senior guard nat burton had dropped into a reserve role the previous season, reducing his offensive statistics, and his offensive production dropped further this season. however, he played a key role in some important games. he scored 11 points in a win at louisville, had eight rebounds at houston, and scored 16 points against virginia tech. his playing time diminished as the year wore on, and he scored only a combined 30 points in the final 13 games of the regular season. freshman forward gerald riley joined the team, and started all 33 games – as he would all 125 games of his collegiate career – and showed promise as the teams fifth scoring option, playing small forward and averaging 6.7 points per game. he would emerge as a star in later seasons.