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.
The first half of the national championship game favored NC State. Not only did the Wolfpack lead 33–25, but Houston's Clyde Drexler picked up four first-half fouls. The Cougars opened the second half with a dominating 17–2 run to seize a seven-point lead, 42–35. NC State was able to keep the game close, as Houston's star center Hakeem Olajuwon checked out of 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.
Participants
NC State
Despite a preseason ranking of #16 in the AP poll, the Wolfpack sputtered to a 9–7 record after losing at Maryland on January 29. Three close victories in the ACC Tournament saved NC State from missing the NCAA Tournament altogether. Three of the team's four victories on the road to the Final Four came by one or two points. The Wolfpack trailed with a minute or less to play in six of their eight postseason games before this game.
West
NC State (6) 69, Pepperdine (11) 67
NC State 71, UNLV (3) 70
NC State 75, Utah (10) 56
NC State 63, Virginia (1) 62
Final Four
NC State 67, Georgia (4) 60
Houston
Houston was ranked #14 in the AP poll to open the season, and fell to 5–2 after a 72–63 loss to #1 Virginia in Tokyo on December 16, 1982. The Cougars then ran off a 26-game winning streak, capturing the #1 ranking in the process, that was capped by a 94–81 victory over #2 Louisville to advance to the National Championship Game.
Midwest
Houston (1) 60, Maryland (8) 50
Houston 70, Memphis (4) 63
Houston 89, Villanova (3) 71
Final Four
Houston 94, Louisville (1) 81
Starting lineups
Game summary
NC State led at halftime by a score of 33–25. Houston was hampered by foul trouble that plagued star Clyde Drexler, who picked up three fouls early in the first half yet was begging to stay in the game. NC State sophomore guard Terry Gannon drew a controversial charging foul against Drexler to put him at four and leave him one foul away from disqualification; replays showed, and Drexler maintained later, that Gannon had appeared to grab Drexler's legs and pull him down with him and thus should have been called for a defensive foul.
In the second half, the Cougars came out with a second wind and established control of the game, eventually taking a seven-point lead at 52–45. Since the game was played in Albuquerque, players had to deal with the city's mile-high altitude. The Cougars' star center, Hakeem Olajuwon, had problems adjusting to the environment and tired quickly, needing to check out of the game multiple times so he could put on an oxygen mask and recover.
With Olajuwon on the bench, Houston head coach Guy Lewis decided that in order to protect the lead and Olajuwon's health at the same time, the Cougars slowed the game down. This enabled the Wolfpack to return to their standby strategy of extending the game. Houston's free throw shooting was very suspect entering the game (60.9% on the season), which worked greatly in NC State's favor as they were able to rally back and even the score at 52 in the final two minutes.