1958–59 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team

1958–59 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball
1958–59 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball
MVC champion
NCAA tournament, Third place
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 5
Record	26–4 (13–1 MVC)
Head coach	George Smith;
Home arena	Armory Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1957–58 1959–60 →

1958–59 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 5 Cincinnati	13	–	1	.929	26	–	4	.867
No. 4 Bradley	12	–	2	.857	25	–	4	.862
No. 12 Saint Louis	10	–	4	.714	20	–	6	.769
Wichita Municipal	7	–	7	.500	14	–	12	.538
Houston	6	–	8	.429	12	–	14	.462
Drake	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375
Tulsa	2	–	12	.143	10	–	15	.400
North Texas State	2	–	12	.143	6	–	18	.250

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1958–59 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team represented University of Cincinnati. The head coach was George Smith. This was the first Cincinnati team to reach the Final Four.

Regular season

In the Crosstown Shootout, Cincinnati beat Xavier by a score of 92–66. The match was held at the Cincinnati Gardens. Junior point guard Oscar Robertson helped the team reach their second straight Missouri Valley Conference title.

NCAA basketball tournament

Midwest
- Cincinnati 77, Texas Christian 73
- Cincinnati 85, Kansas State 75
Final Four
- California 64, Cincinnati 58
Third-place game
- Cincinnati 98, Louisville 85

^[2]

Awards and honors

Oscar Robertson, USBWA College Player of the Year,^[3] NCAA scoring leader (2x)

NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
3	17	Mike Mendenhall	Cincinnati Royals

^[4]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1958-59 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
^ "The Oscar Robertson Trophy - Past Oscar Robertson Trophy Winners". Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
^ "1959 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 18, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2009.

[1] sports-reference.com 1958-59 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary

[2] "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

[3] "The Oscar Robertson Trophy - Past Oscar Robertson Trophy Winners". Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2008.

[4] "1959 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 18, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball
Venues	Schmidlapp Gymnasium (1901–1954) Cincinnati Gardens (1949–1954; 1987–1989) Armory Fieldhouse (1954–1976) Riverfront Coliseum (1976–1987) Fifth Third Arena (1989–2017; 2018–present) BB&T Arena (2017–2018)
Rivalries	Louisville Memphis West Virginia Xavier
Culture & lore	Bearcat "Cheer Cincinnati" 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl Longest game in Division I history UC Pep Band
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics