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Forty years ago today, on March 31, 1986, Louisville basketball defeated Duke 72-69 at Reunion Arena in Dallas to capture its second national championship under the late Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum.
"It's definitely surreal," said Milt Wagner, who iced the comeback win over the Blue Devils at the free-throw line with only two seconds on the clock, before the Cardinals honored the team with a 40th-aniversary celebration at halftime of a Jan. 31 victory over SMU at the KFC Yum! Center.
"It doesn't feel like 40 years (have passed), then you look back; and it's like, 'Wow, it's been a while.'"
Here's how the night unfolded both in Dallas and in the 502:
In his dispatch from Reunion Arena that appeared on the front page of The Courier Journal's Sports section April 1, 1986, the late Jim Terhune noted Louisville's quiet walk through the press area with roughly 90 minutes until tipoff.
"Game faces," one workman said upon observing Crum's team, winners of 16 in a row, as it passed by.
"Better be game faces," another added. "Now more than ever before in their lives."
Top-seeded Duke, winners of 21 straight, held a 37-34 advantage at halftime. Nearing the 12-minute mark of the second half, the Blue Devils pushed their lead to 54-48.
The Cards didn't back down.
"We had leadership, and we had experienced guys," said Wagner, who was supposed to graduate the year prior but stuck around after breaking his foot during the 1984-85 season. "We had a great freshman class, and everything just came together. It was special."
That night, no one was greater than UofL's Pervis Ellison. The first-year center from Savannah, Georgia, scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds after the intermission to finish with 25 (on 10-for-14 shooting) and 11, respectively.
They called Ellison "Never Nervous," and it showed during the final minute en route to the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.
First, through Terhune's eyes, Ellison "plucked Jeff Hall's air ball 18-footer from a tangle of hands and softly pushed in a 2-footer." That gave Louisville a 68-65 lead with 40 seconds remaining.
"Thirteen seconds later," Terhune wrote, "he raked the third missed Duke shot off the boards and was knocked to the floor by Mark Alarie. At 0:27, he walked to the other end and hit both free throws. It was 70-65."
The Blue Devils pulled within a point, 70-69, with to back-to-back baskets from Jay Bilas and Danny Ferry. Then, Johnny Dawkins fouled Wagner with two seconds to spare. The Camden, New Jersey, native stepped to the line and, as he had done in several other big games throughout his Cards career, went 2 for 2.
"Milt rarely, if ever, missed a foul shot at the end of the game," Crum told The Courier Journal in 2016 — reflecting on the moment for a three-part oral history celebrating the 30th anniversary of the championship. "For him, that was like shooting a layup. He was supposed to make them, and he did. He buried them."
Hall picked off the ensuing Duke inbounds pass. Then, as Terhune noted, "an unchampionship-like finish followed."
"As the last second left the clock, Hall drove for the basket," Terhune wrote. "As he leaped, Ferry, the in-bounder, hooked him with his left arm. Hall threw the ball at Ferry and tried to go after him but was intercepted by official Hank Nichols. It died down a minute later, but, when Hall reached the podium to receive his championship award, he raised a No. 1 finger salute at the Duke crowd."
Crum, meanwhile, was surrounded by reporters on the court. They wanted to know how title No. 2 compared to his first in 1980.
"I feel a lot happier," the Hall of Famer said. "Back then, I was mostly just relieved to win one. I'm really going to enjoy this one. It kind of puts you in select company."
Indeed — as the late Courier Journal columnist Billy Reed noted, Crum joined Indiana's Bobby Knight as the only active coach with two national championships to his name.
"I couldn't feel any better," Crum said. "I don't know how I could. That's the way we've finished the whole second half of the season. We did what we had to do when we had to do it."
Here's how The Courier Journal described the celebration that ensued in the 502 after the final buzzer sounded in Dallas:
"Two fans boogied atop a moving TARC bus on frenzied Bardstown Road in Louisville.
"West Broadway became a disco where hundreds partied the night away.
"And, as the euphoria that accompanies a national basketball championship swept the city, the University of Louisville's Belknap Campus was overrun by thousands of celebrating fans.
"Moments after the UofL Cardinals exploded to overcome Duke University for the NCAA basketball title Monday night, UofL fans exploded onto the city's streets, honking car horns, waving red banners and streamers and justifiably declaring, 'We're No. 1!'
"The celebrants danced and shouted and exulted from just after 11 p.m., when the game ended, until after 4 a.m., when the tired UofL team arrived at Standiford Field on its chartered flight from Dallas."
[IMG alt="The 1986 National Champion Louisville Cardinals were honored at half time of the game versus SMU Saturday at KFC Yum! Center.
Jan. 31, 2026"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-courier-journal/a514135faeefc7e855aefba8b7259f12[/IMG]
Louisville Police Captain Carl Lindeman, commander of the district that included the Belknap Campus, put it this way: "A lot of drinking going on — just celebrating, that's all."
"I've been up since Friday," added Monica Schroeder, a junior at UofL, "and I haven't come down yet."
Twenty signs commemorating the championship went up across the city. Mayor Jerry Abramson put the finishing touches on the first one, at the intersection of Second and Main streets — where the Yum! Center stands today.
A spokesperson for Abramson told reporters the sign was placed there "so all Hoosier fans coming in from Indiana would know who is No. 1."
Crum and his players were recognized at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort the morning of April 1 before a celebration that evening in front of roughly 19,000 people at Freedom Hall.
Crum told lawmakers, "We appreciate you all taking your time to honor us. It makes us feel good; and it makes us feel wanted, which is one of the reasons I'm in Kentucky. I don't think there's anywhere in the world that people appreciate good basketball more than in this state."
Wagner concluded the rally at Freedom Hall by shouting out the centerpiece of the Cards' 1980 championship team, Darrell Griffith, for making the trip to Dallas to support the squad. "Griff, get up here," he said. "This should bring back sweet memories."
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball NCAA Tournament 1986, revisiting win over Duke
Continue reading...
"It's definitely surreal," said Milt Wagner, who iced the comeback win over the Blue Devils at the free-throw line with only two seconds on the clock, before the Cardinals honored the team with a 40th-aniversary celebration at halftime of a Jan. 31 victory over SMU at the KFC Yum! Center.
"It doesn't feel like 40 years (have passed), then you look back; and it's like, 'Wow, it's been a while.'"
Here's how the night unfolded both in Dallas and in the 502:
In Dallas: 'I'm really going to enjoy this one'
In his dispatch from Reunion Arena that appeared on the front page of The Courier Journal's Sports section April 1, 1986, the late Jim Terhune noted Louisville's quiet walk through the press area with roughly 90 minutes until tipoff.
"Game faces," one workman said upon observing Crum's team, winners of 16 in a row, as it passed by.
"Better be game faces," another added. "Now more than ever before in their lives."
Top-seeded Duke, winners of 21 straight, held a 37-34 advantage at halftime. Nearing the 12-minute mark of the second half, the Blue Devils pushed their lead to 54-48.
The Cards didn't back down.
"We had leadership, and we had experienced guys," said Wagner, who was supposed to graduate the year prior but stuck around after breaking his foot during the 1984-85 season. "We had a great freshman class, and everything just came together. It was special."
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That night, no one was greater than UofL's Pervis Ellison. The first-year center from Savannah, Georgia, scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds after the intermission to finish with 25 (on 10-for-14 shooting) and 11, respectively.
They called Ellison "Never Nervous," and it showed during the final minute en route to the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.
First, through Terhune's eyes, Ellison "plucked Jeff Hall's air ball 18-footer from a tangle of hands and softly pushed in a 2-footer." That gave Louisville a 68-65 lead with 40 seconds remaining.
"Thirteen seconds later," Terhune wrote, "he raked the third missed Duke shot off the boards and was knocked to the floor by Mark Alarie. At 0:27, he walked to the other end and hit both free throws. It was 70-65."
The Blue Devils pulled within a point, 70-69, with to back-to-back baskets from Jay Bilas and Danny Ferry. Then, Johnny Dawkins fouled Wagner with two seconds to spare. The Camden, New Jersey, native stepped to the line and, as he had done in several other big games throughout his Cards career, went 2 for 2.
"Milt rarely, if ever, missed a foul shot at the end of the game," Crum told The Courier Journal in 2016 — reflecting on the moment for a three-part oral history celebrating the 30th anniversary of the championship. "For him, that was like shooting a layup. He was supposed to make them, and he did. He buried them."
Hall picked off the ensuing Duke inbounds pass. Then, as Terhune noted, "an unchampionship-like finish followed."
"As the last second left the clock, Hall drove for the basket," Terhune wrote. "As he leaped, Ferry, the in-bounder, hooked him with his left arm. Hall threw the ball at Ferry and tried to go after him but was intercepted by official Hank Nichols. It died down a minute later, but, when Hall reached the podium to receive his championship award, he raised a No. 1 finger salute at the Duke crowd."
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Crum, meanwhile, was surrounded by reporters on the court. They wanted to know how title No. 2 compared to his first in 1980.
"I feel a lot happier," the Hall of Famer said. "Back then, I was mostly just relieved to win one. I'm really going to enjoy this one. It kind of puts you in select company."
Indeed — as the late Courier Journal columnist Billy Reed noted, Crum joined Indiana's Bobby Knight as the only active coach with two national championships to his name.
"I couldn't feel any better," Crum said. "I don't know how I could. That's the way we've finished the whole second half of the season. We did what we had to do when we had to do it."
In Louisville: 'West Broadway became a disco'
Here's how The Courier Journal described the celebration that ensued in the 502 after the final buzzer sounded in Dallas:
"Two fans boogied atop a moving TARC bus on frenzied Bardstown Road in Louisville.
"West Broadway became a disco where hundreds partied the night away.
"And, as the euphoria that accompanies a national basketball championship swept the city, the University of Louisville's Belknap Campus was overrun by thousands of celebrating fans.
"Moments after the UofL Cardinals exploded to overcome Duke University for the NCAA basketball title Monday night, UofL fans exploded onto the city's streets, honking car horns, waving red banners and streamers and justifiably declaring, 'We're No. 1!'
"The celebrants danced and shouted and exulted from just after 11 p.m., when the game ended, until after 4 a.m., when the tired UofL team arrived at Standiford Field on its chartered flight from Dallas."
[IMG alt="The 1986 National Champion Louisville Cardinals were honored at half time of the game versus SMU Saturday at KFC Yum! Center.
Jan. 31, 2026"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-courier-journal/a514135faeefc7e855aefba8b7259f12[/IMG]
Louisville Police Captain Carl Lindeman, commander of the district that included the Belknap Campus, put it this way: "A lot of drinking going on — just celebrating, that's all."
"I've been up since Friday," added Monica Schroeder, a junior at UofL, "and I haven't come down yet."
Twenty signs commemorating the championship went up across the city. Mayor Jerry Abramson put the finishing touches on the first one, at the intersection of Second and Main streets — where the Yum! Center stands today.
A spokesperson for Abramson told reporters the sign was placed there "so all Hoosier fans coming in from Indiana would know who is No. 1."
Crum and his players were recognized at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort the morning of April 1 before a celebration that evening in front of roughly 19,000 people at Freedom Hall.
Crum told lawmakers, "We appreciate you all taking your time to honor us. It makes us feel good; and it makes us feel wanted, which is one of the reasons I'm in Kentucky. I don't think there's anywhere in the world that people appreciate good basketball more than in this state."
Wagner concluded the rally at Freedom Hall by shouting out the centerpiece of the Cards' 1980 championship team, Darrell Griffith, for making the trip to Dallas to support the squad. "Griff, get up here," he said. "This should bring back sweet memories."
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball NCAA Tournament 1986, revisiting win over Duke
Continue reading...
