| Mode: | Basketball |
| Year: | 1965–66 |
| Prev Year: | 1964–65 |
| Next Year: | 1966–67 |
| Team: | Texas Western Miners |
| Conference: | Independent |
| Coachrank: | 3 |
| Aprank: | 3 |
| Record: | 28–1 |
| Head Coach: | Don Haskins |
| Hc Year: | 5th |
| Asst Coach1: | Moe Iba |
| Ac1 Year: | 4th |
| Stadium: | Memorial Gym |
| Champion: | NCAA tournament National champions |
| Bowl: | National Championship Game |
| Bowl Result: | W 72-65 vs. Kentucky |
The 1965–66 Texas Western Miners basketball team represented Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), led by Hall of Fame head coach Don Haskins. The team won the national championship in 1966, becoming the first team with an all-black starting lineup to do so.[1] The Miners only lost one game, a road loss to Seattle by two points. They won their games by an average of 15.2 points.
The Miners beat Kentucky (an all-white program until 1969) 72–65 in the historic championship game, played on Saturday, March 19, at Cole Field House on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, a suburb of Washington, D.C.[2] [3] [4]
The team was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007[5] and inspired the book and film Glory Road.
The 1965–66 Texas Western basketball team faced many issues due to racism. For example, when they won the championship no one brought out a ladder for them to cut down the net. Nevil Shed had to hoist up Willie Worsley so he could do the honors.[6] Also, they were not invited on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was customary for the NCAA Champions. Texas Western's (UTEP's) winning the basketball national championship helped promote the desegregation of athletics in the Southeastern Conference which had its first black basketball player in 1967.[7]
[8] |-!colspan=9 style=|
Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style="background:#;"| NCAA Tournament