Julius Erving

Player
Seasons: 1969-70, 1970-71
Number: 32
Position: F
Weight: 190
Hometown: Roosevelt NY
High School: Roosevelt
Pre School: none
Transfer From: none
Birthdate: February 22, 1950

More of our original Erving content can be found here: http://umasshoops.com/history/alumni/julius_erving/

At UMass

Sixteen 30+ point games out of 52 played with the varsity team.
His career average of 20.2 rebounds per game still stands as 9th-best in NCAA Division I history.¹⁾
Led UMass to an overall 41-11 record across his two varsity seasons.
Left school after his Junior season for professional opportunities, but completed his bachelor's degree in 1986, when he also received an honorary doctorate of laws.
His #32 was retired in 1988,²⁾ and his is one of the four statues on the Mullins Center plaza.
Short highlight reel from CBS Sports Network

1970-71 Junior year

Even with the secret fully out about Erving being UM's #1 weapon, he still tallied 26.9 points and 19.5 rebounds per game.
Played 38.1 minutes per game, which ranks fifth-most in UM program history, through the end of the 2020-21 season.³⁾

1969-70 Sophomore year

Dominated with 25.7 points and 20.9 rebounds per game.
Played 38.8 minutes per game, which still stands as most-ever in UM program history, through at least the end of the 2020-21 season.⁴⁾
Hit 19 free throws vs. New Hampshire (3/2), which still stands as most-ever in a UM game, through at least the end of the 2020-21 season.

1968-69 Freshman year

Played with UM's freshman team, as freshmen were not varsity eligible, per NCAA rules of the time.
Wore jersey #42 this season
Scored 11 points and brought down 14 rebounds in the season opener against AIC, while recovering from a broken thumb.

Statistics

Season	GP	Min	Avg	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	Rebounds	Avg	PF	A	Pts	Avg
1968-69	Freshman team, stats did not count towards Varsity
1969-70	25	969	38.8	238	468	.509	167	230	.726	522	20.9	63	89	643	25.7
1970-71	27	1029	38.1	286	609	.470	155	206	.752	527	19.5	67	99	727	26.9
Career	52	1998	38.4	524	1077	.487	322	436	.739	1049	20.2	130	188	1370	26.3

Game Log

Box score data from the era is hard to come by. Stats drawn from media report archives.

Date	Opponent	UM	Opp	Points	Rebounds
12/2/1969	Providence	90	85	27	28⁵⁾
12/6/1969	Vermont	90	73	25	15
12/9/1969	Rhode Island (OT)	73	77	20	14
12/13/1969	New Hampshire	76	56	33	26
12/16/1969	Connecticut	71	88	20	23
12/19/1969	at AIC	72	73
12/28/1969	vs Catholic Univ	70	51
12/29/1969	vs Gannon	72	63
1/17/1970	at Pennsylvania (#15)	65	75
1/21/1970	at Fordham	61	62	37⁶⁾	20
1/24/1970	at Iona	86	82
1/28/1970	Boston Univ	103	68	34	27
1/31/1970	Northeastern	90	62	30	27
2/3/1970	at Boston College	76	83	26	19
2/5/1970	Rider	82	67	30	20
2/7/1970	at Vermont	93	59	25	18
2/10/1970	Holy Cross	83	66	24	25
2/14/1970	at Connecticut	71	65	20	23
2/17/1970	at Rhode Island	83	74	30	20
2/19/1970	Springfield	82	76	22	24
2/21/1970	at Maine	84	66	22	28
2/25/1970	at St. Anselm	94	63	22
2/28/1970	Maine	103	71
3/2/1970	at New Hampshire	92	75	37⁷⁾
3/14/1970	vs Marquette (#8)	55	62	18	14
Date	Opponent	UM	Opp	Points	Rebounds
12/1/1970	St. Anselm	98	63	32	23
12/5/1970	at Vermont (OT)	79	68	27	14
12/10/1970	at Rhode Island (OT)	80	76	29	24
12/12/1970	New Hampshire	89	53	28	18
12/15/1970	at Connecticut	74	68	27	20
12/18/1970	AIC	93	40	31	18
12/22/1970	Hofstra	87	60	27	17
12/28/1970	vs Fairfield	95	82	28	26
12/29/1970	vs St. Michael's	94	59	33	30⁸⁾
12/30/1970	vs Colgate	79	67	31	20
1/21/1971	at Boston Univ	77	63	22	16
1/23/1971	at Providence	72	73	19	17
1/27/1971	Fordham	79	87	30	?
1/30/1971	Northeastern	61	47	28	26
2/2/1971	at Holy Cross	60	58	32	18
2/4/1971	Iona	92	51	29	17
2/6/1971	Vermont	86	51	26	20
2/9/1971	Boston College	85	77	24	16
2/13/1971	Connecticut	89	67	23	22
2/16/1971	at Springfield	62	63	18	23
2/19/1971	Rhode Island	83	71	30	22
2/20/1971	Maine	85	57	?	?
2/22/1971	Syracuse	86	71	36	32⁹⁾
2/27/1971	vs George Washington	70	65	35	17
3/1/1971	at New Hampshire	63	60	19	23
3/4/1971	at Maine	84	71	25	14
3/20/1971	North Carolina (#13)	49	90	13	9

Articles

8/23/2023: Erving talks about his time at UMass during appearance at Basketball Hall of Fame
10/3/2016: Erving would be proud of campus statue, says UMass is 'indelible part of my history'
2/14/2014: Why UMass?

2022 Black History Month tribute to Erving, from UMass and Ben Albert

Julius Erving, and his varsity coach, Jack Leaman

Jack Leaman told a story of when Erving decided to forego his senior season: “I was at the national convention in Houston, and I got a phone call from [assistant coach] Ray Wilson. `What's the matter?' I said. `Is my wife leaving me?' Ray said, `No, it's worse than that. Julius is.'“¹⁰⁾