Providence College DiGregorio attended
Providence College, graduating in 1973. He played basketball under Hall of Fame head coach
Dave Gavitt. DiGregorio,
Marvin Barnes and
Kevin Stacom led the Providence team to a Final Four appearance in the
1973 National Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA) Tournament in DiGregorio's senior season. but only after Barnes sustained a knee injury that forced an early exit, after playing only 11 minutes in the game. DiGregorio received the NCAA East Regional Most Outstanding Player honors. In the 1972-73 season, DiGregorio averaged 24.5 points per game and 8.6 assists per game (a school record as of 2024), and was
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Player of the Year. He was an All-American for each of his three varsity years at Providence, Over his three-year career, he averaged 20.5 points a game, and a school record 7.7 assists per game (as of 2024). Providence retired his number at halftime of a February 5, 2008 game against
DePaul, giving the fans DiGregorio
bobblehead figures. Among others, the U.S. team also included future
Hall of Fame center
Bill Walton,
Swen Nater (who replaced Walton after an injury in game 1), Providence teammate Marvin Barnes, future Hall of Fame player
Bobby Jones,
Pat McFarland, and
Tom Henderson, who defeated the Soviet team in the bruising six-game exhibition series, which helped heal the still-open wound of the United States' loss in the 1972 Summer Olympic finals. The Soviet team included, among others,
Aleksander Belov. The American team won the first game 83–65, with DiGregorio and Nater the leading scorers (14 points each), and DiGregorio making crowd pleasing sharp passes. but opted instead for the NBA. He was selected third overall by the
Buffalo Braves (a franchise now known as the Los Angeles Clippers) in the
1973 NBA draft, out of Providence College. DiGregorio won the
NBA Rookie of the Year Award in
1973–74 after averaging 15.2 points, and leading the league in both
free throw percentage (.902) and assists per game (8.2), while playing 35.9 minutes per game. DiGregorio still holds the NBA rookie record for assists in a single game with 25 (a record now shared with
Nate McMillan). The following year, he had a severe knee injury that cut short his future productivity and remaining career. He would never again come close to his 1973-74 level of production. He played only 31 games of the 1974-75 season, and 67 games the next year, playing only 20 minutes a game and averaging less than seven points a game. His coach
Jack Ramsay thought DiGregorio had lost speed and quickness after knee surgery, and made him the team's fourth guard; though DiGregorio disagreed with that assessment. In 1977, he joined fellow NBA stars
Julius Erving,
Rick Barry,
Wilt Chamberlain, and
Pete Maravich, in endorsing
Spalding's line of rubber basketballs, with a signature "Ernie D." ball making up part of the collection. DiGregorio played in a Lakers' uniform, under coach
Jerry West (who had been hopeful about DiGregorio as his point guard), in only 25 games before being waived.
Boston Celtics (1978) The
Boston Celtics signed him as a free agent but he played only sparingly for the rest of the season. He would not play in the NBA again, although he did not formally retire until 1981. ==Honors==