1965–66 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team explained

Year:	1965-66
Team:	UCLA Bruins
Sport:	Basketball
Conference:	Athletic Association of Western Universities
Short Conf:	AAWU
Record:	18–8
Conf Record:	10–4
Hc Year:	18th
Champion:	L.A. Classic champions

The 1965–66 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team finished the season in second place, under head coach John R. Wooden. It won the Los Angeles Classic Championship and completed the year with an 18–8 overall record.

Preseason

The 1965–1966 UCLA Bruin team was the ranked No. 1 in preseason polls.^[1] On November 27, 1965, the freshmen team, led by Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), defeated the varsity team 75–60 in the UCLA Women's gym.^[2] Alcindor scored 31 points and had 21 rebounds in that game although the defeat had no effect on the varsity's national ranking. The Bruins were still number one the following week.

Schedule

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Regular SeasonSource^[3]

Rankings

See main article: 1965–66 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings.

Notes

The team beat USC four times, winning 94–79 at home and 99–62 away the last two games.
The Bruins lost to Duke twice.

Team players drafted into the NBA

^[4]

Notes and References

News: Jerry. Crowe. A Grand Opening : Pauley Pavilion and UCLA's Best Freshman Team Made Their Debuts Together 25 Years Ago. May 27, 1990. Los Angeles Times. June 18, 2021.
(I was there)News: Florence. Mal. Who's No. 1? UCLA Frosh Too Hot for Varsity, 75–60. Los Angeles Times. November 28, 1965. Sec. D, pp. 1, 10. June 14, 2021. Newspapers.com. Lew Alcindor strode onto the UCLA Women's gym basketball court Saturday night and captured the town, completely demoralizing the UCLA varsity basketball team in the process..
Web site: Season by Season Records. UCLA Athletics.
Web site: Archived copy . 2009-05-13 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100117123344/http://databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1966&lg=n . 2010-01-17 .