Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? [of the UCLA game].' " Among the many moments Phelps cherishes from his 20-year tenure, he discussed the 1974 UCLA game, an impromptu pep rally at Main Circle with 2,000 students at 2 a.m. when the team returned from an upset at UCLA in 1976 and the defeat of No. 1 San Francisco in 1977. "I'll bite my tongue so I don't get emotional, but I just want to really make everyone feel like, 'It was an at- mosphere second to none. You people made it happen,' " Phelps said. "That's basically what I want to say to every- body [at the ceremony]." ✦ 1. UCLA, Jan. 19, 1974 — Unless Notre Dame one day wins a national title in men's basketball, this 71-70 victory over UCLA to end the Bruins' 88-game winning streak will eternally be remembered as the most epic victory in the program's history. Think about the situation: UCLA had won seven straight na- tional titles, 88 straight games, led 70-59 with 3:22 left, had never trailed in the game, and there was neither a shot clock nor a three-point line. If this situation were played 1,000 times over 1,000 days, UCLA likely would have been the victor in 999 of them. This was the one, though. Gary Brokaw poured in 25 points, John Shumate added 24, and Dwight Clay's corner jumper with 29 seconds remaining pro- vided the go-ahead points. It also improved Notre Dame to 10-0 and lifted it to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for the first time in history, 19 days after the football team won the national title. 2. DePaul, March 19, 1978 — For the first (and still only) time since Notre Dame first accepted a bid to the NCAA Tournament in 1953, the Irish won three in a row in the tourney to advance to the Final Four with an 84-64 victory over No. 3 DePaul, which had won at Notre Dame earlier in the year. Freshman Kelly Tripucka was named the regional MVP for the deep Irish team. It was the first time in NCAA history that in the same academic calendar (1977-78) a football team won the national title and men's basketball reached the Final Four. The second was Florida in 2006-07, which won it all in both sports. 3. Marquette, Jan. 13, 1973 — This was what began it all. Phelps was 6-20 his first season and started 1-6 his second with two-point losses to Indiana, Kentucky and St. Louis, plus an overtime setback to Ohio State. Phelps was 7-26, and the team didn't know how to finish. But after upsetting Kansas in overtime on Jan. 7 and DePaul four days later, the 3-6 Irish ended No. 4 Marquette's 81-game home winning streak, 71-69 — almost identical to the 71-70 win over UCLA a year and six days later. The Irish trailed by 10 in the second half, Brokaw was the leading scorer, and Clay drilled a corner jumper with four seconds left. Digger Phelps' Top Notre Dame Wins Phelps' Notre Dame squads became known for their ability to knock off top-10 teams, especially at the Joyce Center, during the coach's 20-year tenure. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS