1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1941–42 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Illinois	13	–	2	.867	18	–	5	.783
Indiana	10	–	5	.667	15	–	6	.714
Wisconsin	10	–	5	.667	14	–	7	.667
Iowa	10	–	5	.667	12	–	8	.600
Minnesota	9	–	6	.600	15	–	6	.714
Purdue	9	–	6	.600	14	–	7	.667
Northwestern	5	–	10	.333	8	–	13	.381
Michigan	5	–	10	.333	6	–	14	.300
Ohio State	4	–	11	.267	6	–	14	.300
Chicago	0	–	15	.000	1	–	20	.048

The 1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular Season

The Illinois Fighting Illini finished the season with a record of 18 wins and 5 losses. Under the direction of head coach and athletic director Douglas Mills, the Illini grouped a team of players, all around 6' 3", into a nearly undefeatable lineup later to be known as "The Whiz Kids". This group captured the attention of the entire nation while winning back-to-back conference titles and combining for a 35-6 record, 25-2 in the Big Ten over those two seasons. They dazzled crowds everywhere averaging 58 points per game, while most teams were averaging in the low 40s. Primarily made up of sophomores, they dominated the 1941-42 conference basketball season by posting a 13 – 2 record. A starting lineup consisting of Arthur "Jack" Smiley, Ken Menke, Andy Phillip, Ellis "Gene" Vance, Victor Wukovits and Art Mathison, developed a winning attitude that would maintain for the next 15 years, a time period where the Illini would finish no less than third in the conference for 13 of them. The 1942 NCAA tournament was only in its fourth year of existence and was staged around the collegiate basketball coaches convention being held at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. The warm weather and unsufferable humidity caused the young Illini to lose two games in a period of two days.

The final living Whiz Kid, Gene Vance, died in 2012.

Roster

File:1941-42 University of Illinois Whiz Kids.png

"The Whiz Kids"
(l-r) Jack Smiley, Art Mathisen, Ken Menke, Gene Vance, Andy Phillip

No.	Player	Position	Class	Height	Hometown
4	Henry Sachs	Guard	Senior	6' 1"	Chicago, Illinois
5	Raymond Bergeson	Center	Sophomore	6' 4"	Bridgeton, New Jersey
6	Clifton Fulton	Guard	Freshman	5' 10"	Pittsburg, Kansas
7	Raymond Grierson	Forward	Freshman	6' 2"	Champaign, Illinois
8	Edwin Parker	Forward	Junior	6' 2"	Taft, California
9	Kenneth Parker	Guard	Junior	6'	Granite City, Illinois
10	Bishop Barrick	Forward	Sophomore	6' 1"
11	Kenneth Brown	Forward	Sophomore	6' 2"	Catlin, Illinois
12	David Dillon	Forward	Senior	6' 2"	Sturgis, Michigan
13	Victor Wukovits	Guard	Senior	6' 3"	Mishawaka, Indiana
14	Johnson Johnson	Forward	Sophomore	6' 1"
15	Arthur Smiley	Guard	Sophomore	6' 2"	Ft. Wayne, Indiana
16	William Hocking (captain)	Forward	Senior	6'	Evanston, Illinois
17	Herbert Matter	Forward	Sophomore	6'	Naperville, Illinois
18	Robert Shapland	Guard	Sophomore	5' 9"
19	Arthur Mathisen	Center	Junior	6' 5"	Dwight, Illinois
20	Daryl Robb	Guard	Sophomore	5' 6"
25	Ellis Vance	Guard	Junior	6' 2"	Chicago, Illinois
33	Charles Fowler	Forward	Freshman	5' 9"	Watseka, Illinois
38	Ken Menke	Forward	Sophomore	6' 2"	Dundee, Illinois
47	Andrew Phillip	Guard	Sophomore	6' 2"	Granite City, Illinois

Head Coach: Douglas Mills (6th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Record

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 9, 1941	Marquette	45–43	Win	Champaign, IL	3,990
December 13, 1941	Chanute Field	38–40	Loss	Champaign, IL	4,068
December 17, 1941	Butler	52–50	Win	Champaign, IL	3,903
December 20, 1941	Detroit	49–34	Win	Ferndale, MI	-
December 23, 1941	Notre Dame	48–29	Win	Champaign, IL	3,405
December 30, 1941	Harvard	39–30	Win	Champaign, IL	3,116
January 3, 1942	Wisconsin	55–40	Win	Madison, WI	7,000
January 10, 1942	Michigan	44–40	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	3,500
January 12, 1942	Ohio State	58–49	Win	Columbus, OH	2,658
January 17, 1942	University of Chicago	54–26	Win	Champaign, IL	4,349
January 19, 1942	Iowa	42–35	Win	Champaign, IL	5,195
January 24, 1942	Minnesota	49–36	Win	Champaign, IL	7,051
February 7, 1942	Northwestern	41–33	Win	Champaign, IL	6,915
February 9, 1942	Indiana	36–41	Loss	Bloomington, IN	6,200
February 14, 1952	Michigan	52–29	Win	Champaign, IL	5,031
February 16, 1942	Minnesota	41–37	Win	Minneapolis, MN	13,013
February 21, 1942	Ohio State	48–31	Win	Champaign, IL	5,195
February 23, 1942	Wisconsin	45–43	Win	Champaign, IL	6,105
February 28, 1942	Northwestern	63–49	Win	Chicago, IL	18,000
March 2, 1942	Iowa	46–32	Loss	Iowa City, IA	13,500
March 7, 1942	Purdue	34–32	Win	Champaign, IL	7,035

Bold Italic connotes conference game

NCAA Tournament, New Orleans

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
March 20, 1942	Kentucky	44–36	Loss	Municipal Auditorium	3,500
March 21, 1942	Penn State	34–41	Loss	Municipal Auditorium	3,500

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Andy Phillip	23	87	58	232
Ken Menke	23	93	38	224
Victor Wukovits	23	51	35	137
Arthur Mathisen	22	41	48	130
Jack Smiley	23	43	20	106
Gene Vance	23	44	10	98
Charles Fowler	14	14	4	32
William Hocking	15	10	4	24
Henry Sachs	10	11	1	23
Edwin Parker	15	9	4	22
Raymond Grierson	4	3	0	6
Herbert Matter	2	2	0	4
David Dillon	3	1	1	3
Cliff Fulton	5	1	0	2
Raymond Bergeson	1	0	0	0
Bishop Barrick	1	0	0	0

^[2]

Awards and honors

Andy Phillip
- National Player of the Year
- Consensus All-American
- Big Ten Player of the Year
- Pic Magazine 2nd team All-American
- Converse 3rd team All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[3]
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Gene Vance
- Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Jack Smiley
- Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American
Art Mathisen
- Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American
Ken Menke
- Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American

References

[1] All-Time Illini Rosters

[2] Season Stats

[3] List of MVPs

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics