1984–85 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team

The 1984–85 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team represented the University of Oklahoma in competitive college basketball during the 1984–85 NCAA Division I season. The Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team played its home games in the Lloyd Noble Center and was a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) former Big Eight Conference at that time. The team posted a 31–6 overall record and a 13–1 conference record to finish first in the Conference for head coach Billy Tubbs. This was the first Big Eight Conference tournament championship and second Conference regular season championship for Tubbs.^[1] This was Tubbs' first NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament #1 seed.

1984–85 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball
Big 8 Conference regular season champions Big 8 Conference tournament champions
NCAA men's Division I tournament, #1 Seed, Elite Eight
Conference	Big 8 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 4
Record	31–6 (13–1 Big 8)
Head coach	Billy Tubbs (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Mike Anderson Jim Kerwin (1st season) Mike Mims
Home arena	Lloyd Noble Center (Capacity: 11,528)
Seasons ← 1983–84 1985–86 →

1984–85 Big Eight Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 4 Oklahoma†	13	–	1		.929			31	–	6		.838
No. 13 Kansas	11	–	3		.786			26	–	8		.765
Iowa State	7	–	7		.500			21	–	13		.618
Missouri	7	–	7		.500			18	–	14		.563
Kansas State	5	–	9		.357			14	–	14		.500
Colorado	5	–	9		.357			11	–	17		.393
Nebraska	5	–	9		.357			16	–	14		.533
Oklahoma State	3	–	11		.214			12	–	16		.429
† 1985 Big Eight tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The team was led by All American and Big Eight Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year Wayman Tisdale. The team lost two of its first four games, both to Illinois. It then won four home games before losing to SMU in the Chaminade Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. The team then won four more before losing at Tulsa. The team then won twelve in a row before losing at Kansas. The team then won its last three regular season games, its three conference tournament games and its first three 1984 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament games before it was eliminated in the elite eight round by Memphis.^[2]

Among his numerous accomplishments, Wayman Tisdale established the current Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball career scoring (2661), career scoring average (25.6), career rebounds (1048), single-season points (932) records.^[3] Tisdale became the first Associated Press All-American first team selection as a freshman, sophomore and junior and first three-time Big Eight Conference scoring champion.^[4]

Roster

1984–85 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 22 William Tisdale 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Booker T. Washington Tulsa, Oklahoma F 23 Wayman Tisdale 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Jr Booker T. Washington Tulsa, Oklahoma G/F 25 Anthony Bowie 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr East Central Tulsa, Oklahoma F 30 Darryl Kennedy 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Northwest Classen Oklahoma City, Oklahoma G 32 Tim McCalister 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So West Side Gary, Indiana F/C 55 David Johnson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 255 lb (116 kg) So Wyandotte Kansas City, Kansas	Head coach Billy Tubbs (Lamar) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 18, 1984*	No. 5	vs. No. 2 Illinois Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic	L 64–81	0–1	Springfield Civic Center (7,530) Springfield, Massachusetts
Nov 24, 1984*	No. 5	Morehead State	W 94–48	1–1	Lloyd Noble Center (11,400) Norman, Oklahoma
Nov 26, 1984*	No. 10	Arkansas-Little Rock	W 90–63	2–1	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Dec 1, 1984*	No. 10	at No. 7 Illinois	L 70–73	2–2	Assembly Hall (16,671) Champaign, Illinois
Dec 5, 1984*	No. 17	St. Mary's (TX)	W 88–55	3–2	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Dec 8, 1984*	No. 17	Loyola-Chicago	W 115–82	4–2	Lloyd Noble Center (11,200) Norman, Oklahoma
Dec 10, 1984*	No. 15	Southwestern (TX)	W 126–76	5–2	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Dec 15, 1984*	No. 15	Puget Sound	W 101–71	6–2	Lloyd Noble Center (11,455) Norman, Oklahoma
Dec 22, 1984*	No. 11	vs. No. 6 Southern Methodist	L 76–85	6–3	Neal S. Blaisdell Center  Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 25, 1984*	No. 17	vs. No. 20 Louisville	W 90–72	7–3	Neal S. Blaisdell Center  Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 29, 1984*	No. 17	vs. Manhattan All-College Tournament	W 121–74	8–3	The Myriad  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Dec 30, 1984*	No. 17	vs. No. 19 Louisiana Tech All-College Tournament	W 84–72	9–3	The Myriad (10,287) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Jan 5, 1985*	No. 13	Northeast Louisiana	W 101–95	10–3	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Jan 9, 1985*	No. 8	at Tulsa	L 89–104	10–4	Tulsa Convention Center  Tulsa, Oklahoma
Jan 12, 1985*	No. 8	Northwestern State	W 98–62	11–4	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Jan 16, 1985	No. 13	Missouri	W 92–65	12–4 (1–0)	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Jan 19, 1985	No. 13	No. 9 Kansas	W 87–76	13–4 (2–0)	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Jan 23, 1985	No. 11	at Iowa State	W 81–74	14–4 (3–0)	Hilton Coliseum (14,342) Ames, Iowa
Jan 26, 1985	No. 9	Kansas State	W 94–75	15–4 (4–0)	Lloyd Noble Center (11,495) Norman, Oklahoma
Jan 29, 1985	No. 7	at Colorado	W 90–71	16–4 (5–0)	Coors Events Center  Boulder, Colorado
Feb 2, 1985	No. 7	at Oklahoma State	W 83–81	17–4 (6–0)	Gallagher-Iba Arena  Stillwater, Oklahoma
Feb 6, 1985	No. 7	Nebraska	W 83–74	18–4 (7–0)	Lloyd Noble Center (11,450) Norman, Oklahoma
Feb 9, 1985	No. 7	at Kansas State	W 81–75	19–4 (8–0)	Ahearn Fieldhouse  Manhattan, Kansas
Feb 13, 1985	No. 4	Iowa State	W 104–76	20–4 (9–0)	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Feb 16, 1985	No. 4	at Missouri	W 88–84	21–4 (10–0)	Hearnes Center (12,288) Columbia, Missouri
Feb 20, 1985	No. 5	Colorado	W 110–80	22–4 (11–0)	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Feb 24, 1985	No. 5	at No. 15 Kansas	L 76–82	22–5 (11–1)	Allen Fieldhouse (15,200) Lawrence, Kansas
Feb 27, 1985	No. 6	Oklahoma State	W 89–84	23–5 (12–1)	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Mar 2, 1985	No. 6	at Nebraska	W 65–62	24–5 (13–1)	Bob Devaney Sports Center (14,688) Lincoln, Nebraska
Mar 3, 1985*	No. 6	No. 10 Georgia Tech	W 87–80	25–5	Lloyd Noble Center (11,619) Norman, Oklahoma
Big 8 Tournament
Mar 5, 1985*	(1) No. 4	(8) Oklahoma State Quarterfinals	W 116–91	26–5	Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, Oklahoma
Mar 8, 1985*	(1) No. 4	vs. (4) Missouri Semifinals	W 104–84	27–5	Kemper Arena (17,200) Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 7, 1985*	(1) No. 4	vs. (3) Iowa State Championship Game	W 73–71	28–5	Kemper Arena (13,200) Kansas City, Missouri
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1985*	(1 MW) No. 4	vs. (16 MW) North Carolina A&T First round	W 96–83^[5]	29–5	Mabee Center  Tulsa, Oklahoma
Mar 16, 1985*	(1 MW) No. 4	vs. (9 MW) Illinois State Second Round	W 75–69	30–5	Mabee Center (10,575) Tulsa, Oklahoma
Mar 21, 1985*	(1 MW) No. 4	vs. (5 MW) No. 8 Louisiana Tech Midwest Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 86–84 ^OT[6]	31–5	Reunion Arena (17,007) Dallas, Texas
Mar 23, 1985*	(1 MW) No. 4	vs. (2 MW) No. 5 Memphis State Midwest Regional Final – Elite Eight	L 61–63	31–6	Reunion Arena  Dallas, Texas
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest.

NCAA basketball tournament

Main article: 1985 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The following is a summary of the team's performance in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament:^[7]

• Midwest
  • Oklahoma (1) 96, North Carolina A&T (16) 83
  • Oklahoma 75, Illinois State (9) 69
  • Oklahoma 86, Louisiana Tech (5) 84 (OT) (Sweet 16)
  • Memphis State (2) 63, Oklahoma 61 (Regional Final)

Honors

• All-American: Wayman Tisdale (3rd of 3 times)^[8]
• Big Eight POY: Tisdale^[9]

Team players drafted into the NBA

The following players were drafted in the 1985 NBA draft:^[10][11]

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	2	Wayman Tisdale	Indiana Pacers

The following players were varsity letter-winners from this team who were drafted in the NBA draft in later years:^[12][13]

• 1987 NBA draft: Tim McCalister (3rd, 47th, Los Angeles Clippers), David Johnson (4th, 89th, Dallas Mavericks), Darryl Kennedy (4th, 91st, Boston Celtics)

References

1. . SoonerStats.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
2. "1985 Men's Basketball Season". SoonerStats.com. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
3. (PDF). CBS Interactive. p. 126. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
4. . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 28, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
5. "Oklahoma Advances by 96-83". The New York Times. March 15, 1985. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
6. "Tisdale's Roller Lifts Oklahoma". Chicago Tribune. March 22, 1985. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
7. "1985 NCAA basketball tournament Bracket". databaseSports.com. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
8. (PDF). CBS Interactive. p. 164. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
9. (PDF). CBS Interactive. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
10. . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
11. . Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
12. . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
13. (PDF). CBS Interactive. pp. 168–169. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.