Deja Vu? : No. 1 UNLV’s Visit to Titan Gym Tonight Sparks Memories of 1983 Upset

February, 1983: High surf and driving rains batter the Southern California coast, giving Malibu Colony celebs such as Bruce Dern, Burgess Meredith and Dyan Cannon more beachfront property than they had bargained for.

Shareholders of Bendix Corp. and Allied Corp. end an ugly takeover struggle by formally approving a merger. Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver take to the screen in “The Year of Living Dangerously.” America’s television viewers prepare to say goodby to Hawkeye and Radar as “M*A*S*H’s” 11-year run on CBS draws to a close.

And the top-ranked college basketball team in the country is coached by a balding Armenian who snacked on terry cloth during games and wasn’t likely to be found on the Christmas-card list of the folks at the NCAA investigators’ office.

Jerry Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels were 24-0 and threatenin’ to run away from everybody. Their detractors said they didn’t have the kind of schedule to deserve a No. 1 ranking, but there they were, enjoying the view from the top.

Meanwhile, at Cal State Fullerton, preparations were under way for an event the likes of which Titan Gym had never seen before, and hasn’t seen since. The Rebels were coming, and there was a talented team of Titans awaiting them. Fullerton was 18-5 and had won 15 straight games in the modest gym it called home.

Enthusiasm was easy to find around the Fullerton campus on Feb. 24; much easier than tickets to the game. Those were at a premium unheard of in Titan Gym. The game was sold out three weeks in advance. Reports had scalpers asking $50 for $6 seats.

The woodwork crowd came out in force. The Fullerton sports information office was besieged with requests for media credentials. There were 84 issued, roughly 10 times the average for Titan home games. Said John Rebenstorf, longtime radio broadcaster of Fullerton games: “There were media people there who I had never seen before in Titan Gym and haven’t seen since.”

KNBC sportscaster Fred Roggin arrived unannounced, expecting a court-side seat, and was told that the best that could be done for him was one of the 250 or so folding chairs that had been set up behind each basket. (Hall of) Shame, you didn’t make arrangements earlier, Fred.

Standing-room-only tickets were sold. Titan Gym’s capacity was listed at 4,140. The announced attendance for the Las Vegas game was 5,015, and that didn’t include a couple of angry fire marshals.

“Every nook and cranny had a body in it,” Rebenstorf said. “It was a real sauna in there.”

A loud sauna. And it got louder as the game progressed and it became apparent that Fullerton could not only run with the Rebels, but could beat them. Las Vegas led, 46-41, at halftime, but couldn’t pull away. Fullerton outscored the Rebels, 17-6, at the start of the second half to take a 58-52 lead. The anticipation grew. So did the Titans’ confidence. By game’s end, Fullerton guards Leon Wood and Ricky Mixon had combined for 41 points, and the Titans had an 86-78 victory over Numero Uno.

The overflow crowd finally spilled over onto the court. Fans embraced players. Players embraced each other. Fullerton Coach George McQuarn tried to collect himself and explain the significance of the victory to the media types who were actually covering the game. “I’m totally drained of emotion right now,” he said. “The whole impact of the game has not yet set in. But it’s certainly the biggest win of my coaching career, and the biggest of our kids.’ ”

Highlights of the game were shown the next day on NBC’s “Today Show.” Not since 1978, when then-Coach Bobby Dye took Fullerton to within a couple of jumpshots of reaching the NCAA Final Four, had the Titans been such big news.

It was reported as a major upset, and, in some respects, it was. But not everybody was shocked. Tarkanian had dreaded this game. Four years later, with his team preparing for another visit to a sold-out Titan Gym, he said the outcome didn’t surprise him.

“Heck, they had two guys off that ballclub that went to the NBA,” he said. “We only had one. I knew that was going to be a hell of a game.”

Wood, who had a game-high 21 points and 12 assists, went on to play for the gold-medal winning U.S. team in the 1984 Olympics, then became a Philadelphia 76er. Center Ozell Jones, who had 12 points and 8 rebounds, would later play for the San Antonio Spurs. Mixon and forward Tony Neal (18 points, 13 rebounds) became Laker draft choices. All of which proves Tarkanian’s point that the Titans had the talent to pull it off.

There were other signs that pointed toward a Fullerton victory. Las Vegas came into the game 14-0 in PCAA play, but six of those victories had come by five points or less. And the Rebels were ailing. Danny Tarkanian, Jerry’s son and floor-leading point guard, was weakened by the flu. “He got out of the hospital the day we left to go to the game,” Jerry said. “He was in there for two days.” The younger Tarkanian went scoreless, missing seven field-goal attempts.

Then there was the home-court advantage, which, on this night, was considerable. “We thought we had a good chance because we were playing in our own gym,” Wood said by phone from New Jersey, the latest stop in his NBA career. “We thought if we could fill it up with our people, we had a good shot at ‘em. And it was a full house.”

It was midway through the second half when the Fullerton faithful got a sure sign that this was their night. Wood had the ball with the shot clock dwindling to a precious few seconds. With time about to expire, he threw up an awkward 28-footer. “I was off balance,” he said four years later. “I just wanted to get the shot off, and get it off the glass.”

The shot banked in for a three-point play that gave Fullerton its 58-52 lead. The Titans made 13 free throws in the final minutes to maintain the lead, and provide the storybook finish to a scrapbook game in Titan Gym.

“Everybody was up for that game,” Wood said. “It was our chance to make history . . . to knock off somebody at the top.”

‘I’m totally drained of emotion right now. The whole impact of the game has not yet set in. But it’s certainly the biggest win of my coaching career, and the biggest of our kids’.’--Fullerton Coach George McQuarn, speaking after the game