1971–72 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1971–72 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Gator Bowl Tournament, Champions
Conference Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches No. Not ranked
AP No. Not ranked
1971–72 record 14–10 (5–9 Big Ten)
Head coach Harv Schmidt
Assistant coach Dick Campbell
Assistant coach Jim Wright
MVP Nick Weatherspoon
Captain Jim Krelle
Home arena Assembly Hall
1971–72 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
#11 Minnesota11–3 .786  17–6  .739
#19 Ohio State10–4 .714  18–6  .750
#17 Indiana9–5 .643  17–8  .680
Michigan9–5 .643  14–10  .583
Michigan State6–8 .429  13–11  .542
Wisconsin6–8 .429  13–11  .542
Purdue6–8 .429  12–12  .500
Illinois5–9 .357  14–10  .583
Iowa5–9 .357  11–13  .458
Northwestern3–11 .214  5–18  .217
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1971–72 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1971-72 Fighting Illini men's basketball season, led by head coach Harv Schmidt, experienced the a tale of two years, 1971 and 1972. The Fighting Illini opened the season December 1, 1971, with a win over Butler and proceeded to win 7 of their next 8 games, finishing 1971 with an 8-1 record. That streak would continue into January 1972 for one more game, the opening game of the Big Ten season. After beating Northwestern the Fighting Illini would go on to drop 9 of their next 14 games, finishing the season with a 14-10 record, tied for 8th place in the conference.

The brightest spot of the season would shine upon junior forward Nick Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon would return from a terrific sophomore campaign where he scored 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game and collected 246 rebounds. During this season, 1971–72, he would score 500 total points, averaging 20.8 points and pull down 262 rebounds.

The 1971-72 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and Nick Conner at the forward spots, Jim Krelle and Garvin Roberson as guards and Bill Morris at center.

Roster

1971–72 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#NameHeightWeightYearPrevious schoolHometown
G 10 Garvin Roberson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)185 lb (84 kg) SoElkhart Central High School Elkhart, Indiana
F 12 Nick Weatherspoon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)185 lb (84 kg) JrMcKinley High School Canton, Ohio
G 14 C.J. Schroeder 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)195 lb (88 kg) SoDavenport West High School Davenport, Iowa
G 21 Larry Cohen 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)180 lb (82 kg) JrNew Trier East High School Wilmette, Illinois
G 25 Jim Krelle (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)180 lb (82 kg) SrAurora West High School Aurora, Illinois
F 30 Mike Wente 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)200 lb (91 kg) SoSt. Anthony High School Effingham, Illinois
G 34 Greg Wilson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)190 lb (86 kg) SoMcKinley High School Sebring, Ohio
C 35 Bill Morris 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)235 lb (107 kg) SoBeaumont High School St. Louis, Missouri
F 40 John McBride 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)195 lb (88 kg) JrCarl Sandburg High School Orland Park, Illinois
F 42 Jim Rucks 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)205 lb (93 kg) JrWaukegan High School Waukegan, Illinois
G 43 Kim Jolley 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)210 lb (95 kg) SoJamaica High School Indianola, Illinois
F 44 Jed Foster 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)205 lb (93 kg) JrFairfield High School Fairfield, Illinois
F/C 45 Nick Conner 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)195 lb (88 kg) JrEast High School Columbus, Ohio
F/C 54 Jim DeDecker 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)220 lb (100 kg) JrAlleman High School Moline, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Dick Campbell (5th year)
  • Jim Wright (University of Illinois) (13th year)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

All-Time Illini Roster

Source[1] [2]

Schedule

Source[3]

Date
time, TV		 Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/1/1971*
no, no		 No. NR vs.Butler W 73-71  1 - 0
 Assembly Hall (12,959)
Champaign, IL
12/4/1971*
no, no		 No. NR @ #20 Oklahoma W 70-65  2 - 0
 McCasland Field House (8,326)
Norman, OK
12/7/1971*
no, no		 No. NR vs. South Dakota W 96-56  3 - 0
 Assembly Hall (12,206)
Champaign, IL
12/10/1971*
no, no		 No. NR @ Tulane W 79-68  4 - 0
 Devlin Fieldhouse (3,250)
New Orleans, LA
12/11/1971*
no, no		 No. NR @ Loyola (New Orleans) W 94-74  5 - 0
 Devlin Fieldhouse (1,345)
New Orleans, LA
12/16/1971*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Georgia W 84-78  6 - 0
 Assembly Hall (12,447)
Champaign, IL
12/23/1971*
no, no		 No. NR @ Vanderbilt L 92-95  6 - 1
 Memorial Gymnasium (14,000)
Nashville, TN
12/28/1971*
no, no		 No. NR vs. North Carolina State
Gator Bowl Tournament		 W 74-72  7 - 1
 Jacksonville Coliseum (6,506)
Jacksonville, FL
12/29/1971*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Florida
Gator Bowl Tournament		 W 76-75  8 - 1
 Jacksonville Coliseum (8,248)
Jacksonville, FL
Big Ten regular season
1/8/1972
no, no		 No. NR @ Northwestern W 67-63  9 - 1 ( 1 - 0 )
 McGaw Memorial Hall (5,885)
Evanston, IL
1/11/1972
no, no		 No. 16 vs. Michigan L 76-75  9 - 2 ( 1 - 1 )
 Assembly Hall (14,836)
Champaign, IL
1/15/1972
no, no		 No. 16 vs. Purdue L 74-85  9 - 3 ( 1 - 2 )
 Assembly Hall (16,017)
Champaign, IL
1/28/1972*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Notre Dame W 81-59  10 - 3
 Chicago Stadium (11,255)
Chicago, IL
2/5/1972
no, no		 No. NR vs. Northwestern W 68-59  11 - 3 ( 2 - 2 )
 Assembly Hall (13,628)
Champaign, IL
2/8/1972
no, no		 No. NR @ Michigan State L 79-89  11 - 4 ( 2 - 3 )
 Jenison Fieldhouse (6,132)
East Lansing, MI
2/12/1972
no, no		 No. NR @ Michigan L 83-105  11 - 5 ( 2 - 4 )
 Crisler Center (12,562)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/15/1972
no, no		 No. NR @ Iowa L 84-87  11 - 6 ( 2 - 5 )
 Iowa Field House (12,559)
Iowa City, IA
2/17/1973
no, no		 No. NR vs. #8 Ohio State W 64-62  12 - 6 ( 3 - 5 )
 Assembly Hall (15,236)
Champaign, IL
2/22/1972
no, no		 No. NR vs. Indiana
Rivalry		 L 71-90  12 - 7 ( 3 - 6 )
 Assembly Hall (14,083)
Champaign, IL
2/26/1972
no, no		 No. NR vs. Wisconsin W 91-86  13 - 7 ( 4 - 6 )
 Assembly Hall (14,006)
Champaign, IL
2/29/1972
no, no		 No. NR @ #14 Ohio State L 70-103  13 - 8 ( 4 - 7 )
 St. John Arena (13,489)
Columbus, OH
3/4/1972
no, no		 No. NR @ Minnesota L 62-91  13 - 9 ( 4 - 8 )
 Williams Arena (14,666)
Minneapolis, MN
3/7/1972
no, no		 No. NR vs. Iowa W 91-84  14 - 9 ( 5 - 8 )
 Assembly Hall (11,554)
Champaign, IL
3/11/1972
no		 No. NR @ Wisconsin L 84-97  14 - 10 ( 5 - 9 )
 Wisconsin Field House (7,242)
Madison, WI
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Points
Nick Weatherspoon[4]24200100262500
Bill Morris[4]2111393197319
Jim Krelle[4]231047078278
Nick Conner[4]2410151204253
Larry Cohen[4]21423928123
Garvin Roberson[4]24394251120
Jed Foster[4]19384267118
C.J. Schroeder[4]2123303376
Jim DeDecker1920173357
Jim Rucks883919
Greg Wilson452112
Mike Wente71062

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

  • No Players Drafted[6]

References

  1. ↑ Men's Basketball Roster
  2. ↑ All-Time Illini Rosters All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1971-72 Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine., FightingIllini.com
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "pg. 117" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-12-17.
  5. ↑ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-12-17.
  6. ↑ "1973 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Archived from the original on 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2013-12-17.
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