The Cinderella team has done it…
The glass slipper fits…
The Wolfpack has won the National Championship!
Twenty-Four years ago tonight at 11:14 pm, the late Wally Ausley made that legendary call as NC State stunned the basketball world and defeated Houston 54-52 to win the National Championship.
I still get goose bumps whenever I hear the play-by-play of the last minute of that game. When the game ended, I jumped up from the couch, leapt over the coffee table, screamed, jumped back across the table and kissed my girlfriend. My mom, who had long since gone to bed, came rushing downstairs to see what the commotion was. She didn’t believe us when we said State had won the game.
What really sucked though was that school was on spring break. I had to wait a full week before I could rub it to the obnoxious Carolina fans that I went to school with at good ole RJR.
N.C. STATE (54)
Player.............MIN...FG-A..FT-A..REB..A..PF..PTS
Thurl Bailey........39...7-16...1-2...5...0...1...15
Lorenzo Charles.....25...2-7....0-0...7...0...2....4
Cozell McQueen......34...1-5....2-2..12...1...4....4
Dereck Whittenburg..39...6-17...2-2...5...1...3...14
Sidney Lowe.........40...4-9....0-1...0...8...2....8
Alvin Battle.........4...0-1....2-2...1...1...1....2
Terry Gannon........18...3-4....1-2...1...2...3....7
Ernie Myers..........1...0-0....0-0...1...0...0....0
Totals.............200..23-59...8-11.34...3..16...54
HOUSTON (52)
Player.............MIN....FG-A..FT-A..REB..A..PF..PTS
Clyde Drexler.......25....1-5....2-2...2...0...4....4
Larry Micheaux......18....2-6....0-0...6...0...1....4
Hakeem Olajuwon.....38....7-15...6-7..18...1...1...20
Alvin Franklin......35....2-6....0-1...0...3...0....4
Michael Young.......30....3-10...0-4...8...1...0....6
Benny Anders........17....4-9....2-5...2...1...2...10
Reid Gettys.........20....2-2....0-0...2...2...3....4
David Rose...........7....0-1....0-0...1...0...2....0
Bryan Williams......10....0-1....0-0...4...1...3....0
Totals.............200...21-55..10-19.44...9..16...52
The Wolfpack has won the National Championship!
Twenty-Four years ago tonight at 11:14 pm, the late Wally Ausley made that legendary call as NC State stunned the basketball world and defeated Houston 54-52 to win the National Championship.
I still get goose bumps whenever I hear the play-by-play of the last minute of that game. When the game ended, I jumped up from the couch, leapt over the coffee table, screamed, jumped back across the table and kissed my girlfriend. My mom, who had long since gone to bed, came rushing downstairs to see what the commotion was. She didn’t believe us when we said State had won the game.
What really sucked though was that school was on spring break. I had to wait a full week before I could rub it to the obnoxious Carolina fans that I went to school with at good ole RJR.
N.C. STATE (54)
Player.............MIN...FG-A..FT-A..REB..A..PF..PTS
Thurl Bailey........39...7-16...1-2...5...0...1...15
Lorenzo Charles.....25...2-7....0-0...7...0...2....4
Cozell McQueen......34...1-5....2-2..12...1...4....4
Dereck Whittenburg..39...6-17...2-2...5...1...3...14
Sidney Lowe.........40...4-9....0-1...0...8...2....8
Alvin Battle.........4...0-1....2-2...1...1...1....2
Terry Gannon........18...3-4....1-2...1...2...3....7
Ernie Myers..........1...0-0....0-0...1...0...0....0
Totals.............200..23-59...8-11.34...3..16...54
HOUSTON (52)
Player.............MIN....FG-A..FT-A..REB..A..PF..PTS
Clyde Drexler.......25....1-5....2-2...2...0...4....4
Larry Micheaux......18....2-6....0-0...6...0...1....4
Hakeem Olajuwon.....38....7-15...6-7..18...1...1...20
Alvin Franklin......35....2-6....0-1...0...3...0....4
Michael Young.......30....3-10...0-4...8...1...0....6
Benny Anders........17....4-9....2-5...2...1...2...10
Reid Gettys.........20....2-2....0-0...2...2...3....4
David Rose...........7....0-1....0-0...1...0...2....0
Bryan Williams......10....0-1....0-0...4...1...3....0
Totals.............200...21-55..10-19.44...9..16...52
N.C. State......33...21...54
Houston.........25...27...52
4 comments:
I watched it with Dad. I don't think I've ever screamed so loud in my life. A Few minutes after it was over, Brent calls me. He was a Carolina fan at the time (I love reminding him of that). I had watched carolina's win a year before from the same couch. Anyway, he was excited for State, but had the nerve to say something like "too bad it happenned on such a dumb play". Don't think I've ever forgiven him for that comment, given the whole Fred Brown pass to Worthy the year before.
I have never forgiven myself for not getting in the car and driving to Raleigh for the party, but then again, I was still in high school. I remember WUNC TV showed the team arrival back in Reynolds. What a party. It is kind of crazy to think it, but that dunk changed all of our lives in ways we can't really comprehend. It certainly changed Valvano's life forever, and he has certainly had a big impact on my life.
Didn't we talk about going to Raleigh a couple of days before the final? I do regretting not being on Hillsborough Street, but remember the car you drove back in those days... Could it have made it there and back?
I remember listening to the post game on the Wolfpack Capitol Sports Network. They had someone at the library covering the celebration. At the time he sounded like a war correspondent due to all the craziness going on.
By the way, I think you're mistaken on whether or not it was Spring Break. I had classes the next day and was very tired from being up all night. Still went to my first class where the engineering prof said that he would allow us to turn our homework in later because of the great victory.
We were in high-school, so he was talking about high-school spring break ;)
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