1963 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game
| 1963 NCAA Tournament Championship Game | ||||||||||||||||
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| National Championship Game | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | March 23, 1963 | |||||||||||||||
| Arena | Freedom Hall | |||||||||||||||
| Location | Louisville, Kentucky | |||||||||||||||
| Referee(s) | Bill Bussenius and Alex George | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 19,153 | |||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Sports Network Incorporated | |||||||||||||||
The 1963 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game was the final of the 1963 NCAA University Division Basketball Tournament and determined the national champion in the 1962–63 NCAA University Division men's basketball season. The game was held on March 23, 1963, at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The matchup pitted the Loyola Ramblers, who were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance, against the Cincinnati Bearcats, the two-time defending national champions. After trailing by 15 points in the second half, Loyola rallied to force an overtime period, and won the game 60–58 on a basket by Vic Rouse with one second left. The Ramblers earned their first championship in men's college basketball.
The 1962–63 Bearcats were coached by Ed Jucker, who was in his third season on the job. In the previous two seasons, Cincinnati won the national championship, defeating Ohio State in the 1961 and 1962 national championship games. The Bearcats were attempting to become the first program ever to win the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive year. They began the season as the number-one ranked team in the AP Poll. Their first game was a 97–39 win over DePauw on December 1, after which they defeated Virginia by 49 points. Cincinnati won its next three games by double-figure margins, before traveling to Kansas, where the team posted a 64–49 victory at Allen Fieldhouse. In their next contest, Dayton became the first team to avoid a double-digit defeat against the Bearcats, losing 44–37 in Cincinnati's lowest-scoring game of the season.
After three more victories brought the Bearcats' record to 10–0, the team began play in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) with a January 5, 1963 home game against Wichita (now known as Wichita State), the eighth-ranked team in the country. By a 63–50 score, Cincinnati maintained their perfect record. The Bearcats remained undefeated through mid-February; their victories included a 62–53 win at third-ranked Illinois, along with seven MVC games. On February 16, the Bearcats suffered their first and only defeat of the regular season: in a second game against Wichita, the Shockers prevailed by one point, 65–64. Cincinnati won their next four games, ending the regular season with a 23–1 record. The Bearcats remained the top-ranked team in the AP Poll throughout the season, and they won the MVC championship with an 11–1 conference record, four games ahead of second-place Wichita.
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