1976–77 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1976–77 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
1976–77 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
SEC co-champion
NCAA Tournament, Regional Final
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 3
Record	26–4 (16–2 SEC)
Head coach	Joe B. Hall (5th season);
Captains	Merion Haskins; Larry Johnson;
Home arena	Rupp Arena
	Seasons ← 1975–76 1977–78 →

1976–77 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Kentucky	16	–	2	.889	26	–	4	.867
No. 15 Tennessee	16	–	2	.889	22	–	6	.786
No. 11 Alabama	14	–	4	.778	25	–	6	.806
Florida	10	–	8	.556	17	–	9	.654
LSU	8	–	10	.444	15	–	12	.556
Mississippi State	6	–	12	.333	14	–	13	.519
Auburn	6	–	12	.333	13	–	13	.500
Vanderbilt	6	–	12	.333	10	–	16	.385
Ole Miss	5	–	13	.278	11	–	16	.407
Georgia	3	–	15	.167	9	–	18	.333

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1976–77 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented University of Kentucky in the 1976–77 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was the first season Kentucky played in Rupp Arena. Kentucky finished with an overall record of 26–4 (16–2 SEC) In the 1977 NCAA Tournament Kentucky was invited as a #3 seed. After wins vs Princeton and VMI the Wildcats faced North Carolina in the East Regional Final. Kentucky trailed the Tar Heels by twelve at half and their comeback came up short as they lost 79–72

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
November 27, 1976*	No. 6	Wisconsin	W 72–64	–	–	–
December 2, 1976*	No. 5	TCU	W 103–53	–	–	–
December 6, 1976*	No. 5	at No. 4 Indiana Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	W 66–51	–	–	–	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
December 11, 1976*	No. 4	Kansas	W 90–63	–	–	–	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
December 13, 1976*	No. 4	at South Carolina	W 98–67	–	–	–
December 17, 1976*	No. 3	Bowling Green UK Invitation Tournament	W 77–59	–	–	–
December 18, 1976*	No. 3	Utah UK Invitation Tournament	L 68–70	–	–	–
December 30, 1976*	No. 6	vs. No. 2 Notre Dame	W 102–78	–	–	–	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
January 3, 1977	No. 6	Georgia	W 64–59 ^OT	–	–	–
January 8, 1977	No. 3	at Vanderbilt	W 64–62	–	–	–
January 12, 1977	No. 2	Tennessee	L 67–71 ^OT	–	–	–
January 15, 1977	No. 2	at Auburn	W 75–68	–	–	–
January 17, 1977	No. 2	at Florida	W 73–71	–	–	–
January 22, 1977	No. 6	LSU	W 87–72	–	–	–
January 24, 1977	No. 6	Ole Miss	W 100–73	–	–	–
January 29, 1977	No. 6	at No. 3 Alabama	W 87–85	–	–	–
January 31, 1977	No. 6	at Mississippi St	W 92–85	–	–	–
February 5, 1977	No. 3	Vanderbilt	W 113–73	–	–	–
February 7, 1977*	No. 3	vs. Florida St	W 97–57	–	–	–	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
February 12, 1977	No. 3	Auburn	W 89–82	–	–	–
February 14, 1977	No. 3	Florida	W 104–78	–	–	–
February 19, 1977	No. 2	at LSU	W 90–76	–	–	–
February 21, 1977	No. 2	at Ole Miss	W 81–69	–	–	–
February 26, 1977	No. 2	No. 8 Alabama	W 85–70	–	–	–
February 28, 1977	No. 2	Mississippi St	W 77–64	–	–	–
March 5, 1977	No. 2	at No. 11 Tennessee	L 79–81	–	–	–
March 7, 1977	No. 2	Georgia	W 72–54	–	–	–
March 12, 1977*	No. 3	vs. Princeton NCAA Tournament • First round	W 72–58	–	–	–	The Palestra Philadelphia, PA
March 17, 1977*	No. 3	vs. No. 20 VMI NCAA Tournament • East Regional semifinal	W 93–78	–	–	–	Cole Field House College Park, MD
March 19, 1977*	No. 3	vs. No. 5 North Carolina NCAA Tournament • East Regional Final	L 72–79	–	–	–	Cole Field House College Park, MD
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[2]

References

[1] sports-reference.com 1976-77 Southeastern Conference Season Summary

[2] [1]^{[permanent dead link]}

[1]

[2]

v t e Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	State College Gymnasium (1903–1914) Buell Armory Gymnasium (1910–1924) Alumni Gymnasium (1924–1950) Memorial Coliseum (1950–1976) Rupp Arena (1976–present) Joe Craft Center (practice)
Rivalries	Arkansas Centre (historical) Florida Indiana Louisville North Carolina Tennessee Transylvania (historical)
Culture & lore	History under Adolph Rupp Fabulous Five Point-shaving scandal Fiddlin' Five Rupp's Runts The Season Without Celebration "The Shot" Unforgettables Untouchables Comeback Cats John Wall Dance Tweakables Pursuit of Perfection 2011 Indiana game Basketbowl Champions Classic CBS Sports Classic The Rivalry: Red v. Blue The Wildcat Scratch Blue "On, On, U of K" "Kentucky Fight" Big Blue Nation Blue blood status
People	Head coaches Honorees NBA draftees Players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics