Mar. 9, 1964 - With Bill Bradley scoring 34 points, Princeton’s basketball team made it look easy to move along in the NCAA championship tournament as the Tigers trounced Virginia Military Institute, 86-60, in the opening round of the tourney tonight. Princeton’s margin of victory was the biggest in the opening-round set of three games in which Villanova and Connecticut advanced with Princeton. Bradley’s amazing moves and excellent shooting were too much for the Southern Conference champion Keydets.
Now, the 1964 Tigers carry Princeton colors to the semifinals of the NCAA Eastern regionals for the second time in the last four seasons. The Eastern semifinals will be held Friday at Raleigh, N.C., with Princeton playing Connecticut and Villanova facing Duke, the Atlantic Coast Conference champion. Duke had a bye in this first round. The Friday winners meet Saturday in Raleigh for the right to make the National semifinals at Kansas City the next weekend.
Bradley and his four assistants on the court were too much for the Keydets in the second half, when the game became one-sided. In fact, VMI held a 36-35 lead at intermission.
But in the second half, while the Southern team was missing shots left and right, Bradley and company were firing bullseyes regularly. The Tigers connected on 20 of 30 field goal attempts in the second half.
Bradley distributed his personal scoring evenly, getting 17 points in each half. The junior all-America player received loud cheers from the crowd of 9,211 when he was removed from the game with a couple of minutes to go.
