One of the best Purdue teams ever: The 1974 NIT champs

The 1974 Purdue Boilermakers were one of the best teams in school history, and it didn’t even qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

In our Monday Night Memories series, brought to you by the Chariot Auto Group/Twin City Dodge, we hear from several key Boilermakers’ 1974 NIT title team members. The Gold and Black, coached by Fred Schaus, were 22-9 that season, finished third in the Big Ten, and made history by becoming the first conference school to win New York’s famed tournament.

In those days, only 25 teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament and only one from the Big Ten. The Boilermakers ended the season ranked No. 11 after defeating No. 7 North Carolina in the opening round of the NIT and handling Hawaii, Jacksonville, and Utah to win it all. All four games were played in New York’s Madison Square Garden. On the simulcast were four starters (John Garrett, Frank Kendrick, Jerry Nichols and Bruce Parkinson) and three reserves (Dick Satterfield, Randy Shields and Mike Steele). The lively 56-minute discussion shared many stories about one of the best seasons in Purdue men’s basketball history. 

More: The 1974 NIT Tournament | Head coach Fred Schaus | The thoughts from the Weekend: The Nebraska game and more

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More on Purdue’s NIT champs

The 1973-74 Boilermakers were one of the highest-scoring teams in college basketball. And they came within an eyelash of being a contender for not only the NCAA Tournament, but a team capable of a deep run. Purdue had some quality wins: over No. 9 Providence in the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii, The also came from way behind to beat Michigan in Mackey.

But it was also a team that suffered some very heartbreaking losses. Purdue had eventual national champion North Carolina State and its legendary player David Thompson on the ropes. Purdue led by 10 at the half in a January non-conference battle. Nichols held Thompson scoreless for the first 16 minutes but got into foul trouble in the second half. During the period when Nichols was dealing with foul difficulty, Thompson exploded for 18 of his 26 points.

A week later, Purdue lost at Michigan State on a buzzer-beater and later lost a triple-overtime clash at Iowa (112-111). Purdue still had a chance to gain a share of the ’74 conference title and force a one-game playoff with Michigan in its season finale at IU. Schaus’ crew appeared to be on its way to the season finale at IU, in front of the largest crowd in state history. Purdue led by 10 in the half and went ahead on a Parkinson field goal with 32 seconds left. But with eight seconds left, official Art White whistled Bruce Rose for a highly disputed foul and IU’s John Laskowski sank the game-winning free throws.

Hours later Purdue accepted a bid to play in the NIT. IU lost the playoff to Michigan and the Wolverines represented the Big Ten in the NCAA. Purdue faced North Carolina, the only ranked team in the NIT, in a made-for-national-television matchup. It overcame an 11-point first half deficit to win 82-71.

“To show you how confident we were, we only packed for the weekend,” recalled Parkinson in the Monday Night Memories interview. “It was quite an upset.”

Purdue ended up staying for 10 days on Manhattan (all the NIT games were played in Madison Square Garden in those days), and got revenge for two early season losses to Hawaii and Utah en route to the NIT title.

Nichols, who had blown out his knee in the quarterfinal win over Hawaii, was the emotional part of the celebration that ensued in Mackey Arena when the Boilermakers returned to town after beating the UTES later that Sunday evening. Nichols was rolled onto the court in front of thousands of Purdue fans who were cheering on the tourney champs.

For Schaus, it would be the highlight of his six-year run as Purdue’s head coach. In ’74, Kendrick was named first-team All-Big Ten, while Garrett (second) and Parkinson (third) were also recognized by the league.

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