Wellington, KS

But the season was not without its highlights.  On Feb. 8 in Lawrence, KU met Nebraska, which was stuck in the league cellar.  Behind Chamberlain’s 46 points, which broke B. H. Born’s conference record of 44, the Jayhawks beat the Cornhuskers 104-46.   The total broke KU’s previous scoring record of 100 points, set against Rice in the 1954-55 season.  And in the final game of the season,  KU met K-State, the conference champion and No. 1-ranked team in the nation.  Chamberlain, in his final game as a Jayhawk, scored 24 points as the Jayhawks controlled the game throughout, beating the Wildcats 61-44 in Manhattan. 

After he scored only a few points against Colorado during a game in 1958, The University Daily Kansas had this observation about Chamberlain:  “What makes a basketball player, in hot pursuit of the national scoring title, pass up a chance to score 35 or 40 points and settle for six?…  The answer, to those who were in Boulder Monday night, is simple.  Wilt is a team man.  To him the most important thing is a victory for Kansas – national scoring titles or records are second in his book….  Jayhawker coach Dick Harp:  “Wilt has virtually destroyed his chance to win the national scoring crown because of his play Monday night.  I never knew anyone unselfish enough to do this sort of thing.  This just proves Wilt is a fine playmaker and a fine team man.  This was all his own idea.”