1975 NCAA Division I basketball championship game

The crowd for the 1975 national championship game, held at the San Diego Sports Arena, was announced as 15,153.[15] The contest was preceded by a third-place game between the losing Final Four teams, Louisville and Syracuse; it was the last year that the NCAA held a consolation game.[16] Louisville had a 16-point lead at halftime before Syracuse rallied to tie the score and force overtime, where the Cardinals outscored the Orangemen 18–10 to clinch a 96–88 victory.[17] In the first half, the game proceeded at what Sports Illustrated's Curry Kirkpatrick called a "furious pace".[7] During the half, there were five ties and the lead changed hands 15 times.[7] The Wildcats had the advantage for the majority of the period;[18] the Los Angeles Times's Ben Bolch later wrote that "UCLA appeared tight early, its shots mmostly missing, as if the Bruins wanted too badly to send Wooden out a winner."[3] However, the Bruins grew into the game in the latter stages of the half.[18] Twelve of the lead changes occurred in the opening six minutes, as the teams remained within a single point of each other. Kentucky's Grevey went on a scoring run, accounting for two field goals and two free throws that pushed the Wildcats to a five-point lead.[15] A Meyers basket for UCLA was countered by a three-point play from Givens.[15]

Seven minutes into the game, Kentucky held a 20–14 advantage, the team's largest lead of the game.[12] UCLA responded by scoring the next six points to force a tie, and the teams traded scores until the scores were even at 27–27. Kentucky's Grevey tallied the next four points,[15] part of his 18 points in the first 12 minutes of play, which helped the Wildcats to a four-point lead at that point. In response to Grevey's play, Wooden inserted Drollinger into the game; he was the only reserve who saw action for UCLA. With the change, Washington was assigned to help defend Grevey; he was three inches taller than Grevey's previous defender, Johnson, and it took 18 minutes for Grevey to score again.[18] The Bruins went on an 8–3 scoring run, and a basket by Trgovich gave them the lead with just over four minutes remaining in the half, 35–34.[12] Trgovich hit five baskets in the latter stages of the half.[15] During the rest of the period, UCLA slightly increased its lead, ending the half on top 43–40.[12]

Twice in the early part of the second half, UCLA took a six-point lead, only for Kentucky to rally to within two points. By the middle of the second half, UCLA had extended its lead, and scores by Meyers and Washington brought their margin to 10 points, 66–56,[15] with 12 minutes remaining on the clock.[7] The Wildcats then rallied with three three-point plays, two by Grevey and one by Flynn. A successful 20-foot shot by Grevey brought Kentucky to within 76–75,[15] with under seven minutes left. Then came what Kirkpatrick called a key turning point in the game. Meyers was called for an offensive foul on a shot attempt during which he bumped into Grevey. Meyers responded strongly to the call and was hit with a technical foul, which prompted Wooden to run onto the court and call referee Hank Nichols a "crook".[7] Kentucky would have a technical foul shot and one-and-one free throws from the original foul call, and would retain possession; this gave the Wildcats a chance to gain the lead, with the three free throws and a potential basket afterwards. However, Grevey missed on both the free throw from the technical foul and the front end of the one-and-one. On the Wildcats' subsequent possession, Lee was called for an offensive foul for setting a pick, leaving Kentucky scoreless from the series of plays.[7]

The teams exchanged points on a pair of free throws by Meyers and a successful bank shot attempt by Guyette, before a missed shot by Johnson was tipped in by Washington to put UCLA up 80–77.[7] Two Trgovich free throws stretched the Bruins' advantage to five points, with under five minutes left.[12] Although the Wildcats cut their deficit to three points on three occasions, and twice had possession of the ball while down three, they were unable to come any closer than that. After holding an 88–85 lead, UCLA tallied the last four points to earn the win, 92–85.[15]

UCLA converted 38 of its 78 field goal attempts, for a 48.7% rate, and made 16 of its 25 free throw attempts. The Bruins' shooting outpaced that of Kentucky, which made only 38.4% of its shot attempts (33-for-86). The Wildcats did make three more free throws than UCLA, in the same number of attempts.[19]

Grevey led all scorers for both teams with 34 points on 13-of-30 shooting from the field. Guyette made seven of his eleven field goal attempts and had 16 points,[19] including 14 in the second half,[15] while Flynn added 10 points. Those were the only three Wildcats players to score in double figures. Of the six Bruins players to appear in the game, four had 10 points or more.[19] Washington led UCLA with 28 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field;[12] he was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.[6] He was followed by Meyers, who had 24 points and made half of his 18 shots. Trgovich contributed 16 points,[19] while Drollinger came off the bench to score 10 points in 16 minutes.[12]

UCLA had a narrow rebounding advantage over Kentucky, 50–45. Drollinger led the team with 13 rebounds, while Washington and Meyers had 12 and 11, respectively. Robey had nine rebounds to lead the Wildcats. The Bruins had 23 assists, seven more than the Wildcats; McCarter had 14 of the Bruins' assists, the most of any player in the game.[19]

Gene Bartow succeeded Wooden as the Bruins' head coach for the 1975–76 season. UCLA went 27–5 and reached the 1976 Final Four,[2] The team did not return to the national championship game until 1980, and has won the title once since Wooden's tenure, in 1995 under Jim Harrick.[2]

Hall's Wildcats had a 20–10 record in 1975–76 and did not qualify for the NCAA tournament. After a regional final appearance the following season,[9] the Wildcats ended up winning the national title in 1978,[3] which was the program's first championship in 20 years.[9]