1959–60 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. Not Ranked
AP	No. Not Ranked

1959–60 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Ohio State	13	–	1	.929	25	–	3	.893
No. 7 Indiana	11	–	3	.786	20	–	4	.833
Illinois	8	–	6	.571	16	–	7	.696
Minnesota	8	–	6	.571	12	–	12	.500
Northwestern	8	–	6	.571	11	–	12	.478
Iowa	6	–	8	.429	14	–	10	.583
Purdue	6	–	8	.429	11	–	12	.478
Michigan State	5	–	9	.357	10	–	11	.476
Wisconsin	4	–	10	.286	8	–	16	.333
Michigan	1	–	13	.071	4	–	20	.167

Rankings from https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/big-ten/1960.html

The 1959–60 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Entering his 12th year as University of Illinois' head coach, Harry Combes and his Fighting Illini basketball team. Started gaining on the national scene once again by beginning the season as a top 10 ranked team. The Associated Press would eventually rank the Illini as high as number eight during the course of the season; however, the team would falter late in the season, dropping three straight games and fall out of the rankings. The final AP and UPI rankings would include only two Big Ten teams, Ohio State (ranked 3) and Indiana (ranked 7/10). Ohio State would go on and win the NCAA Tournament. For the second time in the history of the Illini, they would play in a mid-season tournament. The tournament they would compete in would be the inaugural Los Angeles Basketball Classic held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena December 28–30.

The 1959-60 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Govoner Vaughn. It also saw the return of team "captain" Mannie Jackson as well as Ed Perry, Lou Landt, John Wessels, Lee Frandsen, Vern Altemeyer, Al Gosnell and Bruce Bunkenberg. Jerry Colangelo, a future sports mogul, also played a significant role as a sophomore. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 8 wins and 6 losses, finishing tied for 3rd place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 16 wins and 7 losses. The starting lineup included John Wessels at the center position, Vern Altemeyer, Lou Landt and Mannie Jackson at guard and Govoner Vaughn and Ed Perry at the forward slots.^[1]

Roster

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
10	John Wessels	Center	6-7	210	Senior	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford West High School
12	Lee Frandsen	Guard	6–3	155	Junior	Davenport, Iowa	Davenport Central High School
13	Ed Perry	Forward	6-5	195	Senior	Salem, Illinois	Salem High School
14	Bruce Bunkenburg	Forward	6–4	190	Senior	Chicago, Illinois	Roosevelt High School
15	Bob Schmidt	Forward	6–5	180	Senior	Kankakee, Illinois	Kankakee High School
20	Jerry Renner	Forward	6-1	180	Sophomore	Aurora, Illinois	East High School
21	Sam Leeper	Guard	6-0	165	Junior	Tolono, Illinois	Unity High School
22	Jay Lovelace	Guard	6–2	165	Sophomore	Carbondale, Illinois	Carbondale Community High School
23	Jerry Colangelo	Guard	6–2	175	Sophomore	Chicago Heights, Illinois	Bloom High School
24	Jeff Ferguson	Guard	6–3	180	Sophomore	Benton, Illinois	Benton Consolidated High School
25	Bill Burwell	Center	6-8	243	Sophomore	Brooklyn, New York	Boys High School
30	Mannie Jackson (captain)	Guard	6-3	175	Senior	Edwardsville, Illinois	Edwardsville High School
31	Doug Mills	Guard	6–0	165	Sophomore	Galesburg, Illinois	Galesburg High School
32	Lou Landt	Guard	6–3	180	Senior	Berwyn, Illinois	Roosevelt High School
33	Al Gosnell	Forward	6–3	190	Senior	Lawrenceville, Illinois	Lawrenceville High School
34	Gary McClung	Forward	6–4	185	Sophomore	Maroa, Illinois	Maroa-Forsyth High School
35	Govoner Vaughn	Forward	6–3	185	Senior	Edwardsville, Illinois	Edwardsville High School
40	Dave Downey	Forward	6-4	200	Sophomore	Canton, Illinois	Canton High School
41	Jerry Curless	Guard	6-0	160	Sophomore	Table Grove, Illinois	VIT High School
42	Ed Searcy	Forward	6-5	185	Sophomore	Indianapolis, Indiana	Attucks High School
44	Bob Starnes	Forward	6–4	180	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois	Gage Park High School
51	Bill Mohlenbrock	Guard	6-3	178	Junior	Murphysboro, Illinois	Murphysboro High School
52	Vern Altemeyer	Center	6-8	210	Sophomore	Scottsburg, Indiana	Scottsburg Senior High School
53	Bill Small	Guard	6-2	185	Sophomore	Aurora, Illinois	West Aurora High School
55	Jones Knoefel	Forward	6–4	180	Sophomore	Valparaiso, Indiana	Valparaiso High School

Head Coach: Harry Combes (13th year at Illinois)^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 3, 1959	Butler	83–75	Win	Champaign, IL	6,417
December 12, 1959	Western Kentucky	93–80	Win	Champaign, IL	6,553
December 14, 1959	Marquette	89–77	Win	Champaign, IL	6,512
December 19, 1959	Ohio	85–79	Win	Champaign, IL	4,356
December 21, 1959	Oklahoma	60–57	Win	Champaign, IL	5,034
December 28, 1959	California (#3)	48–62	Loss	Los Angeles, CA	10,838
December 29, 1959	Northwestern	92–79	Win	Los Angeles, CA	10,295
December 30, 1959	Stanford	74–62	Win	Los Angeles, CA	923
January 4, 1960	Ohio State (#5)	73–97	Loss	Columbus, OH	13,263
January 9, 1960	Minnesota	90–82	Win	Champaign, IL	6,649
January 11, 1960	Purdue	81–75	Win	West Lafayette, IN	10,000
January 16, 1960	Michigan State	96–88	Win	Champaign, IL	6,815
January 18, 1960	Minnesota	70–77	Loss	Minneapolis, MN	12,729
January 30, 1960	Notre Dame	71–67	Win	Chicago, IL	-
February 6, 1960	Michigan	75-61	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	2,000
February 8, 1960	Michigan State	77–78	Loss	East Lansing, MI	6,325
February 13, 1960	Purdue	93–89	Win (2ot)	Champaign, IL	6,631
February 15, 1960	Ohio State (#4)	81–109	Loss	Champaign, IL	6,912
February 20, 1960	Wisconsin	63–75	Loss	Madison, WI	7,885
February 22, 1960	Indiana	78–92	Loss	Champaign, IL	6,864
February 27, 1960	Iowa	85–70	Win	Champaign, IL	6,691
February 29, 1960	Michigan	90–61	Win	Champaign, IL	5,277
March 5, 1960	Northwestern	84–77	Win	Evanston, IL	5,800

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Points
Govoner Vaughn	23	164	83	189	411
Mannie Jackson	23	162	54	94	378
Ed Perry	23	74	64	141	212
Lou Landt	23	70	36	64	176
John Wessels	14	56	43	98	155
Lee Frandsen	20	41	32	37	114
Vern Altemeyer	23	44	25	94	113
Al Gosnell	23	36	24	95	96
Bruce Bunkenburg	18	22	20	42	64
Jerry Colangelo	19	25	10	16	60
Ed Searcy	17	20	6	57	46
Bob Starnes	2	0	2	1	2
Bob Schmidt	1	1	0	1	2
Doug Mills	4	1	0	1	2

^[3]

Awards and honors

Govoner Vaughn
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[4]
Mannie Jackson
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
No Players Selected

^[5]

Rankings

References

^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ All-Time Illini Rosters
^ Season Stats
^ List of MVPs
^ 1960 NBA Draft

[1] Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7

[2] All-Time Illini Rosters

[3] Season Stats

[4] List of MVPs

[5] 1960 NBA Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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	List of 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