LEXINGTON — A program as successful as Kentucky – more wins than any team in college basketball history, eight national championships17 Final Four and 61 NCAA tournament appearances – will certainly have its share of inspiring records.
But which ones are most likely to stand the test of time?
Below, we offer some notes – from program records, coaching superlatives and individual excellence – that are unlikely to be broken.
Kentucky basketball program records
Longest home winning streak: 129 games
From 1943 to 1955, Kentucky played 129 home games. Hosted enemies in Alumni gym. Moved to Memorial Coliseum. The constant: the United Kingdom won. And won. And won. Their 129-game winning streak at home which ended against Georgia Tech, remains the longest in NCAA history. At any level (Divisions I, II and III). Men or women.
The closest any program came to matching the UK was the Amherst women. The Division III program reeled off 121 consecutive home wins from 2009-2016.
Recently, the closest a Division I men’s program has come to Kentucky’s unparalleled run was Gonzagawhich had a run of 76 home games interrupted last year.
Of the many UK registries, this may be the safest.
Kentucky basketball coaching records
Adolph Rupp’s 876 overall victories
Adolfo Rupp, the legendary “Baron of Bluegrass,” won 876 games in 41 seasons. John Calipari, the second-winningest coach in program history, didn’t even achieve half of that, finishing his time at UK with 410 wins.
To put Rupp’s win total in perspective, new coach Mark Pope could record 20 consecutive 40-0 seasons… and he would still need almost two more 40-0 campaigns to surpass Rupp.
Adolph Rupp’s SEC Securities Count: 40
Rupp has captured 27 regular-season SEC championships, winning 23 and sharing four. He also led the Wildcats to 13 conference tournament titles before the event ended after the 1952 edition; he did not return until 1979. Rupp would undoubtedly have added many more league tournament championships had the event been played.
Even without that, however, he maintains the lead in terms of all-time SEC titles (combining regular season championships and league tournament triumphs). Calipari is next in line. With 12 (six regular season championships and tournaments each).
To unseat Rupp, an SEC coach needs to start young and never slow down. And even that may not be enough.
Kentucky basketball single-game records (team)
Fewest points allowed: 6
Kentucky allowed just six points to Arkansas State in a 75-6 stride in 1945. The six points are an NCAA record (dating back to the 1938-39 season, the first year the organization was crowned national champion) that has been matched only once: Tennessee beat Temple, 11-6, in 1973.
Given how much basketball has changed in the last half century — from the introduction of the shot clock to the greater reliance on 3-point shots — it’s almost guaranteed that no Division I team will give up less than Rupp’s group did nearly 80 years ago. .
Fewest field goals allowed: 2
Not surprisingly, this mark is from the same destruction as the UK state of Arkansas. The Wildcats only gave up two goals that day. NC State matched that 23 years later, allowing Duke to make just two shots in the 1968 ACC Tournament semifinal. The Wolfpack defeated the favored Blue Devils by two points, 12-10.
Once again, with the shot clock and improved shooters in the modern game, this appears to be another NCAA record that Kentucky should feel confident it will hold until the end of time.
Most rebounds: 108
UK grabbed 108 rebounds in a 102-59 win over Ole Miss on February 8, 1964. It’s another NCAA mark held by the Wildcats. In that 43-point victory, Kentucky had five players knock down 11 or more boards, led by 30 from Cotton Nash.
Mark this as another record UK should hold: The last time any Division I team posted a triple-digit rebound count was 1966, when Weber State had 101 against Idaho State.
Kentucky basketball single-season records (team)
Most rebounds: 2,109
The Wild Cats of 1950-51 dominated the cup, setting the NCAA single-season rebounding mark (2,109). Only three other Division I clubs have surpassed the 2,000 mark, the most recent being Houston in 1967-68.
Consider this number another UK record that probably won’t be rewritten anytime soon. If sometime.
Scoring margin: 27.2 points per game
1995–96 Kentucky team, who won the national title, is considered one of the greatest in the history of the sport. (This group of Wildcats is known as “The Untouchables“after all.) UK’s average margin of victory was 22.1 points per game that season. But as good as this group was, it’s not even No. 1 in that category in program history. In fact, five of Rupp’s clubs are ahead of the 1995-96 team.
The best: Kentucky demolished opponents at 27.2 points per game in 1953-54. UK went 25-0 that season. It’s the best scoring margin recorded by an SEC team. And it’s the third-best mark in the Division I record books, behind UCLA (scoring margin of 30.3 in 1971-72) and NC State (28.1 in 1947-48).
Kentucky basketball career records (individual)
Scoring Average: Dan Issel, 25.8 points per game
Just call it “The Dan Issel Section” because the greatest of all time holds both of those punctuation marks.
First: Issel averaged nearly 26 points per game during his three-year career. The next closest player to him is Nash at 22.7. No Wildcat has averaged more than 20 points per game in his career since Kevin Grevey (21.4 ppg) moved on after the 1974-75 season.
Kentucky basketball single season records (individual)
Scoring average: Dan Issel, 33.9 points per game (1969-70)
Since Issel’s record scoring season, the closest any Kentucky player has come to his value was Jodie Meeks. And as brilliant as Meeks was in 2008-09, his average (23.7) was more than 10 points behind Issel’s mark. (For good measure, Issel also holds the second-best scoring average by a Wildcat, scoring 26.6 points per game in 1968-69.)
Issel will hold this record until the end of the world.
Contact Kentucky men’s basketball and soccer reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on the X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Basketball’s Mark Pope Era: These Records Will Be Hard to Beat
