1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 8
APNo. 10
Record18–4 (11-3 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coachHowie Braun
MVPBruce Brothers
CaptainPaul Judson
Home arenaHuff Hall
1955–56 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
No. 4 Iowa13–1 .92920–6  .769
No. 10 Illinois11–3 .78618–4  .818
Ohio State9–5 .64316–6  .727
Purdue9–5 .64316–6  .727
Michigan State7–7 .50013–9  .591
Indiana6–8 .42913–9  .591
Minnesota6–8 .42911–11  .500
Michigan4–10 .2869–13  .409
Wisconsin4–10 .2866–16  .273
Northwestern1–13 .0712–20  .091
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Harry Combes, for the ninth consecutive year at Illinois, directed a team that would finish no worse than third place in the Big Ten. His 164 wins and 44 losses overall with a 94 and 30 record in the conference gave Combes three "Final Four" finishes as well as three conference championships. Combes' team, recruited by assistant coach Howie Braun, was exclusively recruited from the state of Illinois.

The 1955-56 team had talented lettermen return including the leading scorers George Bon Salle and team "captain" Paul Judson. It also saw the return of Bruce Brothers, Bill Ridley, Bill Altenberger, Hiles Stout, and future Illini head coach, Harv Schmidt. The team also added future NBA all-star Don Ohl as a sophomore. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 11 wins and 3 losses, finishing in 2nd place in the Big Ten. Unfortunately the Illini would lose four total games with two of the four coming in the final three days of the season. The Illini's final Associated Press ranking placed them at "#7", however; they maintained a "#2" national ranking for the final month of the regular season. The starting lineup included George Bon Salle at the center position, Bill Ridley and Paul Judson at guard and Harv Schmidt, Bruce Brothers and Don Ohl at the forward slots.[1]

Roster

1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#NameHeightWeightYearPrevious schoolHometown
F 8 Jim Chengary 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)190 lb (86 kg) SoBowen High School Chicago, Illinois
F 10 Hiles Stout 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)205 lb (93 kg) JrCentral High School Peoria, Illinois
G 11 Bill Ridley 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)160 lb (73 kg) SrTaylorville High School Taylorville, Illinois
G 20 Bill Altenberger 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)179 lb (81 kg) JrSenior High School East St. Louis, Illinois
C 22 George Bon Salle 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)215 lb (98 kg) JrLoyola Academy Chicago, Illinois
C 24 Ted Caiazza 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)235 lb (107 kg) SoLyons Township High School LaGrange, Illinois
G 30 Phil Judson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)165 lb (75 kg) SrAlden-Hebron High School Hebron, Illinois
F 32 Bruce Brothers 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)200 lb (91 kg) SrQuincy Senior High School Quincy, Illinois
F 33 Harvard Schmidt 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)190 lb (86 kg) JrKankakee High School Kankakee, Illinois
G 34 Paul Judson (C) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)172 lb (78 kg) SrAlden-Hebron High School Hebron, Illinois
F 35 Larry Breyfogle 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)165 lb (75 kg) SoLawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
G 43 John Paul 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)175 lb (79 kg) SoSt. Edward High School Elgin, Illinois
G 44 Don Ohl 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)190 lb (86 kg) SoEdwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

All-Time Illini Roster

Source[2]

Schedule

Source[3]

Date
time, TV		 Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state[4]
Non-Conference regular season
12/6/1955*
no, no		 No. 8 Butler W 107–75  1-0
 Huff Hall (4,535)
Champaign, IL
12/10/1955*
no, no		 No. 8 Missouri
Rivalry		 L 73–74  1-1
 Brewer Fieldhouse (5,800)
Columbia, MO
12/13/1955*
no, no		 No. NR Notre Dame W 103–93  2-1
 Notre Dame Fieldhouse (4,300)
Notre Dame, IN
12/17/1955*
no, no		 No. NR Washington (St. Louis) W 75–74  3-1
 Huff Hall (4,444)
Champaign, IL
12/19/1955*
no, no		 No. NR DePaul W 97–79  4-1
 Huff Hall (4,747)
Champaign, IL
12/23/1955*
no, no		 No. 17 Oklahoma W 82–58  5-1
 Huff Hall (3,390)
Champaign, IL
12/29/1955*
no, no		 No. 9 Drake W 102–66  6-1
 Huff Hall (3,713)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/2/1956
no, no		 No. 9 Michigan State (No. 16) W 73–65  7-1 (1-0)
 Huff Hall (5,192)
Champaign, IL
1/9/1956
no, no		 No. 6 Wisconsin W 96–77  8-1 (2-0)
 Huff Hall (6,069)
Champaign, IL
1/14/1956
no, no		 No. 8 Indiana (No. 12)
Rivalry		 W 96–72  9-1 (3-0)
 The Fieldhouse (10,056)
Bloomington, IN
1/16/1956
no, no		 No. 8 Purdue W 92–76  10-1 (4-0)
 Lambert Fieldhouse (9,500)
West Lafayette, IN
1/28/1956*
no, no		 No. 5 DePaul W 80–66  11-1
 Chicago Stadium (15,254)
Chicago, IL
1/30/1956
no, no		 No. 5 Minnesota W 95–84  12-1 (5-0)
 Williams Arena (9,805)
Minneapolis, MN
2/6/1956
no, no		 No. 6 Indiana
Rivalry		 W 92–89  13-1 (6-0)
 Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
2/11/1956
no, no		 No. 6 Ohio State W 111–64  14-1 (7-0)
 Huff Hall (6,154)
Champaign, IL
2/13/1956
no, no		 No. 6 Michigan W 89–66  15-1 (8-0)
 Huff Hall (6,135)
Champaign, IL
2/18/1956
no, no		 No. 3 Michigan State W 96–76  16-1 (9-0)
 Jenison Fieldhouse (9,094)
East Lansing, MI
2/20/1956
no, no		 No. 3 Purdue W 102–77  17-1 (10-0)
 Huff Hall (6,135)
Champaign, IL
2/25/1956
no, no		 No. 2 Ohio State L 84–87  17-2 (10-1)
 Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (8,539)
Columbus, OH
2/27/1956
no, no		 No. 2 Minnesota W 97–81  18-2 (11-1)
 Huff Hall (5,765)
Champaign, IL
3/3/1956
no, no		 No. 2 Iowa (No. 10)
Rivalry		 L 72–96  18-3 (11-2)
 Iowa Field House (15,200)
Iowa City, IA
3/5/1956
no, no		 No. 2 Northwestern L 82–83  18-4 (11-3)
 McGaw Memorial Hall (8,500)
Evanston, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
George BonSalle22156118430
Paul Judson2216084404
Bill Ridley21109104322
Harv Schmidt2211369295
Bruce Brothers225158160
Don Ohl225733147
Hiles Stout223542112
Bill Altenberger18191553
Ted Caiazza58420
Phil Judson67418
Jim Chengary97014
Larry Breyfogle95111
John Paul125010

[5]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player NBA Club Round Pick
Paul JudsonSyracuse Nationals 2 13

[7]

Rankings

References

  1. ↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. ↑ "1955-56 Men's Basketball Roster". University of Illinois Athletics. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  3. ↑ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1955-56, FightingIllini.com
  4. ↑ Schedule
  5. ↑ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  6. ↑ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  7. ↑ 1956 NBA Draft Archived 2013-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.