National championship game | |||||||||||||
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Date | April 4, 1983 | ||||||||||||
Venue | The Pit, Albuquerque, New Mexico | ||||||||||||
MVP | Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston | ||||||||||||
Favorite | Houston by 7.5 | ||||||||||||
Referees | Hank Nichols, Paul Housman, Joe Forte | ||||||||||||
Attendance | 17,327[1] | ||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||
Network | CBS | ||||||||||||
Announcers | Gary Bender (play-by-play) Billy Packer (color) | ||||||||||||
The 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the final game of the 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. It determined the national champion for the 1982–83 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The game was played on April 4, 1983, at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico and paired top-ranked, #1 seed Midwest Regional Champions, the Houston Cougars, and sixteenth-ranked, #6 seed West Regional Champions, the NC State Wolfpack.[2]
Hobbled by Clyde Drexler’s four first-half fouls, Houston trailed NC State at the end of the first half, 33–25. Houston opened the second half with a 17–2 run to seize a seven-point lead, 42–35. But NC State kept the game close, as Houston's star center Hakeem Olajuwon left the game multiple times to receive oxygen, leading the Cougars to slow the pace of the game in order to protect the lead. Tied at 52 with 44 seconds remaining, NC State held the ball for a final shot attempt. Houston's Benny Anders narrowly missed stealing the ball as the clock ticked down. After gathering the deflected ball nearly 30 feet from the basket, Dereck Whittenburg launched a desperation shot that fell short of the rim. Olajuwon hesitated in fear of a goaltending call, allowing Lorenzo Charles to catch the ball and dunk it for the 54–52 victory. One of the indelible images in tournament history is of winning coach Jim Valvano running onto the court after the game ended looking for Whittenburg.
NC State's magical, improbable postseason run and national championship win, highlighted by Charles' game-winning dunk, remain a legendary representation of March Madness.[3][4][5]