 83 | | | 301 | 10.0 |
| Dave Baxter | 29 | 3 | | | 94 | 186 | 0.505 | -- | -- | 41 | 57 | 0.719 | 0 | 46 | 46 | 1.6 | 63 | 2.2 | 54 | 2 | 54 | | | 229 | 7.9 |
| Joel Thompson | 30 | 11 | | | 87 | 164 | 0.530 | -- | -- | 36 | 51 | 0.706 | 1 | 103 | 104 | 3.5 | 23 | 0.8 | 63 | 2 | 26 | | | 210 | 7.0 |
| Tom Staton | 30 | 20 | | | 75 | 173 | 0.434 | -- | -- | 31 | 47 | 0.660 | 4 | 89 | 93 | 3.1 | 76 | 2.5 | 83 | 4 | 53 | | | 181 | 6.0 |
| Alan Hardy | 29 | 0 | | | 47 | 104 | 0.452 | -- | -- | 15 | 25 | 0.600 | 0 | 65 | 65 | 2.2 | 8 | 0.3 | 32 | 0 | 27 | | | 109 | 3.8 |
| Tom Bergen | 23 | 0 | | | 12 | 30 | 0.400 | -- | -- | 7 | 14 | 0.500 | 0 | 35 | 35 | 1.5 | 5 | 0.2 | 27 | 0 | 9 | | | 31 | 1.4 |
| Len Lillard | 11 | 0 | | | 8 | 12 | 0.667 | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 1.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | | | 18 | 1.6 |
| Mark Lozier | 17 | 0 | | | 5 | 16 | 0.313 | -- | -- | 4 | 5 | 0.800 | 0 | 13 | 13 | 0.8 | 5 | 0.3 | 9 | 0 | 7 | | | 14 | 0.8 |
| Bobby Jones | 9 | 0 | | | 0 | 8 | 0.000 | -- | -- | 1 | 4 | 0.250 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | | | 1 | 0.1 |
| Dave Stavale | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | | -- | -- | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Bill Lelich | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | -- | -- | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| TEAM | 30 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 96 | 96 | 3.2 | | | | | | | | | |
| Season Total | 30 | | | | 1022 | 2076 | 0.492 | | | 510 | 722 | 0.706 | 9 | 1182 | 1191 | 39.7 | 483 | 16.1 | 604 | 19 | 486 | | | 2554 | 85.1 |
| Opponents | 30 | | | | 921 | 1899 | 0.485 | -- | -- | 377 | 543 | 0.694 | 7 | 1086 | 1093 | 36.4 | 429 | 14.3 | 642 | 43 | 605 | | | 2219 | 74.0 |

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | 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 Poll | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |

## Team players drafted into the NBA

Six players from this team were selected in the NBA draft.
| Year | Round | Pick | Overall | Player | NBA Club |
| 1977 | 1 | 16 | 16 | Rickey Green | Golden State Warriors |
| 1977 | 3 | 11 | 55 | Steve Grote | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 1977 | 5 | 22 | 110 | John Robinson | Los Angeles Lakers |
| 1978 | 3 | 17 | 61 | Dave Baxter | Seattle SuperSonics |
| 1978 | 4 | 3 | 69 | Joel Thompson | Houston Rockets |
| 1979 | 1 | 15 | 15 | Phil Hubbard | Detroit Pistons |