Reunion Celebrates Irish Win Over UCLA

Digger Phelps wants Dwight Clay to get out on the court and re-create the shot that ended UCLA’s 88-game winning streak 30 years ago.

“It would still go in,” Clay said confidently. “I replay that shot in my mind and it always goes in.”

Clay and other members of the 1973-74 squad are having their first reunion this weekend. They will attend today’s Kentucky-Notre Dame game, trade life stories and tell some tall tales, but no one will top the story of how the No. 2 Irish beat the top-ranked Bruins on Jan. 19, 1974.

“Digger told us at practice the day before the game that if you win this game, it will be a part of your life for the rest of your life,” John Shumate said. “He was absolutely right.”

Shumate, Clay, Phelps and even former UCLA coach John Wooden say people still ask about that game.

“I’ve been a professional player and coach on all different levels, but the one thing that people say when they see me is, ‘Oh, that’s the guy who played for the Notre Dame team that beat UCLA,’ ” Shumate said.

It isn’t just that the Irish beat UCLA. It was how they beat them.

Down 70-59 with 3:32 left, Notre Dame used a 12-0 run to beat a UCLA team led by center Bill Walton.

“Definitely that was a surprise to me,” said Wooden, who coached the Bruins from 1948-75. “I didn’t feel anyone playing any place, wherever it might be, could ever score that many points in a row against us.”

While Wooden found it hard to believe, Phelps -- then in his third year as coach -- never gave up. Shumate said Phelps was the picture of confidence during a timeout.

“He looked at each one of us and said, ‘Do you believe? If you don’t believe, then turn and go to the locker room. But if you stay, you believe, because we’re going to beat these guys.”

Phelps was so confident he did something unusual at practice the day before the game.

“We practiced making the big shot and then cutting the nets down,” Shumate said. “He wanted us to see what it would be like.”

Trailing by 11 with just over three minutes left, it seemed unlikely the Irish would be cutting down any nets. But Shumate got the Irish going.

He scored over Walton, then stole the ball and scored on a layup to cut the lead to seven. Then Adrian Dantley scored on a steal and a layup to make it 70-65.

“That’s when I knew we were going to win,” Phelps said.

UCLA’s Keith Wilkes threw a long pass to try to break the Irish press, but Tommy Curtis was called for traveling. Gary Brokaw then hit a pair of jumpers in a 36-second span, cutting the lead to 70-69.

With 45 seconds left, Wilkes drove to the basket and was called for a charge.

Notre Dame wanted Brokaw, who had 25 points, or Shumate, who had 24, to take the next shot. But UCLA double-teamed Brokaw, and Walton had Shumate covered, so Brokaw passed to Clay, who was 1-for-4 for five points.

“That’s the biggest shot of my life,” Clay said. “That’s my claim to fame, my 15 minutes of fame.”