This date in sports history: March 23

1939 — Long Island University finishes the season undefeated after a 44-32 victory over Loyola of Chicago in the NIT championship.

1948 — Alex Groza and Ralph Beard combine for 26 points to lead Kentucky to a 58-42 win over Baylor in the NCAA basketball championship.

1956 — Bill Russell leads San Francisco to an 83-71 victory over Iowa in the NCAA basketball championship.

1957 — North Carolina defeats Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in triple-overtime to win the NCAA men’s championship. The Tar Heels win 54-53 to finish the season with a 32-0 record.

1968 — Lew Alcindor scores 34 points to lead UCLA to a 78-55 win over North Carolina in the NCAA basketball championship.

1974 — N.C. State ends UCLA’s streak of seven national championships with an 80-77 victory in double overtime of the NCAA tournament semifinals. David Thompson leads the Wolfpack with 28 points and 10 rebounds, and teammate Tom Burleson scores 20 and pulls down 14 rebounds.

1979 — Larry Holmes knocks out Osvaldo Ocasio in the seventh round in Las Vegas to retain his WBC heavyweight title.

1991 — London beats Frankfurt, 24-11, in the first World League of American Football game.

1993 — Winnipeg’s Teemu Selanne sets an NHL rookie points record in a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Selanne scores two goals and an assist to give him 111 points, surpassing the 109 that Peter Stastny got with the Quebec Nordiques in 1980-81.

1994 — Wayne Gretzky scores his 802nd goal, passing Gordie Howe as the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history. The Los Angeles Kings center scores in the second period for his 62nd NHL record.

1996 — Michelle Kwan caps a near-perfect season by winning the women’s title in the World Figure Skating Championships for the United States’ first singles sweep since 1986.

1997 — Laura Davies becomes the first LPGA player to win the same tournament four consecutive years, holing a 3-foot par putt on the first hole of a playoff with Kelly Robbins in the Standard Register Ping.

2002 — Brendan Shanahan of the Red Wings scores his 500th career goal, breaking a scoreless tie at 7:48 of the third period. Detroit beats Colorado, 2-0.

2002 — Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson becomes the first undefeated four-time NCAA wrestling champion at the NCAA Championships. Sanderson — who went on to coach at Penn State — beats Lehigh’s Jon Trenge, 12-4, to win at 197 pounds and finish his career with a 159-0 record.

2003 — Tiger Woods closes with a 4-under-par 68 to win the Bay Hill Invitational four straight times. Woods becomes the first player since Gene Sarazen in the Miami Open (1926-30) to win the same event four straight times.

2005 — Indiana’s Reggie Miller becomes the 13th NBA player to score 25,000 career points during the Pacers’ 100-93 win over San Antonio.

2007 — Kobe Bryant becomes the second player in NBA history to score at least 50 points in four straight games when he scores 50 in the Lakers’ 111-105 win at New Orleans. Only Wilt Chamberlain has more, scoring at least 50 points in seven consecutive games during the 1961-62 season.

2010 — The NFL changes its overtime rules for playoff games to give both teams an opportunity to get the ball. Team owners vote 28-4 in favor of the proposal at the NFL meetings. Minnesota, Buffalo, Cincinnati and Baltimore oppose the change.

2013 — Michigan breezes through Virginia Commonwealth’s vaunted pressure with a clinical performance and advances to the round of 16 with a 78-53 rout. VCU was relentless in a 46-point rout of Akron in the second round. The 71-point swing by VCU — from a 46-point win to a 25-point loss — is the largest in NCAA tournament history.

2013 — Wichita State knocks out top-seeded Gonzaga out of the NCAA tournament with a 76-70 victory. The Shockers hit a season-high 14 3-pointers, including five straight shots from behind the arc down the stretch.