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champs and NCAA runner-up Boilermakers opened the Big Ten season at Iowa, two of the team's top players, center William Franklin and high-scoring guard Larry Weatherford, were suspended for missing curfew in the Big Apple. The Hawkeyes could focus even more on Mount, but it didn't seem to matter. Purdue couldn't get over the hump against the Hawkeyes, but Mount single-handedly kept the Boilermakers in the game until the end. Mount had some of his biggest games against the Hawkeyes, including a still-standing 61-point effort eight weeks later in West Lafayette. "I got up for everybody I played against," said Mount, who turned 66 on Jan. 5. "It really didn't matter the opponent, I just knew that time was short and I had to play well. I don't think they defended me any differently, it just depended on the flow of the game. If I needed to score 50 I scored 50, if I needed to score 30 that was fine, too." Mount and the Boilermakers rebounded with a home win against Wisconsin and a road victory against Michigan. Then, as was the norm in those days, the Boilermakers had a two-week break for final exams. While in today's terms a 14-day layoff in Big Randy Shields A recent picture of Mount (top left) and Bob King shows how their close relationship has spanned six decades and remains today. Ten season is hard to fathom, it did allow Mount to continue to heal. But things didn't go as planned the first game back from break against Northwestern. Mount was held to just 27 points and missed a couple of jumpers in the last minute, allowing the Wildcats to steal a 66-65 victory in Evanston. Mount knew it at the time that the loss would be costly. "We knew Iowa was good, and we couldn't afford to slip up (by losing at Northwestern)," said Mount, Purdue's first winner of the Silver Basketball awarded to the Big Ten MVP. Actually, Iowa, Ohio State and Northwestern were teams that tended to get the most physical with Mount, trying to rough him up when the refs weren't looking. It didn't usually work. Ever resilient, Mount never stayed down long. Despite a slow start on the last day of January against Michigan at home, he turned in another amazing performance. Not only did the Boilermakers fall behind 10-0 in the game against the Wolverines, but Mount scored just a basket in the contest's first seven minutes. No worries as he ran off 27 in the next 13 minutes to push Purdue ahead 5448 at the break. Before the day was done, he had equaled his careerhigh and wound up out-scoring Michigan forward (and future NBA standout and league champion coach) Rudy Tomjanovich 53-36 in the 116-103 win. It was one of the great scoring duals in conference history. What did Mount do for an encore the following month? Well, he was nearly as prolific averaging 40.6 points in a span of seven games. Much like the last day of January was a big-time offensive onslaught by Mount, so was the last day of February. And that is Mount Watches Boilers Closely Though he doesn't attend games anymore, Rick Mount watches his Boilermakers closely. One of his pupils has been D.J. Byrd, whom Mount has helped in his Lebanon, Ind., driveway a time or two during Byrd's Purdue career. "D.J. has worked at his shooting trying to develop consistency," said Mount, who has had conversations with his pupil recently. "It's been a challenge for him because he has had to carry so much of the load with respect to outside shooting on this team. If he sticks to his mechanics, he can have big nights as he has shown at times during his career." Mount has worked with Byrd on what he calls "gathering the ball," the skill of catching and shooting the basketball in one fluid motion. "When he gathers the ball and sits down (bend his legs) before he shoots it, he is pretty good," Mount said. "But when he doesn't, his shot becomes a little flat and he isn't as accurate as he needs to be. "But the kid works at it hard and that is the key to becoming a good shooter. You also have to struggle through the slumps and that is a challenge for anybody." Mount admits it has been tough to watch the 2012-13 Boilermakers and their offensive struggles. "To me, this is a team that needs to learn how to play together, find that combination that works well on offense," Mount said. "It remains a work in progress." — Alan Karpick some understatement. Mount put up that still-standing Big Ten record 61 points in a 108-107 loss to Iowa, connecting on 27-of-47 field goal attempts. In those days, however, only one team from the league qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and the Hawks win in West Lafayette clinched the league crown for Iowa. "I get reminded about the Iowa game all the time," Mount said. "But what still sticks with me is we let those guys beat us on our home court and that didn't happen very often back then. "It is funny what you remember." j GoldanDBlack express • volume 23, express 17 • 17