1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. Not ranked
APNo. Not ranked
Record11-12 (5–9 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPRick Howat
CaptainRick Howat and Fred Miller
Home arenaAssembly Hall
1970–71 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
No. 10 Ohio State13–1 .92920–6  .769
Michigan12–2 .85719–7  .731
Purdue11–3 .78618–7  .720
Indiana9–5 .64317–7  .708
Illinois5–9 .35711–12  .478
Minnesota5–9 .35711–13  .458
Michigan State4–10 .28610–14  .417
Iowa4–10 .2869–15  .375
Wisconsin4–10 .2869–15  .375
Northwestern3–11 .2147–17  .292
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Head coach Harv Schmidt, in only his fourth season at the helm of the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, saw the longest losing streak of his career, 8 games. After starting the year by winning 9 of their first 12 games and 10 of their first 14, the Illini started their losing streak at Ohio State on February 13, and continue for a month. The agonizing month ended March 13, 1971, when the Illini visited Indiana in the season finale. The Fighting Illini finished the season with an 11-12 record, tied for 5th place in the conference with a 5-9 record.

The Illini added sophomore forward Nick Weatherspoon for the season. Weatherspoon finished his inaugural season by scoring 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game, and collected 246 rebounds. By the completion of his time at Illinois, Weatherspoon was their all-time leading scorer.

The 1970-71 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and Fred Miller at the forward spots, Jim Krelle and Rick Howat as guards and Greg Jackson at center.

Roster

1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#NameHeightWeightYearPrevious schoolHometown
G 10 Rick Howat (C) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)160 lb (73 kg) SrDowners Grove North High School Downers Grove, Illinois
F 12 Nick Weatherspoon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)185 lb (84 kg) SoMcKinley High School Canton, Ohio
G/F 14 Fred Miller (C) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)210 lb (95 kg) SrPekin High School Pekin, Illinois
G 21 Larry Cohen 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)180 lb (82 kg) SoNew Trier East High School Wilmette, Illinois
G 25 Jim Krelle 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)180 lb (82 kg) JrAurora West High School Aurora, Illinois
C 31 Greg Jackson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)265 lb (120 kg) SrSt. Philip High School Chicago, Illinois
G 32 Sam Scaletta 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)170 lb (77 kg) JrEisenhower High School Blue Island, Illinois
G/F 33 Alvin O'Neal 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)183 lb (83 kg) SoSpalding High School Peoria, Illinois
F 35 Jim Rucks 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)205 lb (93 kg) SoWaukegan High School Waukegan, Illinois
F 40 Tom Dezort 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)195 lb (88 kg) JrEdwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
G 43 Bob Shapland 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)185 lb (84 kg) SrCentral High School Champaign, Illinois
F 44 Jed Foster 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)205 lb (93 kg) SoFairfield High School Fairfield, Illinois
F/C 45 Nick Conner 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)195 lb (88 kg) SoEast High School Columbus, Ohio
F/C 54 Jim DeDecker 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)220 lb (100 kg) SoAlleman High School Moline, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Dick Campbell (4th year)
  • Jim Wright (University of Illinois) (12th 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
12/1/1970*
no, no		 No. NR vs.Butler W 113-102  1 - 0
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/5/1970*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Oklahoma L 72-74  1 - 1
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1970*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Vanderbilt W 96-79  2 - 1
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/12/1970*
no, no		 No. NR @ Iowa State W 78-63  3 - 1
 Iowa State Armory (6,000)
Ames, IA
12/14/1970*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Northern Michigan W 82-70  4 - 1
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/26/1970*
no, no		 No. NR vs. #13 Villanova
Rainbow Classic		 L 76-89  4-2
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (7,500)
Honolulu, HI
12/30/1970*
no, no		 No. NR vs. St. Louis
Rainbow Classic		 W 78-60  5-2
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (1,414)
Honolulu, HI
Big Ten regular season
1/9/1971
no, no		 No. NR vs. Michigan State W 89-61  6 - 2 ( 1 - 0 )
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/12/1971
no, no		 No. NR vs. Wisconsin W 84-82  7 - 2 ( 2 - 0 )
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/16/1971
no, no		 No. NR @ Michigan State W 69-67  8 - 2 ( 3 - 0 )
 Jenison Fieldhouse (7,323)
East Lansing, MI
1/29/1971*
no, no		 No. 18 vs. #3 Southern California L 68-81  8 - 3
 Chicago Stadium (15,000)
Chicago, IL
1/30/1971*
no, no		 No. 18 vs. #7 Notre Dame W 69-66 OT 9 - 3
 Chicago Stadium (17,000)
Chicago, IL
2/2/1971
no, no		 No. 15 @ Iowa
Rivalry		 L 84-92  9 - 4 ( 3 - 1 )
 Iowa Field House (13,105)
Iowa City, IA
2/6/1971
no, no		 No. 15 vs. Minnesota W 93-78  10 - 4 ( 4 - 1 )
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/13/1971
no, no		 No. NR @ Ohio State L 72-92  10 - 5 ( 4 - 2 )
 St. John Arena (13,489)
Columbus, OH
2/16/1971
no, no		 No. NR vs. Purdue L 70-73  10 - 6 ( 4 - 3 )
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/20/1971
no, no		 No. NR vs. Indiana
Rivalry		 L 86-88  10 - 7 ( 4 - 4 )
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/23/1971
no, no		 No. NR @ Wisconsin L 84-88  10 - 8 ( 4 - 5 )
 Wisconsin Field House (5,878)
Madison, WI
2/27/1971
no, no		 No. NR @ Minnesota L 64-80  10 - 9 ( 4 - 6 )
 Williams Arena (7,317)
Minneapolis, MN
3/2/1971
no, no		 No. NR vs. Michigan L 74-75  10 - 10 ( 4 - 7 )
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
3/6/1971
no, no		 No. NR @ Purdue L 93-99  10 - 11 ( 4 - 8 )
 Mackey Arena (14,123)
West Lafayette, IN
3/9/1971
no, no		 No. NR vs. Northwestern L 70-85  10 - 12 ( 4 - 9 )
 Assembly Hall (5,885)
Champaign, IL
3/13/1971
no, no		 No. NR @ Indiana
Rivalry		 L 67-87  11 - 12 ( 5 - 9 )
 Assembly Hall (7,286)
Bloomington, IN
*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
Rick Howat[4]231909467474
Nick Weatherspoon[5]2315179246381
Greg Jackson[6]2311349157275
Fred Miller[7]227965109223
Nick Conner[8]237433162181
Jim DeDecker[9]2237164090
Jim Krelle[10]1731123874
Alvin O'Neal162473355
Jed Foster[11]2119154053
Larry Cohen171641236
Bob Shapland1246614
Tom Dezort53228
Jim Rucks21022
Sam Scaletta10101

Awards and honors

  • Rick Howat
    • Team Most Valuable Player [12]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player NBA Club Round Pick

[13]

Rankings

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 1970-71 Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  4. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  12. ↑ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  13. ↑ 1971 NBA Draft
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.