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1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record14–4 (10-2 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coachWally Roettger (2nd season)
CaptainRobert Riegel
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1936–37 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Illinois 10 2   .833 14 4   .778
Minnesota 10 2   .833 14 6   .700
Michigan 9 3   .750 16 4   .800
Purdue 8 4   .667 15 5   .750
Ohio State 7 5   .583 13 7   .650
Indiana 6 6   .500 13 7   .650
Northwestern 4 8   .333 11 9   .550
Iowa 3 9   .250 11 9   .550
Wisconsin 3 9   .250 8 12   .400
Chicago 0 12   .000 4 16   .200

The 1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

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New head coach Doug Mills took over the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team for the 1936–37 season replacing Craig Ruby. Mills was a player for the Illini from 1927 to 1930 and served as the assistant coach for the 1935–36 season. Mills' service toward the University of Illinois would continue until 1947 as head coach and until 1966 as athletic director. Along with future head coach Harry Combes, the Illini returned 7 lettermen from a team that had finished in a third place tie in the Big Ten the year before. Even though they lost 2 home games during conference play, the Illini finished the season in a tie for the conference championship with a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. The team finished the season with an overall record of 14 wins 4 losses. Along with Combes, the Illini also featured future major league baseball hall of fame shortstop and manager, Lou Boudreau. The starting lineup included captain Robert Riegel at the center position, Boudreau and Combes at forward and Wilbur Henry, James Vopicka and Tom Nisbet at guard.[1] Following that season, the men's gymnasium got a new name, George Huff Gymnasium, after former Illinois athletic director George Huff, who died on October 1, 1936. During the championship season, Boudreau led the team in scoring with 8.7 points per game.

Roster

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"1936–37 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"
1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown
F 3 Loren Grabb
So Decatur, Illinois
C 4 Robert Riegel (C)
Sr Tolono, Illinois
F 5 Carter Cooley
So Chicago, Illinois
G 6 Wilbur Henry
Sr North Hollywood, California
G 7 James Vopicka
Sr Berwyn, Illinois
F 8 Harry Lasater Jr.
Fr Fairfield, Illinois
F 10 Harold Swanson
Sr Chicago Heights, Illinois
F 11 Byron Blout
Sr Salinas, California
G 15 George Wardley
So Gary, Indiana
F 16 Charles Farrington
Jr Urbana, Illinois
G 17 Harry Combes
Sr Champaign, Illinois
G 18 Tom Nisbet
So Chicago, Illinois
F 20 Frank Schack
So Decatur, Illinois
F 21 Lou Boudreau
So Harvey, Illinois
G 28 Edward Yeaton
Jr Elkhorn, Wisconsin
F 29 Albert Billings
So Elgin, Illinois
G 30 Robert Castelo
So Champaign, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule

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Date
time, TV
Opponent Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/8/1936*
no, no
Carroll W 51–34  1–0
Huff Hall (6,500)
Champaign, IL
12/12/1936*
no, no
Depauw W 44–24  2–0
Huff Hall (6,000)
Champaign, IL
12/19/1936*
no, no
Notre Dame W 44–29  3–0
Huff Hall (7,000)
Champaign, IL
12/23/1936*
no, no
at DePaul L 25–31  3–1
DePaul Auditorium (6,000)
Chicago, IL
12/30/1936*
no, no
at Bradley W 43–33  4–1
Hewitt Gymnasium (3,800)
Peoria, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1937
no, no
Northwestern
Rivalry
L 38–47  4–2
(0–1)
Huff Hall (7,328)
Champaign, IL
1/9/1937
no, no
at Wisconsin W 31–28  5–2
(1–1)
Wisconsin Field House (6,700)
Madison, WI
1/11/1937
no, no
Indiana
Rivalry
W 40–31  6–2
(2–1)
Huff Hall (7,000)
Champaign, IL
1/16/1937
no, no
Iowa
Rivalry
W 42–28  7–2
(3–1)
Huff Hall (6,810)
Champaign, IL
1/18/1937
no, no
at Purdue W 38–37  8–2
(4–1)
Jefferson High School (5,600)
West Lafayette, IN
1/23/1937
no, no
University of Chicago W 28–23  9–2
(5–1)
Huff Hall (6,000)
Champaign, IL
2/6/1937*
no, no
at Notre Dame L 33–41  9–3
Notre Dame Fieldhouse (–)
Notre Dame, IN
2/13/1937
no, no
at University of Chicago W 34–26  10–3
(6–1)
Henry Crown Field House (3,000)
Chicago, IL
2/15/1937
no, no
Purdue L 34–61  10–4
(6–2)
Huff Hall (7,600)
Champaign, IL
2/20/1937
no, no
at Indiana
Rivalry
W 42–25  11–4
(7–2)
IU Fieldhouse (5,000)
Bloomington, IN
2/22/1937
no, no
Wisconsin W 48–31  12–4
(8–2)
Huff Hall (9,000)
Champaign, IL
2/27/1937
no, no
at Iowa
Rivalry
W 40–29  13–4
(9–2)
Iowa Field House (9,000)
Iowa City, IA
3/6/1937
no, no
at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 32–26  14–4
(10–2)
Patten Gymnasium (6,000)
Evanston, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Source[2]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1936–37 pg.79, FightingIllini.com