Then: A Magical Win

It’s common for the best sports moments — the ones that are often the most improbable — to be seen by just a few when they actually occur.

With just 4,965 fans in attendance at McGaw Memorial Hall, Northwestern scored a shocking 83-65 victory over Earvin “Magic” Johnson and the eventual national champion Michigan State Spartans in January 1979. The improbable win hasn’t escaped the memory of both the fans in attendance and players involved.

It was a rough era for the Northwestern men’s basketball program. Former All–Big Ten Wildcat Rich Falk ’64 had just taken over the team prior to the 1978–79 season, but Northwestern had gone winless during the first seven Big Ten games. So when the bookmakers made the No. 4-ranked Spartans 14-point favorites on the road, it wasn’t a misprint.

Michigan State got off to a slow start, unable to hit many jump shots, and Northwestern built a 10-point lead after the first half, thanks in part to 13 made free throws.

The crowd swelled as word of the potential upset spread on campus. “By the time we came out for the second half, it seemed like there were more people in the stands than there were when the game first started,” says team captain and guard Jerry Marifke ’79.

Although the team expected a second-half run from the talented Spartans, the Wildcats scored 10 straight points to extend the lead to 49-29 and never looked back, cruising to an 18-point victory. Johnson finished with a triple-double (26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists), but Falk’s game plan worked. The Wildcats kept Johnson out of the paint, and his supporting cast struggled as the Spartans shot just 33 percent as a team. 

Northwestern guard Brian Gibson '80 protects the ball from Michigan State star Magic Johnson. Courtesy of Northwestern Athletic Communications.

“When you’re a Northwestern fan in that era and you experienced a lot of adversity, you really appreciated the victories when things went right,” says William Weinbaum ’82, ’83 MS, a self-described Wildcat fanatic who attended the game.

“There was feeling of euphoria throughout the game because it was so atypical of a Northwestern game and so unexpected given the identity of the opponent,” Weinbaum adds. “It was great to see the reward come to these hard-working players who had suffered through so many difficulties. And it was not a fluke. The 'Cats really played incredibly well.”

Wildcat center Bob Klaas ’79 says he and his teammates were “highly motivated to not get trounced. You don’t want to get destroyed by 40 points.”

Following the game Klaas received notes from fans and former teammates congratulating Northwestern on the victory. He and other players such as forward Mike Campbell ’80 say that conversations they have today about their Wildcat careers often come back to that game.

Northwestern won just six games that season — and only two in the Big Ten — and watched as the Johnson-led Spartans captured the national title later that spring.

“That game was a highlight that stayed with me not just throughout my four years but for the rest of my life,” Weinbaum says. “I can still feel the feeling that I had being at that game.”