1961–62 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1961–62 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball

ACC regular season champion ACC Tournament champion
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Final Four
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
Record	22–9 (12–2 ACC)
Head coach	Bones McKinney (5th season)
Home arena	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1960–61 1962–63 →

1961–62 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Wake Forest †	12	–	2	.857	22	–	9	.710
No. 10 Duke	11	–	3	.786	20	–	5	.800
NC State	10	–	4	.714	11	–	6	.647
North Carolina	7	–	7	.500	8	–	9	.471
South Carolina	7	–	7	.500	15	–	12	.556
Clemson	4	–	10	.286	12	–	15	.444
Maryland	3	–	11	.214	8	–	17	.320
Virginia	2	–	12	.143	5	–	18	.217

† 1962 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1961–62 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team represented Wake Forest University.

Roster

1961–62 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G		Billy Packer	—	—	Sr	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
F/C	50	Len Chappell	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	Portage, Pennsylvania

Head coach

Bones McKinney

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Dec 2, 1961*	No. 3	Davidson	W 96–62	1–0	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 5, 1961	No. 3	NC State	W 77–65	2–0 (1–0)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 9, 1961*	No. 3	No. 1 Ohio State	L 62–84	2–1	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 12, 1961*	No. 3	at Florida	L 65–71	2–2	Florida Gymnasium Gainesville, Florida
Dec 15, 1961	No. 3	at Virginia	W 84–65	3–2 (2–0)	Memorial Gymnasium Charlottesville, Virginia
Dec 16, 1961	No. 3	at Maryland	L 62–79	3–3 (2–1)	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Dec 30, 1961		vs. No. 10 Duke	L 73–75	3–4	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Jan 2, 1962*		Minnesota	W 79–70	4–4	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 6, 1962		Clemson	W 81–54	5–4 (3–1)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 10, 1962*		North Carolina	W 91–72	6–4 (4–1)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 12, 1962*		at Saint Francis (PA)	W 71–66	7–4	Doyle Hall Loretto, Pennsylvania
Jan 13, 1962*		at Saint Joseph's	L 63–65	7–5	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 27, 1962		at No. 7 Duke	L 68–82	7–6 (4–2)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, North Carolina
Jan 31, 1962*		at West Virginia	L 99–101	7–7	Charleston Civic Center Charleston, West Virginia
Feb 2, 1962		at South Carolina	W 78–74	8–7 (5–2)	Carolina Fieldhouse Columbia, South Carolina
Feb 3, 1962		at Clemson	W 83–82	9–7 (6–2)	Clemson Field House Clemson, South Carolina
Feb 8, 1962*		at Virginia Tech	L 81–87	9–8	Cassell Coliseum Blacksburg, Virginia
Feb 10, 1962		at North Carolina	W 87–80	10–8 (7–2)	Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 12, 1962		Virginia	W 116–67	11–8 (8–2)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Feb 15, 1962		No. 7 Duke	W 97–79	12–8 (9–2)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Feb 17, 1962		Maryland	W 81–78	13–8 (10–2)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Feb 21, 1962		at NC State	W 69–62	14–8 (11–2)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 24, 1962		South Carolina	W 97–85	15–8 (12–2)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
ACC Tournament
Mar 1, 1962*		vs. Virginia ACC Tournament Quarterfinal	W 81–58	16–8	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 2, 1962*		vs. South Carolina ACC Tournament Semifinal	W 88–75	17–8	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 3, 1962*		vs. Clemson ACC tournament championship	W 77–66	18–8	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
NCAA Tournament
Mar 12, 1962*		vs. Yale First round	W 92–82 ^OT	19–8	Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 16, 1962*		vs. Saint Joseph's East regional semifinal	W 96–85 ^OT	20–8	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Mar 17, 1962*		vs. Villanova East Regional Final	W 79–69	21–8	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Mar 23, 1962*		vs. No. 1 Ohio State National semifinal	L 68–84	21–9	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 24, 1962*		vs. UCLA National consolation Game – Third Place	W 82–80	22–9	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[3]

NCAA basketball tournament

East
- Wake Forest 92, Yale 82
- Wake Forest 96, St. Joseph's, Pennsylvania 85
- Wake Forest 79, Villanova 69
Final Four
- Ohio State 84, Wake Forest 68^[4]
Third-place game
- Wake Forest 82, UCLA 80

Rankings

Awards and honors

Len Chappell – ACC Player of the Year (2x)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	5	Len Chappell	Syracuse Nationals

^[5]

Other notable players

Billy Packer, who would become famous as a college basketball broadcaster.

References

^ sports-reference.com 1961-62 Atlantic Coast Conference Season Summary
^ "1961–62 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
^ 2019-20 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball media guide. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
^ "1962 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved June 21, 2020.

v t e Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball
Venues	Gore Gymnasium (1935–1956) Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum (1956–1989) Greensboro Coliseum (alternate; 1959–1989) Reynolds Gymnasium (alternate; 1956–1989) LJVM Coliseum (1989–present)
Rivalries	North Carolina NC State
Culture & lore	Demon Deacon "O Here's to Wake Forest" Spirit of the Old Gold and Black Tobacco Road Dixie Classic/Big Four
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 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 Final Four appearances in italics