David Thompson: it took a furious second-half rally to topple the Walton Gang and cap one of the greatest college rivalries of all time

Basketball Digest, May-June, 2004

I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE have come up to me, saying they were at our NCAA Tournament semifinal game against UCLA in 1974. The place only held, what, 16,000? But I've probably had about 100,000 people over the years tell me they were at that game.

AT REST Thompson was one of the most explosive players in NCAA history.

One thing people always say is that it was a great game to watch. UCLA had won seven consecutive national titles going into the game. They had Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes, Marques Johnson, Richard Washington, and others. They had a great team. I think seven guys from that team went on to play in the NBA.

Because they had won so many times, UCLA had an aura of invincibility. Even though we had a great team and were undefeated, there probably weren't too many people outside the state of North Carolina saying, "North Carolina State is going to win this game." Everyone thought that in a big game, UCLA would come through and win again like they had done in the past. And no team from the ACC had won the national title since North Carolina in 1957, so that was a long stretch between wins.

What a lot of people forget is that we had to play a series of big, tough, exciting games just to get to the NCAA semis. First there was our classic game against Maryland in the ACC Tournament finals. We won in overtime, 103-100.

That game is often regarded as the best game in the history of the ACC. Maryland had John Lucas, Len Elmore, and Tom McMillen. They had their three All-Americans and we had myself, Monte Towe, and Tommy Burleson. That game went into overtime. Burleson had a great game with something like 38 points and 18 rebounds. I had 29 points.

That got us into the East regional of the NCAA Tournament We opened with a victory over Providence. We beat Pittsburgh in the second round, but it almost came with a big price.

Early in the game against Pitt, I went up for a shot and 1 tripped over my teammate's shoulder and fell hard. I hit my head on the floor and was knocked unconscious. That was pretty scary. The whole team didn't know if I was going to make it or not. I didn't move for a long lime. There was blood everywhere--it looked like it was coming out of my ear, but actually it was coming file back of my head.

What I tell all the guys is my afro saved me. The afro acted like padding. I came back into the arena with about five minutes left with a turban-like bandage on my head. I got a great ovation from the crowd. It was a touching moment

That brought us to the UCLA game. Like I said, they had a great team. The newspapers started calling them the Walton Gang. They had beaten us by 18 points in St. Louis earlier in the year in a made-for-television game that pitted the two undefeated teams from the Fear before. I didn't have what you would call a great game that day.

This was our chance at redemption. We had lost only one game during my sophomore and junior seasons, and that was to UCLA We were 57-1 during those two years. So here we were, looking to redeem ourselves.

We had a big advantage this lime: The game was played at the Greensboro Coliseum, which was just 60 or 70 miles from our campus.

The first half was very dose, Neither team took much of a lead. In fact, UCLA's Dave Meyers hit a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half to tie the game at 35-35.

But the beginning of the second half was a different story. They came out red-hot and broke the game open. We made a little run to get back into the game, but then they pushed the lead back to double digits.

To get back in the game, we stepped up our defense and forced UCLA into some turnovers and bad shots. We started making our shots and we actually took a two-point lead when I dunked an alley-oop and made the free throw. But it went back and forth and ended up tied at the end of regulation. The first overtime was slow, but the second overtime was probably the most hectic part of the game. UCLA came out just as they had at the start of the second half and rattled off some baskets. We got down by seven with two minutes and thirty-something seconds left to play.

Coach Norm Sloan, who passed away in late 2003, called time out and said we had to do something to turn this around. So we started pressing full court. Towe drew a charge and Burleson made a big steal, and I think even Mo Rivers made a big steal. I scored a few baskets to give us the lead. Then I hit a bank shot and a couple of free throws to clinch the game. I finished with 28 points that night and we won, 80-77. That has to be the game I'll never forget.

A of people forget think we won the national title that night, but beating UCLA just gave us a chance to play for the national title. In the NCAA final, we played Marquette, which was a great team as well, with Maurice Lucas, Bo Ellis, Marcus Washington, and Lloyd Walton. But we went in there, took control toward the end of the first half, and won the national title.

And about 100,000 people have told me over the years that they were at that game, too.--As told to Chuck O'Donnell