# 1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team

The 1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball team that played in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The Broncos, representing Western Michigan University (WMU), finished the season 25–3 overall and 15–1 in the conference, won the MAC championship and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1976 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They finished the season ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 19 in the UPI Poll.

## Season

The Broncos were featured in a Sports Illustrated article in the February 9, 1976, issue. After starting the season 16–0, the Broncos entered the AP Poll as the No. 17-ranked team. In the MAC showdown against Miami in Kalamazoo, a Western Michigan University (WMU) record 10,519 fans attended the game.
In an early-season game, WMU beat Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) 51–50 on a put-back by Jeff Tyson with one second left on the clock. The Broncos led by 10 points early in the second half, but UWGB took the lead by one point with 10 seconds remaining. After a timeout, WMU missed a long 25-foot field goal, but Tyson was able to get the rebound and score.

### NCAA tournament

In the NCAA tournament, Western Michigan defeated Virginia Tech 77–67 in overtime. They lost to No. 2-ranked Marquette in the Sweet Sixteen by 5 points, 62–57.

## Roster

The following players were on the 1975–76 team:
* Dave Carnegie
* Rod Curry
* Tom Cutter
* Dale DeBruin
* Paul Griffin
* Jimmie Harvey
* Jim Kurzen
* Marty Murray
* Bob Pyykkonen
* Herman Randle
* Mark Rayner
* Mike Reardon
* Dave Roland
* S. L. Sales
* Marc Throop
* Jeff Tyson
The team was coached by Eldon Miller, along with assistant coaches Dick Shilts and Rich Walker.

## Schedule

The Broncos finished the season 25–3 and first place in the MAC with a 15–1 record.
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| December 1, 1975* | | Grand Valley State | W 107–73 | 1–0 | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| December 3, 1975* | | Wisconsin–Parkside | W 77–74 | 2–0 | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| December 6, 1975* | | at Wisconsin–Green Bay | W 51–50 | 3–0 | Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena (2,052) Ashwaubenon, WI |
| December 10, 1975* | | at Northern Iowa | W 91–61 | 4–0 | McElroy Auditorium (~850) Waterloo, IA |
| December 13, 1975* | | Michigan State | W 78–68 | 5–0 | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| December 15, 1975* | | Detroit | W 81–71 | 6–0 | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| December 20, 1975* | | Wisconsin–Oshkosh | W 115–83 | 7–0 | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| January 3, 1976 | | at Bowling Green | W 67–57 | 8–0 (1–0) | Anderson Arena Bowling Green, OH |
| January 7, 1976 | | at Eastern Michigan | W 78–58 | 9–0 (2–0) | Bowen Field House Ypsilanti, MI |
| January 10, 1976 | | Toledo | W 78–73 | 10–0 (3–0) | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| January 14, 1976* | | Loyola (IL) | W 79–77 | 11–0 | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| January 17, 1976 | | at Northern Illinois | W 78–65 | 12–0 (4–0) | Chick Evans Field House DeKalb, IL |
| January 21, 1976 | | Kent State | W 75–53 | 13–0 (5–0) | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| January 24, 1976 | | at Ball State | W 62–57 | 14–0 (6–0) | Irving Gymnasium Muncie, IN |
| January 28, 1976 | | Miami | W 82–68 | 15–0 (7–0) | Read Fieldhouse (10,519) Kalamazoo, MI |
| January 31, 1976 | | Ohio | W 75–59 | 16–0 (8–0) | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| February 4, 1976* | No. 17 | at Loyola (IL) | W 80–73 | 17–0 | Alumni Gym Chicago, IL |
| February 7, 1976 | No. 17 | at Central Michigan | W 76–73 | 18–0 (9–0) | Daniel P. Rose Center Mount Pleasant, MI |
| February 11, 1976 | No. 15 | Eastern Michigan | W 85–73 | 19–0 (10–0) | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| February 14, 1976 | No. 15 | at Toledo | L 80–88 | 19–1 (10–1) | Field House Toledo, OH |
| February 21, 1976 | No. 17 | Northern Illinois | W 91–74 | 20–1 (11–1) | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| February 25, 1976 | No. 16 | at Kent State | W 73–63 | 21–1 (12–1) | Memorial Gym Kent, OH |
| February 28, 1976 | No. 16 | Ball State | W 93–67 | 22–1 (13–1) | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| March 1, 1976* | No. 16 | at No. 8 Notre Dame | L 86–95 $^{OT}$ | 22–2 | Athletic and Convocation Center South Bend, IN |
| March 3, 1976 | No. 14 | at Miami | W 73–58 | 23–2 (14–1) | Millett Hall Oxford, OH |
| March 6, 1976 | No. 14 | Bowling Green | W 71–58 | 24–2 (15–1) | Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI |
| March 13, 1976* | No. 16 | vs. Virginia Tech NCAA tournament Round of 32 | W 77–67 $^{OT}$ | 25–2 | Athletic and Convocation Center South Bend, IN |
| March 18, 1976* | No. 10 | vs. No. 2 Marquette NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen | L 57–62 | 25–3 | LSU Assembly Center (14,150) Baton Rouge, LA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Statistics

The following table lists the individual player statistics for the season.
| Player | GP | GS | Pts | Avg | FG | FGA | Pct | FT | FTA | Pct | Reb | Avg | PF | FO | A |
| Jeff Tyson | 28 | 28 | 501 | 17.9 | 212 | 425 | .499 | 77 | 109 | .706 | 132 | 4.7 | 83 | 3 | 63 |
| Tom Cutter | 28 | 28 | 362 | 12.9 | 140 | 217 | .645 | 82 | 108 | .759 | 298 | 10.6 | 84 | 2 | 57 |
| Jimmie Harvey | 28 | 28 | 356 | 12.7 | 163 | 323 | .505 | 30 | 44 | .682 | 100 | 3.6 | 73 | 1 | 42 |
| Paul Griffin | 28 | 28 | 303 | 10.8 | 115 | 192 | .599 | 73 | 100 | .730 | 277 | 9.9 | 82 | 5 | 84 |
| Marty Murray | 28 | 0 | 248 | 8.9 | 85 | 218 | .390 | 78 | 108 | .722 | 41 | 1.5 | 64 | 2 | 50 |
| Jim Kurzen | 28 | 28 | 198 | 7.1 | 79 | 170 | .465 | 40 | 51 | .784 | 44 | 1.6 | 53 | 0 | 72 |
| Dave Carnegie | 24 | 0 | 63 | 2.6 | 27 | 50 | .540 | 9 | 17 | .529 | 61 | 2.5 | 29 | 0 | 2 |
| Dale DeBruin | 19 | 0 | 48 | 2.5 | 17 | 33 | .515 | 14 | 27 | .519 | 40 | 2.1 | 25 | 0 | 7 |
| S. L. Sales | 18 | 0 | 42 | 2.3 | 18 | 40 | .450 | 6 | 15 | .400 | 19 | 1.1 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Reardon | 21 | 0 | 40 | 1.9 | 17 | 36 | .472 | 6 | 11 | .545 | 9 | 0.4 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Herman Randle | 21 | 0 | 38 | 1.8 | 15 | 50 | .300 | 8 | 14 | .571 | 9 | 0.4 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Marc Throop | 12 | 0 | 10 | 0.8 | 2 | 8 | .250 | 6 | 13 | .462 | 15 | 1.3 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Pyykkonen | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0.8 | 2 | 6 | .333 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 3 | 0.6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Roland | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0.5 | 0 | 5 | .000 | 3 | 7 | .429 | 1 | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rod Curry | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0.4 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 0 | 0 | – | 5 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Rayner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| WMU totals | 28 | 28 | 2218 | 79.2 | 893 | 1779 | .502 | 432 | 625 | .691 | 1176 | 42.0 | 536 | 14 | 392 |
| Opp. totals | 28 | 28 | 1898 | 67.8 | 776 | 1817 | .427 | 346 | 484 | .715 | – | – | 581 | – | 330 |