1978–79 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team

1978–79 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
Big Ten Regular season champions (tie)
Conference Big Ten Conference
1978–79 record 27–8 (13–5 Big Ten)
Head coach Lee Rose
Assistant coach Everett Bass
Assistant coach Roger Blalock
Assistant coach George Faerber
Home arena Mackey Arena
1978–79 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
#3 Michigan State 13 5   .722     26 6   .813
#15 Purdue 13 5   .722     27 8   .771
#20 Iowa 13 5   .722     20 8   .714
Ohio State 12 6   .667     19 12   .613
Indiana 10 8   .556     22 12   .647
Michigan 8 10   .444     15 12   .556
Illinois 7 11   .389     19 11   .633
Wisconsin 6 12   .333     12 15   .444
Minnesota 6 12   .333     11 16   .407
Northwestern 2 16   .111     6 21   .222
Rankings from AP Poll)

Regular season

In head coach Lee Rose's first season at Purdue, where he introduced a slowed-down, tempo-controlled style of play, he led the Boilers to a Big Ten Conference co-title, along with the eventual NCAA Champion, Ervin Johnson-led Michigan State team. With only a 32 team NCAA Tournament field in 1979, the Boilermakers were forced to enter the NIT, instead, due to the favor Michigan State had over Purdue for their head-to-head record on the season. Purdue qualified for the National Invitation Tournament, where they lost to the Indiana Hoosiers in the tournament finals.

National Invitation Tournament

[1]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round Pick Player NBA Club
4 82Jerry SichtingGolden State Warriors

[2]

References

  1. http://www.nit.org/history/nit-postseason-results-1970s.html
  2. http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1979&lg=N