1963–64 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

The 1963–64 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University during the 1963–64 NCAA Division I college basketball season. Tommy O'Keefe coached them in his fourth season as head coach, but Georgetown's head coaching position paid so little that he could only coach part-time and held a full-time job outside of coaching in order to meet his financial obligations, impairing his ability to recruit players.[1][2] The team was an independent and played its home games at McDonough Gymnasium on the Georgetown campus in Washington, D.C. It finished the season with a record of 15-10 and had no postseason play.

1963–64 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball
ConferenceIndependent
1963–64 record1510
Head coach
Assistant coachTom Coleman (3rd season)
CaptainJim Christy (1st year)
Home arenaMcDonough Gymnasium

Season recap

Georgetown looked forward to having senior guard Jim Christy, the team's point guard and team captain, and junior forward Jim Barry perhaps the best player of Georgetown men's basketball's "Classic Era" (1943–1972) together again after their high-scoring performances the previous season, raising hopes that they could lead the team to a postseason tournament berth. Barry, however, was forced to miss the 1963–64 season while recovering from knee surgery.[3][4]

Sophomore guard Jim Brown joined the varsity team this year after emerging as a top scorer on the freshman team the previous year. He started the season opener, in which his fast-break style of offense helped the Hoyas to beat Maryland by 21 points.[5] Another newcomer to the team, sophomore forward Owen Gillen, scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds in the game.[6]

Fifteen days later, Georgetown began play in the Quaker City Classic at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its first opponent was No.1 Loyola of Chicago. Led by John Egan, Loyola was the defending champion from the 1963 NCAA Tournament, entered the game with a 22-game winning streak, and was a 28-point favorite. Jim Brown's defense kept Egan in check, Jim Christy scored 30 points, and the Hoyas led by 12 points at the half and won the game 69-58. It was Georgetown's first-ever victory over a No. 1-ranked opponent.[4][5]

Jim Brown had a season-high 14 points against Navy. He went on to finish the season averaging 12.5 points per game and with a school-record 148 assists; he would break that record himself two seasons later.[5]

In the Hoyas' next game, eleven days later against La Salle, Jim Christy scored on eight consecutive field goals. Two weeks after that, Christy scored his 1,000th point in a game against New York University and scored on a late-game layup that helped Georgetown to come from behind to beat NYU, pushing the Hoyas' record to 12-8 and renewing hopes that they could secure an invitation to the 1964 National Invitation Tournament.[4] Sophomore forward John "Jake" Gibbons, meanwhile, scored 26 points in a game against George Washington.[7] Owen Gillen had a season-high 23 points against Canisius and also had strong performances against Fordham, Boston College, Holy Cross, and Rutgers, finishing the season as the team's leading rebounder.[6]

Late in the season, Jim Christy had an historic game at Maryland on February 25, 1964. He scored 11 of the game's first 16 points and finished with a school-record 44 points, shooting 14-for-19 (73%) from the field and 16-of-18 (89%) from the free-throw line as the Hoyas upset the Terrapins. The win gave Georgetown the so-called "Big Three" title for the year among the Washington, D.C., area's three major college men's basketball teams (Georgetown, George Washington, and Maryland).[4] As impressive as a 44-point game was, Christy's record would stand for only a year and two days until Jim Barry scored 46 points in a game in late February 1965.[3]

The team played inconsistently most of the season and finished with a record of 15-10 and no postseason play. The 15 wins were the most by a Georgetown team since the 1951-52 team won 15, leaving observers to contemplate whether the 1963–64 team might have made the postseason if forward Jim Barry had been available to play.[3]

The team was not ranked in the Top 20 in the Associated Press Poll or Coaches' Poll at any time.[8][9]

Roster

From the 1958-59 season through the 1967-68 season, Georgetown players wore even-numbered jerseys for home games and odd-numbered ones for away games; for example, a player would wear No. 10 at home and No. 11 on the road. Players are listed below by the even numbers they wore at home.[10]

Source[4][5][6][7][10][11]

# Name Height Weight (lbs.) Position Class Hometown Previous team(s)
10 Jim Christy 6'1" 185 G Sr. Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Saint Pascal HS
12 Joe Franz 6'5" N/A F Jr. Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. Loyola HS
14 John Prendergast N/A N/A G Jr. Utica, New York, U.S. Notre Dame Junior Senior HS
20 Joe Mazelin 6'2" N/A G Sr. Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. Sacred Heart HS
22 Jim Brown 5'10" 170 G So. Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S. Don Bosco Preparatory HS
24 Charles "Buddy" O'Donnell 6'3" N/A F Sr. Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, U.S. Monsignor Bonner HS
30 Jim Jones 6'4" N/A F So. Groveton, Virginia, U.S. Groveton HS
32 Chuck Devlin 6'5" N/A F Sr. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Germantown Academy
34 Ed Solano 6'3" N/A F So. Bellerose, New York, U.S. St. Mary's HS
40 Dave Philbin 6'4" N/A F So. Clinton, Massachusetts, U.S. Portsmouth Priory School
42 John "Jake" Gibbons 6'5" 200 F/C So. Cambria Hills, New York, U.S. Saint Francis HS
44 Owen Gillen 6'5" 210 F/C So. Totowa, New Jersey, U.S. Passaic Valley Regional HS
52 Tom Carroll 6'3" N/A F So. New York, New York, U.S. St. Nicholas of Tolentine HS
54 Tom Hamm 6'4" N/A C So. St. Cloud, Minnesota, U.S. Cathedral HS

1963–64 schedule and results

Sources[12][13][14][15]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site
city, state
Regular season
Wed., Dec. 4, 1963
no, no
Maryland W 8372  1-0
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Sat., Dec. 7, 1963
no, no
Fairleigh Dickinson W 8167  2-0
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Tue., Dec. 10, 1963
no, no
American W 10979  3-0
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Thu., Dec. 12, 1963
no, no
at Manhattan W 9887  4-0
Madison Square Garden 
New York, New York
Mon., Dec. 16, 1963
no, no
at Delaware W 9365  5-0
Delaware Field House 
Newark, Delaware
Thu., Dec. 19, 1963
no, no
at Loyola New Orleans L 7892  5-1
Loyola Field House 
New Orleans, Louisiana
Sat., Dec. 21, 1963
no, no
at Georgia Tech L 7196  5-2
Alexander Memorial Coliseum 
Atlanta, Georgia
Fri., Dec. 27, 1963
no, no
vs. No. 1 Loyola Chicago
Quaker City Tournament
W 6958  6-2
Palestra 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sat., Dec. 28, 1963
no, no
vs. La Salle
Quaker City Tournament
L 6980  6-3
Palestra 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sun., Dec. 29, 1963
no, no
vs. Drake
Quaker City Tournament
L 6189  6-4
Palestra 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sat., Jan. 4, 1964
no, no
at George Washington L 6977  6-5
Fort Myer Gymnasium 
Fort Myer, Virginia
Tue., Jan. 7, 1964
no, no
Canisius W 8778  7-5
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Sat., Jan. 11, 1964
no, no
at Fordham W 7670  8-5
Rose Hill Gymnasium 
Bronx, New York
Tue., Jan. 14, 1964
no, no
Navy L 6467  8-6
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Sat., Jan. 25, 1964
no, no
La Salle W 8581  9-6
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Sat., Feb. 1, 1964
no, no
at Seton Hall L 9094  9-7
Walsh Gymnasium 
South Orange, New Jersey
Wed., Feb. 5, 1964
no, no
at St. Joseph's L 7079  9-8
Palestra 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sun., Feb. 9, 1964
no, no
Saint Peter's W 12073  10-8
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Wed., Feb. 12, 1964
no, no
George Washington W 8381  11-8
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Sat., Feb. 15, 1964
no, no
New York University W 7972  12-8
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Mon., Feb. 17, 1964
no, no
Fairfield W 7973  13-8
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
Fri., Feb. 21, 1964
no, no
at Boston College L 92107  13-9
Roberts Center 
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Sat., Feb. 22, 1964
no, no
at Holy Cross L 7795  13-10
Worcester Memorial Auditorium 
Worcester, Massachusetts
Tue., Feb. 25, 1964
no, no
at Maryland W 8178  14-10
Cole Field House 
College Park, Maryland
Sat., Feb. 29, 1964
no, no
Rutgers W 7967  15-10
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, D.C.
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

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